Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 29-30.2024
Video & Text/After the attack on the Al-Tanaf Base, President Biden confronts a brazen challenge from Iran: either surrender and flatter the Mullahs or take punitive measures to bring down their terrorist and jihadist regime./Elias Bejjani/January 29, 2024
Video & Text/After the attack on the Al-Tanaf Base, President Biden confronts a brazen challenge from Iran: either surrender and flatter the Mullahs or take punitive measures to bring down their terrorist and jihadist regime./Elias Bejjani/January 29, 2024
Pro-Iran fighters among 7 dead in Israeli strikes near Damascus
Israel troops to ‘go into action’ soon at Lebanon border: minister
Report: US, France to seek 1996-like agreement between Lebanon, Israel
Hochstein says window for diplomacy 'definitely there' in Israel-Hezbollah standoff
Minister of Defense of Israel: The army will move very soon on the northern border with Lebanon
Shibaa contributes more martyrs in the "Support" war... and the "Public Works" unit is on the rise!
Escalation in the South: "Hezbollah" intensifies its operations with "Barkan" and "Falaq" missiles, and Israeli artillery shelling
Report "attributed to a correspondent" on "Al-Manar" page on "Maariv"... "Zero Hour Has Begun, and the Decision to Enter War Has Been Made"? Fact-check
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Israeli airstrikes and shelling target southern towns as Hezbollah attacks post
Israeli forces launch airstrikes on Hezbollah-linked military facilities in southern
2024 budget: Will Lebanon's efforts to reclaim embezzled funds from maritime properties succeed?
Proposal to release Israeli hostages in Gaza to be presented to Hamas, Qatar says
Lebanon to close public institutions on February 9 and 14
'Winter wonder' in the Middle East: The everlasting allure of Lebanon's skiing legacy

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 29-30.2024
John Bolton calls for ‘disproportionate’ strikes inside Iran after US deaths
Biden says US 'shall respond' after drone strike kills 3 US troops in Jordan
What is Tower 22, the military base that was attacked in Jordan where 3 US troops were killed?
Israel Defense Minister: Half of Hamas fighters are either killed or wounded
Enemy drone that killed US troops in Jordan was mistaken for a US drone, preliminary report suggests
Israel notes 'significant gaps' after Gaza ceasefire talks but says constructive
Palestinian lives at stake, UN says as it acts quickly to address allegations about UNRWA staff
Hamas reiterates that Gaza war must end for any hostage release
Israeli intelligence accuses 190 Gaza UN staff of Hamas, Islamic Jihad roles
Broad framework for a potential hostage release and ceasefire in Gaza is being presented to Hamas
Iran says it has no link to drone strike in Jordan that killed US soldiers
Qatar hopes US retaliation won't undercut hostage talks
Iran allegedly hired Canadians to conduct assassinations on U.S. soil, according to indictment
Muslim council cancels meeting with Trudeau over Liberal stance on hate crimes, Gaza
Pakistan, Iran to expand security cooperation, move on from missile strikes
Russia is replacing its destroyed tanks at a rate of 100 a month, UK intel says

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on January 29-30.2024
Time to End UNRWA's Jihad against Israel/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/January 29, 2024
Genocide ruling a vindication for international justice/Baria Alamuddin./Arab News/January 29, 2024
What will be the effect of momentous world court ruling?/Chris Doyle/Arab News/January 29, 2024
Time for EU to show some backbone and stand up to Israel/Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/January 29, 2024
Gaza war could shift region’s rules of engagement/Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/January 29, 2024
The American cook and the poison dosage/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper./Arab News/January 29, 2024
‘Europeans Will Succumb to Islam,’ Says Former Intelligence Chief/Raymond Ibrahim/January 29, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 29-30.2024
Video & Text/After the attack on the Al-Tanaf Base, President Biden confronts a brazen challenge from Iran: either surrender and flatter the Mullahs or take punitive measures to bring down their terrorist and jihadist regime.
Elias Bejjani/January 29, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/126497/126497/
As one reaps the whirlwind by sowing the wind, those who engage in flattery, surrender, and submission to the evil jihadist schemes of the Iranian terrorist, fundamentalist, and sectarian regime, a reality evident in both the current Biden administration and the preceding Obama administration, are bound to face inevitable consequences. These consequences include humiliation, disappointment, defeat, human losses, the tarnishing of the USA's esteemed reputation, the propagation of a culture of death, terrorism, hatred, rejection of others, wars, and deadly delusions of Iranian expansionism.
This grim reality is reflected in the actions of both Democratic Presidents Biden and Obama in dealing with the criminal, repressive, and expansionist Iranian Mullahs. Throughout their tenures, strategic miscalculations, mischievous decisions, and fatal stances unfolded:
1-The Iranian Mullahs were allowed to challenge the United States directly, leading to attacks on U.S. soldiers and bases in the Middle East.
2-Billions of dollars were funneled to the Mullahs, sanctions were lifted, and their violations were overlooked.
3-The Mullahs were given free rein to spread chaos in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza.
4-They occupied Iraq, controlled its government, and turned a blind eye to over 45 fundamentalist Shia jihadist terrorist organizations operating under the name of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which attacked U.S. bases without facing consequences.
5-In Syria, the Mullahs were allowed to sow corruption, chaos, displacement, ethnic and sectarian cleansing, and support criminal militias like Hezbollah.
6-Complete freedom was granted to finance the terrorist and jihadist Hamas movement, leading to an invasion of Israel and unprecedented humanitarian disasters for the Palestinians.
7-The Yemeni Houthis were removed from terrorism lists, allowing Iran to control them and turn them into a terrorist threat.
8-Hezbollah, Iran's proxy, was allowed to occupy Lebanon, dismantle its state, control its borders, and terrorize its people.
In summary, the Obama and Biden administrations endorsed the crimes, terrorism, fundamentalism, barbarism, expansionism schemes, and jihadism of the Iranian regime. They prevented international justice from holding Iran accountable for its actions, aiding in the expansion of Iranian influence to the point of targeting the U.S. Al-Tanaf base, resulting in the death and injury of American soldiers and civilians.
Today, America faces a choice: either strike the head of the Iranian snake within Iran itself and eliminate this cancerous jihadist and terrorist threat, or allow the Mullahs the freedom to exert military and sectarian control over the entire Middle East, transforming into a nuclear state that threatens not only the region but also global peace, stability, and security.
**The writer, Elias Bejjani, is a Lebanese expatriate activist.
Writer's email address: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Link to the writer's website: http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com

Pro-Iran fighters among 7 dead in Israeli strikes near Damascus
Agence France Presse/January 30, 2024
Pro-Tehran fighters were among seven dead in Israeli strikes Monday south of the Syrian capital, a war monitor said, with Iranian media reporting the attack targeted an "Iranian advisory centre"."Israeli strikes targeted a base belonging to Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards, killing seven people" including pro-Iran fighters, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, raising an earlier toll of six. It was unclear whether civilians were among the dead in the attack on the Sayyida Zeinab district south of Damascus, he added. Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that "the Zionist regime (Israel) targeted an Iranian advisory centre in the Sayyida Zeinab area". A Syrian defence ministry statement, citing an unidentified military source, said that "at around 1:00 pm (1000 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack... targeting a number of points south of Damascus". The attack killed "a number of Iranian advisers" as well as civilians, and also caused material losses, the statement added. In late December, an air strike also blamed on Israel in the Sayyida Zeinab district killed a senior Iranian general. Quds Force commander Razi Moussavi was the most senior Iranian general to be killed outside the country since a January 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad killed the elite force's chief Qasem Soleimani. On January 20, a strike on Damascus's Mazzeh neighbourhood targeting the Revolutionary Guards' Syria spy chief killed 13 people, the Observatory had said. The IRGC confirmed five of its members were killed in that strike, which it also blamed on Israel, its regional arch-foe.

Israel troops to ‘go into action’ soon at Lebanon border: minister
AFP/January 30, 2024
JERUSALEM: Israeli troops will “very soon go into action” near the country’s northern border with Lebanon, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday, as tensions surge amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Gallant told troops near the border with the besieged Gaza Strip that others were being deployed to Israel’s north. “They will very soon go into action... so the forces in the north are reinforced,” Gallant said. He added that reservists would be gradually released “to prepare and come ready” for future operations. Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, a Hamas ally. Hezbollah claimed responsibility Monday for at least 12 attacks on Israeli army positions near the border, using Iranian-made Falaq-1 and Burkan missiles. Later on Monday the Israeli army said it carried out air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. “The targets included Hezbollah’s infrastructure and an observation post located in the southern Lebanese areas of Markaba, Taybeh, and Maroun Al-Ras,” the army said in a statement. The army also confirmed several projectiles had been launched from Lebanon and said forces “responded by targeting the launch sites and other locations in Lebanon.” Israel’s army chief Herzi Halevi said earlier this month that the likelihood of war on the northern border has become “much higher.” “I don’t know when the war in the north is, I can tell you that the likelihood of it happening in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past,” Halevi said. More than 200 people, most of them Hezbollah members, have been killed in south Lebanon by Israeli fire since October 7, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side of the border, nine soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to Israeli officials. Gallant said Monday that Gaza militants were running out of supplies and ammunition, but the war against Hamas “will take months.”

Report: US, France to seek 1996-like agreement between Lebanon, Israel
Naharnet/January 30, 2024
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein is supposed to visit Lebanon in the coming period, carrying “some answers,” after he recently visited Paris and discussed the files of south Lebanon and a possible political settlement. “In Paris, the French presented a proposal to Hochstein calling for the formation a four-party committee comprising the U.S., France, Israel and Lebanon, which would engage in negotiations aimed at ending the current disputes,” Kuwait’s al-Jarida newspaper reported. “The French diplomacy has borrowed this idea from the April 1996 Understanding that ended the Grapes of Wrath War between Israel and Hezbollah. At the time, the committee comprised Syria and the four aforementioned countries, but in the new suggestion Damascus will be replaced by an Arab country,” the daily said. Hochstein for his part asked the French to “prepare a plan or a written paper containing the details of the proposal in order to discuss them, and this is what the French are currently working on,” al-Jarida added. One of the proposed ideas is for the international committee to open an office in Lebanon’s Tyre and another in Israel’s Nahariya to oversee the implementation of any ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. The committee would also oversee negotiations between Lebanon and Israel over the delineation of the land border, the newspaper said. Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Hezbollah. At least 206 people have been killed in south Lebanon, 151 of them belonging to Hezbollah. According to Israeli authorities, 15 Israelis have been killed in the northern border area, including nine soldiers and six civilians. The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has warned that it is ready to use military force to return its settlers to their homes.

Hochstein says window for diplomacy 'definitely there' in Israel-Hezbollah standoff
Naharnet/January 30, 2024 
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein has said that he “will likely head back soon” to Lebanon and Israel as part of the efforts to prevent a bigger conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. “But I think we, this is something we do every day, not just when we're in the region. We do this also when we're here,” Hochstein added, in an interview on CBS News. Asked whether the Israeli government has set an “end-of-January” deadline for Hezbollah to pull back from Lebanon’s border with Israel, Hochstein said: “Well, I don't know about hard deadlines, but the window for diplomacy is definitely there. And that is what (U.S.) President (Joe) Biden has said: we have to try to solve this diplomatically.”He added: “I don't deny that the status quo of where we are now can't last forever. And that is why we need to make sure that we can get to diplomatic resolution.”“What we need to do now is to get to two things: one is the cessation of hostilities across both sides, so that people over almost 100,000 people on each side and Lebanon and Israel are refugees in their own countries, because they can't live in southern Lebanon or in northern Israel,” Hochstein said. He added: “We also have to make sure that Israelis and Lebanese can live in their homes with security. And that is not just a ceasefire, it requires a more intricate piece of the negotiations to ensure that the Lebanese army is in that area, that there is more parameters of security for civilians.”“Once we do that, though, we do need to start looking at how do we mark the border, an actual border, between the two countries so that we can have long term security and long term peace in an area that's seen so many rounds of conflict over the last several years,” Hochstein went on to say. Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Hezbollah. At least 206 people have been killed in south Lebanon, 151 of them belonging to Hezbollah. According to Israeli authorities, 15 Israelis have been killed in the northern border area, including nine soldiers and six civilians. The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has warned that it is ready to use military force to return its settlers to their homes.

Minister of Defense of Israel: The army will move very soon on the northern border with Lebanon
Agencies/January 29, 2024
The Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, announced this evening that "the Israeli army will move very soon in the north near the border with Lebanon," according to the French Press Agency. He informed the soldiers stationed near the Gaza border that they would leave the area to move to the north. He said, "They will move very soon, as forces in the north will be strengthened," pointing out that reserve soldiers would leave their positions in preparation for these future operations.

Shibaa contributes more martyrs in the "Support" war... and the "Public Works" unit is on the rise!
Hussein Saad/Janoubia/January 29, 2024
The town of Shibaa, in the Arnoun region, the largest town in the area and where the fida'i (militant) work began in 1969, is added to the list of southern towns and villages that provide martyrs as part of the support operations for Gaza, carried out by Hezbollah since October 8, 2023. Despite the rain and cold weather, the southern front remained active on both the Lebanese and Palestinian sides. The Israeli warplanes carried out raids on Yaroun, Maroun al-Ras, and surrounding areas, while their artillery shelled the vicinity of Naqoura, Yarin, Jbaa, Dahirah, Shihin, and Rashaya al-Fakhar.

Escalation in the South: "Hezbollah" intensifies its operations with "Barkan" and "Falaq" missiles, and Israeli artillery shelling
Al-Nahar/January 29, 2024
"Hezbollah" resumed its qualitative operations early today, using "Barkan" missiles in multiple operations before revealing the use of the "Falaq" missile again. In the latest developments, "Hezbollah" announced targeting the Mitleh site, a gathering of Israeli army soldiers near the Meitat barracks with missile weapons, the Baranit barracks with "Barkan" missiles, and a gathering of Israeli soldiers behind the Jall al-Alam location with the "Falaq" missile. Meanwhile, the Israeli army's artillery targeted helicopters and the Al-Aziah hill between Kfar Kila and Deir Mimas. Additionally, the Israeli shelling targeted the outskirts of the towns of Rmeish, Yaroun, Aita al-Shaab, and the vicinity of Ras al-Naqoura.

Report "attributed to a correspondent" on "Al-Manar" page on "Maariv"... "Zero Hour Has Begun, and the Decision to Enter War Has Been Made"? Fact-check
Al-Nahar/January 29, 2024
The Israeli newspaper "Maariv" covered what it claimed to be a report by a correspondent from Al-Manar TV, attributing information from Israeli media sources about the possibility of Israel declaring war on Lebanon within hours. The report suggests that "the zero hour seems to have begun, and the decision to enter the war has been made." Such a report is not known in Israel, but the warnings in Arab media are causing great concern in Lebanon. Hezbollah warned Israel today that it "miscalculates and is heading to attack Lebanon." Hezbollah's deputy, Mohammed Raad, emphasized Lebanon's security above all else and stated that Hezbollah is well-prepared for war.

Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Naharnett/January 30, 2024  
Hezbollah said it has targeted the Branit barracks with Burkan missiles, inflicting casualties. Less than an hour after the attack, the Israeli army announced that two soldiers were injured. Hezbollah said it has also targeted overnight the Hadb Yarine and Berkat Risha posts with Burkan missiles. Later on Monday, The group targeted the Metula post and groups of soldiers in the Jal al-Alam post, the Hunin Castle and the Zar'it and Mattat barracks. On Sunday, Israeli warplane and drone strikes as well as artillery shelling targeted several Lebanese southern towns near the frontier, and Hezbollah carried out six attacks on an Israeli post, four groups of soldiers and a military base. Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Hezbollah. At least 206 people have been killed in south Lebanon, 151 of them belonging to Hezbollah. The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has warned that it is ready to use military force to return its settlers to their homes.

Israeli airstrikes and shelling target southern towns as Hezbollah attacks post
Naharnett/January 30, 2024  
Israeli warplane and drone strikes as well as artillery shelling on Sunday targeted several Lebanese southern towns near the frontier. At dawn, an Israeli drone bombed a supermarket between the towns of Tayr Harfa and al-Jibbain, causing major damage to the building and affecting the neighboring buildings. And as artillery shelling targeted homes in al-Dhayra, the Israeli army fired machineguns at the town of Kfarkela. Airstrikes also targeted the area between Ramia, Aita al-Shaab and al-Qawzah, an agricultural land in Houla and the outskirts of Zibqin, Majdal Zoun and Tayr Harfa, amid artillery shelling on Chihin, Umm al-Tout, Majdal Zoun and Tayr Harfa. Hezbollah later said that it targeted a gathering of Israeli troops east of the Birkat Risha post with missiles, achieving casualties. Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Hezbollah. At least 206 people have been killed in south Lebanon, 151 of them belonging to Hezbollah. The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has warned that it is ready to use military force to return its settlers to their homes.

Israeli forces launch airstrikes on Hezbollah-linked military facilities in southern
LBCI/January 29, 2024
The Israeli army confirmed on Monday that it launched targeted airstrikes on two military buildings located in Yaroun, southern Lebanon. The strike was carried out with the specific intent of neutralizing members of Hezbollah.

2024 budget: Will Lebanon's efforts to reclaim embezzled funds from maritime properties succeed?
LBCI/January 29, 2024
The 2024 budget, approved by the Parliament last Friday, relies on taxes and fees.  While a significant portion directly impacts the citizens' pockets, it undoubtedly compelled those with substantial wealth, particularly those violating the laws, to pay their dues to the Lebanese state. Public marine property is one of these violations. Hence, the Ministry of Public Works proposed imposing financial penalties on the violators. Consequently, anyone licensed to occupy public maritime properties who violates the principle of encroaching on public beaches would be penalized by paying a financial fine. The fines range from $10,000 to $35,000, depending on the type and extent of the violation. Violators are compelled to pay double the fine if repeated. Will the battle to reclaim embezzled funds from maritime properties commence, or will it remain ink on paper?

Proposal to release Israeli hostages in Gaza to be presented to Hamas, Qatar says
AFP/January 29, 2024
Qatar's Prime Minister announced on Monday, following meetings with American, Israeli, and Egyptian officials, that a proposal will be presented to Hamas to cease fighting in Gaza and release the hostages. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani stated that "good progress" has been made during this week's talks, and the parties "hope to convey this proposal to Hamas and convince them to participate positively and constructively in the process."

Lebanon to close public institutions on February 9 and 14
LBCI/January 29, 2024
Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued a memorandum No. 2/2024, declaring the closure of public administrations, public institutions, and municipalities on Saint Maroun's Day and the 19th memorial of the martyrdom of Rafic Hariri and his companions.
The memorandum stated, "Based on Decree No. 15215 dated 27/9/2005 and its amendments, which specify official holidays and occasions, all public administrations, public institutions, and municipalities will be closed on Friday, February 9, 2024, on Saint Maroun's Day, and on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, marking the 19th memorial of the martyrdom of President Rafic Hariri and his noble companions."

'Winter wonder' in the Middle East: The everlasting allure of Lebanon's skiing legacy
LBCI/January 29, 2024
If you ask the older generation about Lebanon, you will hear stories about all the glory the country used to feature. Better described as the "Switzerland of the Middle East," Lebanon, once a secure banking hub, is known for its snow-capped destinations overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Just a few kilometers from the capital, Beirut, you can get transported into a winter wonderland in the country's equipped ski slopes, resorts, and beautiful mountains covered in snow for months during this awaited season. For years, skiing in Lebanon has been the go-to activity for winter sports enthusiasts. Many reports say that Lebanon's first "ski pioneer" was Ramez Ghazzaoui, a Lebanese student who learned to ski in Switzerland and brought the sport with him in 1913. However, 1935 marked a significant date in Lebanon's "ski history" when the French army established the first Ski and Combat School in the mountains of Bcharri in the north. Following that date, the Army Command established a building for this school in 1937, located in Youssef Rahme Barrack, the Cedars. The primary function of the ski school was to lead special missions on snow and conduct search and rescue operations for missing or trapped in snow individuals. In the 1950s, Lebanon entered its "golden age," an era during which Beirut was the region's tourism and commerce center; during that decade, skiing was becoming more notorious.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 29-30.2024
John Bolton calls for ‘disproportionate’ strikes inside Iran after US deaths
Lauren Sforza/The Hill/January 29, 2024
Former national security adviser John Bolton called for “disproportionate” strikes inside Iran after a drone attack killed three U.S. service members in Jordan over the weekend. Bolton said Sunday night on NewsNation that the U.S. needs to carry out retaliatory attacks in the wake of the deadly drone strike. He said the U.S. needs to “impose enough pain on Iran” to ensure it does not attempt a similar attack on the U.S. again. “To be clear, I don’t think it should be proportionate. I think it should be disproportionate. That’s how you create deterrence in the mind of your adversary, that the cost to them of attacking our forces is so high they won’t do it again,” he said. Three service members were killed and another two dozen were injured in the drone attack in Jordan near the Syria border Saturday. President Biden said the attack was carried out by “radical Iran-backed militant groups” operating in Iraq and Syria, but Iran has since denied any involvement. In the aftermath of the attack, GOP lawmakers called on Biden to retaliate against Iran and criticized him for past failed responses to other Iran-linked attacks. Bolton suggested the U.S. target Iranian naval vessels in the Red Sea, Quds Force bases in western Iran and other air defense locations in Iran. “Any or all of them could be targets,” said Bolton, who served in the Trump administration. “None of this threatens the regime in Tehran — not that that would particularly bother me, but for those who are nervous — none of that threatens the regime, but it sends a very clear message.”
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby appeared on numerous morning news shows Monday to emphasize the U.S. is looking into Biden’s options for a response. “That said, we certainly know Iran’s backing these groups,” Kirby said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”“We know that they are resourcing, they’re supplying, in some cases they’re providing information that allows these groups to do this. We’re taking that very seriously. We don’t want to wider war with, with Iran. We don’t want a wider war in the region, but we got to do what we have to do.”NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

Biden says US 'shall respond' after drone strike kills 3 US troops in Jordan
Associated Press/January 29, 2024
President Joe Biden has said that the U.S. "shall respond" after three American troops were killed and dozens more were injured in an overnight drone strike in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border. Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the first U.S. fatalities after months of strikes by such groups against American forces across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Biden, who was traveling in South Carolina, asked for a moment of silence during an appearance at a Baptist church's banquet hall. "We had a tough day last night in the Middle East. We lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases," he said. After the moment of silence, Biden added, "and we shall respond." With an increasing risk of military escalation in the region, U.S. officials were working to conclusively identify the precise group responsible for the attack, but they have assessed that one of several Iranian-backed groups was behind it. Biden said in a written statement that the United States "will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing." Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said "we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our troops, and our interests." Iran-backed fighters in east Syria began evacuating their posts, fearing U.S. airstrikes, according to Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet. He told The Associated Press that the areas are the strongholds of Mayadeen and Boukamal.
U.S. Central Command said at least 34 troops were injured by the one-way attack drone, with eight flown out of Jordan for follow-up care. It described the eight as being in stable condition. The large drone struck a logistics support base in Jordan known as Tower 22. It is along the Syrian border and is used largely by troops involved in the advise-and-assist mission for Jordanian forces. Central Command said approximately 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel were deployed to the base. The three who were killed and most of the wounded were Army soldiers, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to give details not yet made public. The small installation, which Jordan does not publicly disclose, includes U.S. engineering, aviation, logistics and security troops. Austin said the troops were deployed there "to work for the lasting defeat of ISIS." Three officials said the drone struck near the troops' sleeping quarters, which they said explained the high casualty count.
The U.S. military base at al-Tanf in Syria is just 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Tower 22. The Jordanian installation provides a critical logistical hub for U.S. forces in Syria, including those at al-Tanf, which is near where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan intersect. In a statement on Jordan's state-run Petra news agency, the country "condemned the terrorist attack" that targeted the U.S. troops. That report described the drone strike as targeting "an outpost on the border with Syria" and said it did not wound any Jordanian troops. "Jordan will continue to counter terrorism and the smuggling of drugs and weapons across the Syrian border into Jordan, and will confront with firmness and determination anyone who attempts to attack the security of the kingdom," the statement attributed to Muhannad Mubaidin, a government spokesman, said. U.S. troops long have used Jordan, a kingdom bordering Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as a basing point. Some 3,000 American troops typically are stationed across Jordan. Since the war in Gaza began Oct. 7, Iranian-backed militias have struck American military installations in Iraq more than 60 times and in Syria more than 90 times, with a mix of drones, rockets, mortars and ballistic missiles. The attack Sunday was the first targeting American troops in Jordan during the Israel-Hamas war and the first to result in the loss of American lives. Scores of U.S. personnel have been wounded, including some with traumatic brain injuries, during the attacks.
The militias have said that their strikes are in retaliation for Washington's support for Israel in the war in Gaza and that they aim to push U.S. forces out of the region. On Monday, Iran's foreign ministry dismissed the U.S. accusation that Tehran was behind the drone strike," according to the official IRNA news agency. It quoted ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying that the "Islamic Republic of Iran has no role in decisions by resistance groups on how they support the Palestinian nation or defend their people."
Iran, Kanaani said, is closely watching developments in the region and stressed that the "responsibility for the consequences of provocative accusations against Iran will be on those who raise the baseless allegations."The U.S. in recent months has struck targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen to respond to attacks on American forces in the region and to deter Iran-backed Houthi rebels from continuing to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea. "I am confident the Biden Administration will respond in a deliberate and proportional manner," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee. Republicans in Congress said the administration's approach had failed to deter America's adversaries in the region. "We need a major reset of our Middle East policy to protect our national security interests," said Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., went further, urging the administration "to strike targets of significance inside Iran, not only as reprisal for the killing of our forces, but as deterrence against future aggression. The only thing the Iranian regime understands is force."
Biden, who was in Columbia, South Carolina, on Sunday, was briefed in the morning by Austin, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. In the afternoon, he met virtually with Vice President Kamala Harris and his national security team for an update.
The president, in the written statement, called it a "despicable and wholly unjust attack" and said the service members were "risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism. It is a fight we will not cease."Syria is still in the midst of a civil war and long has been a launch pad for Iranian-backed forces there, including the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Iraq has multiple Iranian-backed Shiite militias operating there as well. Jordan, a staunch Western ally and a crucial power in Jerusalem for its oversight of holy sites there, is suspected of launching airstrikes in Syria to disrupt drug smugglers, including one that killed nine people earlier this month. An umbrella group for Iran-backed factions known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq earlier claimed launching explosive drone attacks targeting three areas in Syria, as well as one inside of "occupied Palestine." The group has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks against bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began. Three officials with Iran-backed militias in Iraq, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with journalists, said the drone attack against the base in Jordan was launched by one of the Iraqi groups. No faction has yet officially claimed responsibility. Officials said the U.S. military is not tracking any other attacks on its forces Sunday in the region.

What is Tower 22, the military base that was attacked in Jordan where 3 US troops were killed?
JERUSALEM (AP/) Mon, January 29, 2024
A little-discussed U.S. military desert outpost in the far reaches of northeastern Jordan has become the focus of international attention after a drone attack killed three American troops and injured at least 34 others there. The base, known as Tower 22, sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria along a sandy, bulldozed berm marking the DMZ's southern edge. The Iraqi border is only 10 kilometers (6 miles) away. The area is known as Rukban, a vast arid region that once saw a refugee camp spring up on the Syrian side over the rise of the Islamic State group's so-called caliphate in 2014. At its height, over 100,000 people lived there, blocked by Jordan from coming across into the kingdom at the time over concerns about infiltration by the extremist group. Those concerns grew out of a 2016 car bomb attack there that killed seven Jordanian border guards. The camp has dwindled in the time since to some 7,500 people because of a lack of supplies reaching there, according to United Nations estimates. The base began as a Jordanian outpost watching the border, then saw an increased U.S. presence there after American forces entered Syria in late 2015. The small installation includes U.S. engineering, aviation, logistics and security troops with about 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel deployed there. The base's location offers a site for American forces to infiltrate and quietly leave Syria. A small American garrison at al-Tanf in Syria is just 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Tower 22. That base is along a Syrian highway leading into Iraq and ultimately Mosul, once a prominent base of the Islamic State group. It's also a potential weapons shipment route over the road for Iran. U.S. troops long have used Jordan, a kingdom bordering Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Saudi Arabia and Syria, as a basing point. Some 3,000 American troops typically are stationed across Jordan. However, the U.S. presence in Jordan risks angering a population that's already held mass demonstrations against Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip over civilian casualties in a conflict that's already killed over 26,000 Palestinians. Estimates suggest some 3 million of Jordan's 11.5 million people are Palestinian. Widespread unrest could threaten the rule of King Abdullah II, a key American ally. Jordan initially denied the Tower 22 base existed within its border after the attack Sunday.

Israel Defense Minister: Half of Hamas fighters are either killed or wounded
Reuters/January 29, 2024
Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, stated that a quarter of Hamas fighters were killed, and at least another quarter were injured, while he anticipated that the fighting in Gaza would continue for months. During a meeting with forces near the Gaza border, Gallant said, "A quarter of Hamas’ terrorists have been killed and at least another quarter are wounded - the ‘hourglass’ has flipped against their favor."  He added, according to a statement from his office, "There will remain terrorists and we will fight in terror hot spots – and it will take months, not a single day. On the other hand, the terrorists don’t have supplies, they don’t have ammunition, they don’t have reinforcements."

Enemy drone that killed US troops in Jordan was mistaken for a US drone, preliminary report suggests
WASHINGTON (AP) Mon, January 29, 2024
An enemy drone that killed three American troops and wounded dozens of others in Jordan may have been confused with an American drone returning to the U.S. installation, two U.S. officials said Monday. As the enemy drone was flying in at a low altitude, a U.S. drone was returning to the small desert installation known as Tower 22 and may have been let pass by mistake, according to a preliminary report cited by the officials, who were not authorized to comment and insisted on anonymity, As a result, there was no effort to shoot down the enemy drone that hit the outpost early Sunday morning. One of the trailers where troops sleep sustained the brunt of the strike, while surrounding trailers got limited damage from the blast and flying debris. Officials said that of the 34 wounded troops, most had cuts, bruises, traumatic brain injuries and similar wounds. Eight were medically evacuated and the most seriously hurt service member is in critical but stable condition. The preliminary conclusion was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Explanation for how the enemy drone evaded U.S. air defenses on the installation came as the White House said Monday it’s not looking for war with Iran even as President Joe Biden vows retaliatory action. The Democratic administration believes Tehran was behind the strike. Biden met with members of his national security team in the White House Situation Room to discuss the latest developments.
The brazen attack, which the Biden administration blames on Iranian-based proxies, adds another layer of complexity to an already tense Mideast situation as the Biden administration tries to keep the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a broader regional conflict. “The president and I will not tolerate attacks on U.S. forces, and we will take all necessary actions to defend the U.S. and our troops,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday as he met at the Pentagon with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Biden faces a difficult balancing act as he looks to strike back against Tehran in a forceful way without allowing the Gaza conflict to further metastasize. The drone attack was one of dozens on U.S. troops in the Middle East since Hamas launched attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, igniting the war in Gaza. But it’s the first in which American service members have been killed.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterated a day after Biden promised to “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing” that the U.S. administration wasn’t seeking to get into another conflict in the Middle East. But Kirby also made clear that the American patience has worn thin after more than two months of attacks by Iranian proxies on U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and Jordan and on the U.S. Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The groups — including Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iraq based Kataeb Hezbollah — say the attacks are in response to Israel’s ongoing to military operations in Gaza. “We are not looking for a war with Iran,” Kirby told NBC’s “Today” show. ”We are not looking to escalate the conflict in the region. … Obviously, these attacks keep coming. We’ll keep looking at the options. I can’t speak for the supreme leader or what he wants or he doesn’t want. I can tell you what we want. What we want is a stable, secure, prosperous Middle East, and we want these attacks to stop.”
Iran on Monday denied it was behind the Jordan strike.
“These claims are made with specific political goals to reverse the realities of the region,” Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying. Iran regularly denies involvement in attacks linked back to it through the militias it arms across the wider Mideast
Republicans have laid blame on Biden for doing too little to deter Iranian militias, which have carried out some 150 attacks on U.S. troops in region since the start of the war. “Biden’s response to these attacks has been disorganized, ineffective, and weak,” Republican National Committee spokesman Jake Schneider said in a statement. “Now, more Americans have lost their lives because of Biden’s incompetence.” Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday called the attack “yet another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender.”
The attack hit a U.S. military desert outpost in the far reaches of northeastern Jordan known as Tower 22. The installation sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria along a sandy, bulldozed berm marking the DMZ’s southern edge. The Iraqi border is only 10 kilometers (6 miles) away. The base began as a Jordanian outpost watching the border, then saw an increased U.S. presence after American forces entered Syria in late 2015. The small installation includes U.S. engineering, aviation, logistics and security troops, with about 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel deployed.
Iraq’s government condemned the drone strike in an apparent effort to distance itself from an attack likely carried out by the Iranian-backed militias that have a strong presence inside Iraq. Government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement on Monday that Iraq is “monitoring with a great concern the alarming security developments in the region” and called for “an end to the cycle of violence.” The statement said that Iraq is ready to participate in diplomatic efforts to prevent further escalation. An umbrella group for Iran-backed factions known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed dozens of attacks against bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began. On Sunday, the group claimed three drone attacks against sites in Syria, including near the border with Jordan, and one inside of “occupied Palestine” but so far hasn’t claimed the attack in Jordan.
John Bolton, who served as national security adviser to Trump, said Iran hasn't paid a price for the havoc that its proxies have unleashed in the region. He suggested the Biden administration could send a strong message to Tehran with strikes on Iranian vessels in the Red Sea, Iranian air defenses along the Iraqi border, and bases that have been used to train and supply militant groups for years. “So until Iran bears a cost, you’re not going to reestablish deterrence, you’re not going to put the belligerence on a downward slope.” The attack came as U.S. officials were seeing signs of progress in negotiations to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas to release the more than 100 remaining hostages being held in Gaza in exchange for an extended pause in fighting. While contours of a deal under consideration would not end the war, Americans believed that it could lay the groundwork for a durable resolution to the conflict.
Top U.S., Israeli, Egypt and Qatari officials held talks on Sunday in France about an emerging framework for a hostage deal. Israel said “significant gaps” remain but called the talks constructive and said they would continue in the week ahead. The Jordan attack also had U.S. allies on edge that the situation in the Middle East could further spiral. German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said that “in view of the extremely tense situation in the region, this act is completely irresponsible and could lead to pushing the region further toward escalation.” “We expect from Iran that it finally exert its influence on its allies in the region so that there is no uncontrolled conflagration, in which no one can have an interest,” Fischer said.

Israel notes 'significant gaps' after Gaza ceasefire talks but says constructive
Associated Press/January 30, 2024
Israel said "significant gaps" remain after cease-fire talks Sunday with the United States, Qatar and Egypt but called them constructive and said they would continue in the week ahead, a tentative sign of progress on a potential agreement that could see Israel pause military operations against Hamas in exchange for the release of remaining hostages. The U.S. announced its first military deaths in the region since the war began and blamed Iran-backed militants for the drone strike in Jordan that killed three American service members amid concerns about a wider conflict. The statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on the cease-fire talks did not say what the "significant gaps" were. There was no immediate statement from the other parties. The war has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, destroyed vast swaths of Gaza and displaced nearly 85% of the territory's people. Israel says its air and ground offensive has killed more than 9,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants took about 250 hostages. With Gaza's 2.3 million people in a deepening humanitarian crisis, the United Nations secretary-general called on the United States and others to resume funding the main agency providing aid to the besieged territory, after Israel accused a dozen employees of taking part in the Hamas attack that ignited the war. Communications Director Juliette Touma warned that the agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, would be forced to stop its support in Gaza by the end of February.
CEASE-FIRE TALKS TO CONTINUE
Sunday's intelligence meeting included CIA Director Bill Burns, the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Ahead of the meeting, two senior Biden administration officials said U.S. negotiators were making progress on a potential agreement that would play out over two phases, with the remaining women, elderly and wounded hostages to be released in a first 30-day phase. It also would call for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The officials requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing negotiations. More than 100 hostages, mainly women and children, were released in November in exchange for a weeklong cease-fire and the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking to troops, said that "these days we are conducting a negotiation process for the release of hostages" but vowed that as long as hostages remain in Gaza, "we will intensify the (military) pressure and continue our efforts — it's already happening now."At least 17 Palestinians were killed in two Israeli airstrikes that hit apartment buildings in central Gaza, according to an Associated Press journalist who saw the bodies at a local hospital. One hit a building in Zawaida, killing 13 people, and the other an apartment block in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing four. Also Sunday, 10 Palestinians were killed in a strike that hit a residential building in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, said Dr. Moataz Harara, a physician at Shifa Hospital, where the dead were taken. Israel's military said troops were engaging in close combat with Hamas in neighborhoods of the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza's second-largest.
US DEATHS HIGHLIGHT REGIONAL TENSIONS
The three deaths announced by Biden were the first U.S. fatalities in months of strikes against American forces across the Middle East by Iranian-backed militias amid the war in Gaza. U.S. Central Command said 25 service members were injured. U.S. officials were working to conclusively identify the group responsible for the attack, but assessed that one of several Iranian-backed groups was responsible. Jordanian state television quoted a government spokesperson as contending the attack happened across the border in Syria. U.S. officials insisted it took place in Jordan, which U.S. troops have long used as a basing point. The U.S. in recent months has struck targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen to respond to attacks on American forces and to deter Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from continuing to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The war in Gaza has sparked concerns about a regional conflict. The United States, Israel's closest ally, has increasingly called for restraint in Gaza and for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the territory while supporting the offensive.
A GAZA LIFELINE AT RISK OF 'COLLAPSE'
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said "the abhorrent alleged acts" of staff members accused in the Oct. 7 attack "must have consequences," but added the agency should not be penalized by the withholding of funding, and "the dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met."The United States, the agency's largest donor, cut funding over the weekend, followed by eight other countries including Britain and Germany. Together, they provided nearly 60% of UNRWA's budget in 2022. Guterres said that of the 12 employees accused, nine were immediately terminated, one was confirmed dead and two were still being identified. He said they would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution. UNRWA provides basic services for Palestinian families who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding the country's creation. The refugees and their descendants are the majority of Gaza's population. Since the war began, most of the territory's 2.3 million people depend on the agency's programs for "sheer survival," including food and shelter, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said. A quarter of Gaza's population is facing starvation as fighting and Israeli restrictions hinder the delivery of aid, which has been well below the daily average of 500 trucks before the war. In the past week, hostages' family members and supporters have blocked aid trucks from entering at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Dozens again blocked the entry on Sunday, chanting "No aid will cross until the last hostages return." The military later declared the area around the crossing a closed military zone, which would prohibit protests there. With Gaza's future being debated, thousands, including far-right lawmakers in Netanyahu's coalition and senior Cabinet ministers, gathered in Jerusalem to call for renewing Jewish settlement in Gaza. Settlements there were evacuated in 2005, ending a 38-year-occupation, during a unilateral withdrawal of troops that bitterly divided Israel. Crowds chanted "death to terrorists" as far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir took the stage and declared it was "time to encourage immigration" of Palestinians from Gaza. The international community, including the U.S., has said it will oppose any attempts to expel Palestinians from Gaza. It also overwhelmingly considers settlements on occupied territory illegal. Netanyahu has said such views do not reflect official policy and he has no plans to resettle Gaza, but he has released few details of a postwar vision for the territory.

Palestinian lives at stake, UN says as it acts quickly to address allegations about UNRWA staff
EPHREM KOSSAIFY/Arab News/January 30, 2024
NEW YORK CITY: The UN said it was taking “swift action” in response to allegations in the past few days that several employees of the UN Relief and Works Organization for Palestine Refugees in the Near East participated in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said an investigation by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services was immediately launched. “Any employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” Dujarric said on Monday. “The (UN) Secretariat is ready to cooperate with a competent authority able to prosecute the individuals, in line with the Secretariat’s normal procedures for such cooperation.” He told Arab News the UN “would do whatever we can to appease the concerns of donors. And we, of course, have those concerns as well.”
Several key donors, including the UK, Finland and the EU, joined the US in announcing over the weekend that they were suspending funding of UNRWA. It came as the International Court of Justice in the Hague called for “immediate and effective” action to ensure humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. In a telephone call with Guterres on Sunday, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, expressed “strong concern” about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. He pledged that while the EU, one of the largest donors to UNRWA, does not foresee contributing any further funding to the agency until at least the end of February, will nonetheless continue to provide essential aid to Palestinians in Gaza “unabated, through partner organizations.”
The European Commission said it will review the decision to pause funding when the UN investigation into the agency is complete. It added that that it expects UNRWA to agree to allow EU-appointed independent experts to audit the agency and, in particular, the systems in place “to prevent the possible involvement of its staff in terrorist activities.”The commission also called for a review of “all UNRWA staff (to) confirm that they did not participate in the (Oct. 7) attacks.”Dujarric said Guterres is personally horrified by the accusations against UNRWA employees, but added that the secretary-general’s message to donors, especially those who have suspended their funding, is to “at least guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations, as we have tens of thousands of dedicated staff working throughout the region.”It is not so much the existence of UNRWA that is at stake, Dujarric said, “it’s the lives of the people that the agency serves that are at stake.” The outlook for the agency and “the millions of people it serves, not only in Gaza, but also in East Jerusalem, in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, is very bleak,” he added. Martin Griffiths, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the people of Gaza have been enduring “unthinkable horrors and deprivation for months.” Their needs have never been higher and the UN’s humanitarian capacity to assist them has never been under so great a threat, he added. “We need to be at full stretch to give the people of Gaza a moment of hope. Now is not the time to let them down,” Griffiths said. Upon receiving information about the alleged involvement of UNRWA employees in the attacks on Israel, the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, said he immediately terminated their contracts and launched an investigation into the allegations.
“Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” Lazzarini said, echoing the pledge by Dujarric.
“These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the agency has been providing since the war began. Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world.” Asked why due process had not been followed in cutting ties with the employees facing the allegations, Dujarric said: “Historically, heads of agencies and the secretary-general have the authority to immediately terminate staff when they have information that leads them to believe that these staff should be terminated immediately.”Several aid organizations expressed shock at the “reckless” decision by some donors to put their funding for UNRWA on hold, and reiterated warnings about the growing risks of starvation and disease outbreaks in Gaza. The nongovernmental organizations pleaded with donor states to reaffirm their support for the agency, reverse the suspensions of funding, and step up the levels of humanitarian aid they provide to help tackle the urgent needs in Gaza and the wider region. Dujarric welcomed this message of support for the agency, saying: “I think people in the NGO community understand the critical work that UNRWA does right now in keeping people alive, in the deliveries they have made since the beginning of this conflict but, more broadly, in all the work that they do, not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank, in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.”
Asked by Arab News about the timing of the allegations against the 12 UNRWA workers, and whether the secretary-general sees any connection between this and the International Court of Justice ruling that acts of genocide might be occurring in Gaza, Dujarric said: “We have no control or comment on the time-space continuum in which we live.”On the question of whether Guterres is concerned about the possibility that there is a deliberate effort to destroy UNRWA taking place, given that the Israeli Government has been relentless in its attacks on the agency since the beginning of the war, including a comment by one minister who said the war cannot be won without its destruction, Dujarric said: “Of course. Of course we’re concerned about attacks and about lack of funding for UNRWA.”

Hamas reiterates that Gaza war must end for any hostage release
REUTERS/January 29, 2024
DOHA: Hamas said on Monday that releasing hostages it is holding would require a guaranteed end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza and withdrawal of all invasion forces, reiterating its position after Israel held a meeting with Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
“The success of the Paris meeting is dependent on the Occupation (Israel) agreeing to end the comprehensive aggression on Gaza Strip,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. It was not immediately clear if, with this condition met, Hamas would free all or some of the 132 hostages Israel says remain in Gaza. Hamas had previously said a full release would require that Israel free all of the thousands of Palestinians held on security grounds in its prisons. A Palestinian official, close to mediation talks, who requested anonymity, said that for Hamas to sign a follow-up deal to the November truce in which it released dozens of hostages, it wants Israel to agree to end the offensive and withdraw from Gaza — though implementation would not necessarily be immediate. The agreement would have to be endorsed by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, the official said. Those countries sent top delegates to discuss the Gaza hostages crisis with senior Israeli intelligence figures on Sunday.

Israeli intelligence accuses 190 Gaza UN staff of Hamas, Islamic Jihad roles
REUTERS/January 29, 2024
JERUSALEM: An Israeli intelligence dossier that prompted a cascade of countries to halt funds for a UN Palestinian aid agency includes allegations that some staff took part in abductions and killings during the Oct. 7 raid that sparked the Gaza war. The six-page dossier, seen by Reuters, alleges that some 190 UNRWA employees, including teachers, have doubled as Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants. It has names and pictures for 11 them. The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA, which says it has fired some staffers and is investigating the allegations. One of the 11 is a school counsellor accused in the Israeli dossier of providing unspecified assistance to his son in the abduction of a woman during the Hamas infiltration in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 253 kidnapped. Another, an UNRWA social worker, is accused of unspecified involvement in the transfer to Gaza of a slain Israeli soldier’s corpse and of coordinating the movements of pick-up trucks used by the raiders and of weapons supplies. A third Palestinian in the dossier is accused of taking part in a rampage in the Israeli border village Beeri, one tenth of whose residents were killed. A fourth is accused of participating in an attack on Reim, site both of an army base that was overrun and a rave where more than 360 revellers died. The dossier was shown to Reuters by a source who could not be identified by name or nationality. The source said that it had been compiled by Israeli intelligence and shared with the United States, which on Friday suspended funding for UNRWA.The accusations that 190 staff have militant links would represent nearly 15 percent of UNRWA’s total Gaza employees of 13,000. Asked about the dossier, a spokesperson for UNRWA said she could not comment due to an ongoing probe by the United Nations. More than 10 countries, including major donors the United States and Germany, have halted their funding to the agency.
Aid operation jeopardized
That is a huge problem for an agency that more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians look to for day-to-day assistance, and which has already been hard-stretched by Israel’s war on Hamas in the enclave. UNRWA said on Monday it would not be able to continue operations in Gaza and across the region beyond the end of February if funding were not resumed. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was set up for refugees of the 1948 war at Israel’s founding in what had been British-ruled Palestine. It also tends to millions of the original refugees’ descendants in Palestinian territories and abroad.
Israel has long accused UNRWA or perpetuating conflict by discouraging the resettlement of refugees, and has on occasion said agency staff took part in armed attacks against it. UNRWA denies wrongdoing, describing its role as relief only. “From intelligence information, documents and identity cards seized during the course of the fighting, it is now possible to flag around 190 Hamas and PIJ terrorist operatives who serve as UNRWA employees,” the Hebrew-language dossier says. It accuses Hamas of “methodically and deliberately deploying its terrorist infrastructure in a wide range of UN facilities and assets,” including schools. Hamas denies that. Two of the alleged Hamas operatives cited in the dossier are described as “eliminated,” or killed by Israeli forces. A 12th Palestinian whose name and picture are provided is said to have no factional membership and to have infiltrated Israel on Oct 7.
Also in the list of 12 men are an UNRWA teacher accused of arming himself with an anti-tank rocket, another teacher accused of filming a hostage and the manager of a shop in an UNRWA school accused of opening a war-room for Islamic Jihad. More than 26,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry said. With flows of aid like food and medicine just a trickle of pre-conflict levels, deaths from preventable diseases as well as risk of famine are growing, aid workers say. Most of Gaza’s people have become more reliant on UNRWA aid, including about one million who have fled Israeli bombardments to shelter in its facilities. “The terrrorist organizations are cynically exploiting the residents of the Strip and the international organizations whose mission is to provide aid ... and in doing so are causing de facto harm to residents of the Strip,” the dossier said.

Broad framework for a potential hostage release and ceasefire in Gaza is being presented to Hamas
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/Alex Marquardt and Jennifer Hansler, CNN/Mon, January 29, 2024
A broad framework for a hostage release and potential ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel was agreed to among negotiators in Paris this weekend, according to an official familiar with the talks. While there is a basic framework that negotiators feel they can move forward with, the “details are going to be very difficult” to work out, the official said. Even though negotiators came to terms on the broad strokes, the office of Israel’s prime minister indicated Monday that there are concerns about “conditions that are not acceptable.” Egyptian intelligence today delivered the framework to Hamas in Rafah, the official said. The framework would call for a first phase of civilian hostage releases to take place over a six-week pause with three Palestinian prisoners held by Israel released for each civilian hostage returned from Gaza. That ratio would be expected to go up for Israel Defense Forces soldiers and a longer pause is possible beyond the six weeks for the later phases. “I sense optimism” after Paris, the official said, cautioning that it could still take some time for details to be fleshed out. The framework is a melding of different proposals from Israel, Hamas, Qatar and Egypt, along with additional ideas from the United States. The proposals differed on the length of the pause and ratios for swapping prisoners and hostages. A November agreement resulted in a weeklong pause in fighting in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages and another deal to free the more than 100 who remain would be a major breakthrough at a time of huge tension in the Middle East as concerns grow about a wider regional conflict breaking out. The IDF launched its offensive aiming to eliminate Hamas, after more than 1,200 people were killed and another 250 abducted in the militant group’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel. Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 have killed at least 25,700 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. CNN cannot independently verify the figures due to the difficulty of reporting from the war zone. Sunday’s discussions made “good progress to get things back in shape and at least to lay a foundation for the way forward,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Monday. “We are in much better place than where we were a few weeks ago,” Al Thani said at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. Al Thani described the framework emerging from the discussions in France with himself, US CIA Director Bill Burns and the Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs as a combination of “what’s been proposed by the Israelis and what’s been a counter-proposal from Hamas.” “We tried to blend things together to come up with some sort of reasonable ground that brings everybody together,” he said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he discussed the “ongoing efforts” to free Israeli hostages and create an “extended pause” in fighting in Gaza during his meeting with Al Thani on Monday. “This is critical to them being able to get to the formula that we’ve been talking about for putting a durable end to the cycle of violence that we’ve seen in the region for generation after generation, and the opportunity that exists to actually achieve it, an integrated Israel with relations with all of its neighbors, security commitments, assurances that it needs to make sure that it can move forward in peace and security, Palestinian Authority that’s reformed and a clear pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken said at a news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Earlier, the Qatari prime minister downplayed the prospect of immediate results coming out of the talks. “We don’t know and we cannot predict what (Hamas’ response) will be and we are sure that we will be faced with some challenges and obstacles.” Hamas must get “to a place where they engage positively and constructively in the process,” Al Thani said.Coming out of the discussions in France, Al Thani is in Washington this week for meetings with top Biden administration officials. He met on Monday morning with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Iran says it has no link to drone strike in Jordan that killed US soldiers
(Reuters)/January 29, 2024
Iran views claims it is involved in an attack that killed three U.S. service members in northeastern Jordan near Syria's border as "baseless", foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday. Kanaani also said the continuation of U.S. strikes on Syria and Iraq as well as the war in Gaza will only intensify a cycle of instability in the region. U.S. President Biden blamed Iran-backed groups for the unmanned aerial drone attack on U.S. forces, the first deadly strike against U.S. forces since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October and sent shock waves throughout the Middle East. Kanaani said "resistance groups" do not take orders from the Islamic Republic. Earlier, Iran's Mission to the United States issued a statement affirming that "Iran had no connection and had nothing to do with the attack on the U.S. base."It added: "There is a conflict between U.S. forces and resistance groups in the region, which reciprocate retaliatory attacks." The attack is a major escalation of the already tense situation in the Middle East, where war broke out in Gaza after an attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7.

Qatar hopes US retaliation won't undercut hostage talks
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/January 29, 2024
Qatar's prime minister on Monday said he hoped U.S. retaliation for an attack that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan would not undercut progress toward a new Israel-Hamas hostage release deal in weekend talks. "I hope that nothing would undermine the efforts that we are doing or jeopardize the process," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al Thani told a Washington think tank audience when asked if U.S. retaliation for a drone attack by Iran-backed militants could scuttle an emerging deal. CIA Director William Burns met Sheikh Mohammed, as well as the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service and the head of Egyptian intelligence on Sunday, in talks described as constructive by Israel, Qatar and the United States, albeit with significant gaps remaining. U.S. President Joe Biden has been trying to facilitate the release of the more than 100 hostages who remain captive after the deadly Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel by militants from Hamas, which rules Gaza. According to Israel, some 1,200 people were killed and 253 abducted in the attack, which sparked Israel's war to eliminate Hamas. Israel has since unleashed a torrent of strikes on Gaza that have flattened most of the Palestinian enclave and killed more than 26,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. Tensions have surged around the Middle East since Israel began its aerial and ground offensive, with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi forces striking U.S. and other targets in the Red Sea in attacks that have disrupted global shipping. In a major escalation, three U.S. service members were killed and at least 34 wounded in a drone attack by Iran-backed militants on U.S. troops in northeastern Jordan near the Syrianborder, U.S. officials said on Sunday. Speaking at Washington's Atlantic Council think tank, the Qatari prime minister said U.S. retaliation "will definitely have an impact ... One way or another it will definitely have an impact on regional security and we hope things get contained."

Iran allegedly hired Canadians to conduct assassinations on U.S. soil, according to indictment
CBC/January 29, 2024
Two Canadians planned to conduct assassinations in the U.S. on behalf of Iran's intelligence services, according to allegations in a newly unsealed indictment. The suspects are accused of plotting to shoot a man and woman living in Maryland, one of them a defector from Iran. The charges unsealed Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice include details of the alleged plot, including the sum the would-be killers had charged for the job: $350,000 US. News of the charges emerges at a time of acutely high tension with Iran, as the U.S. threatens retaliation after three U.S. military members were killed in an attack by an Iran-backed militia. The indictment identifies one Canadian suspect as Damion Patrick John Ryan, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels criminal gang who allegedly assembled a team of gunmen in late 2020 and early 2021. He was allegedly working with another Canadian, Adam Richard Pearson, who was living illegally in Minnesota at the time. They were hired by an accused Iranian drug-dealer who operates on the instructions of a certain officer with Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to the U.S. Three soldiers were killed in an overnight drone strike targeting U.S. troops near the Syrian border. President Joe Biden has vowed to retaliate, adding to fears of an escalated conflict in the Middle East. According to the indictment, Pearson promised that he would recruit people and promised to tell them to shoot the victims repeatedly in the head in order to make an example of them. He also allegedly texted Ryan to say, of one intended victim: "We gotta erase his head from his torso."
U.S. announces sanctions against network
In a separate action Monday, the United States government announced financial sanctions against the network run by the alleged drug-dealer, Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti. American authorities say Zindashti is based in Iran and his criminal operation is given free rein by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
In exchange for state protection, they say, the criminal group carries out assassinations and kidnappings, on multiple continents, of dissidents and opponents of the Iranian regime; according to the U.S. Treasury Department, these operations were overseen by MOIS officer Reza Hamidiravari. "The Iranian regime's continued efforts to target dissidents and activists demonstrate the regime's deep insecurity and attempt to expand Iran's domestic repression internationally," said U.S. Treasury official Brian Nelson. The charges do not identify the intended targets in Maryland. Authorities said the assassination plot against them was stopped before it could be carried out. "Thanks to the skilled work of federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents, this murder-for-hire conspiracy was disrupted and the defendants will face justice," said U.S. prosecutor Andrew Luger, based in Minnesota. As for the suspects, both are already in prison. Ryan is currently jailed in Canada on firearms charges and Pearson was arrested by the FBI in 2021 and extradited to Canada over a murder in Alberta four years ago. They are now charged in the U.S. with one count of conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in a murder-for-hire plot, as is Zindashti.
Pearson also faces separate firearms charges. The new allegations have not been proven in court.

Muslim council cancels meeting with Trudeau over Liberal stance on hate crimes, Gaza
The Canadian Press/Mon, January 29, 2024
OTTAWA — The National Council of Canadian Muslims has cancelled a scheduled meeting today with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying there's no point in speaking with him. Chief executive Stephen Brown says that's because of Trudeau's response to the situation in the Gaza Strip and his government's failure to deliver legislation and funding to prevent hate crimes. Brown says Trudeau has not followed through on promises he made to the Muslim community in the 2015 election that brought him to power. He says he sees no evidence Ottawa is willing to put pressure on Israel to ease its bombardment of the territory controlled by Hamas, whose brutal attack on Israel last October has provoked a massive military response. And he argues Canada's lack of support for an international court ruling last Friday that Israel must prevent a genocide of Palestinians shows the federal Liberals only support justice for some. The Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond to Brown's comments. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2024.

Pakistan, Iran to expand security cooperation, move on from missile strikes
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) / January 29, 2024
Pakistan and Iran on Monday said they respected each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity and would expand security cooperation, bidding to mend ties after tit-for-tat missile strikes at what they said were militant targets. Foreign ministers of the two countries held talks in the Pakistani capital days after their military moves earlier in January raised concerns about wider instability in the region since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on Oct. 7. Pakistan's caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, speaking at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, said the neighbours had several strong channels of communication with each other. "All these channels were operational and we were able to bring whatever issue or misunderstanding that had been created between our two countries, we were able to resolve it fairly quickly," he said. The two neighbouring Muslim nations have had a history of rocky relations, but the missile strikes were the most serious incidents in years. The two countries agreed to fight terrorism in their respective areas and establish a system of consultations at the level of the foreign ministers to oversee progress across sectors, Jilani said. Abdollahian said the two countries had a good understanding, and that there have never been territorial differences or wars between Iran and Pakistan. "We consider Pakistan's security, a brotherly, friendly and neighbourly country of Iran, as the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the security of the whole region," Abdollahian said. "Through joint cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad, we will not let terrorists endanger and threaten the security of the two nations," he said, adding that Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi would soon visit Pakistan. Relations between the two countries had soured after the missile strikes, with Pakistan recalling its ambassador to Tehran and not allowing his counterpart to return to Islamabad, as well as cancelling all high-level diplomatic and trade engagements. But efforts were swiftly made to lower the temperature, with the envoys asked to return to their posts and Abdollahian invited for talks. Islamabad said it hit bases of the separatist Baloch Liberation Front and Baloch Liberation Army, while Tehran said it struck militants from the Jaish al Adl (JAA) group. The militant groups operate in an area that includes Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan and Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. Both regions are restive, mineral-rich and largely underdeveloped.

Russia is replacing its destroyed tanks at a rate of 100 a month, UK intel says
Sinéad Baker/Business Insider/January 29, 2024
Russia has lost up to 365 main battle tanks since early October, it added.
But it's generating at least 100 tanks a month, largely replacing those losses, the ministry said. Russia can make 100 tanks a month, allowing it to keep its offensive effort at the same level despite suffering major losses, UK intelligence said.
The UK Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update on Monday that Russia's ground forces had lost up to 365 main battle tanks since early October — meaning a loss of a bit more than 100 tanks a month. But it can replace them at a similar rate, it added. "Russia can probably generate at least 100 MBTs a month and therefore retains the capacity to replace battlefield losses and continue this level of offensive activity for the foreseeable future," the ministry said. The ministry added that Russia, in addition to tanks, had lost up to 700 armored vehicles since October. In that time, it has "only achieved minor territorial gains," it added. Since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has lost about 2,600 main battle tanks and 4,900 other armored vehicles, the ministry said. Russia's ability to continue its same level of attack comes at a time when the support Ukraine is getting from the West, from which it's getting its more-modern tank models and much of its weaponry, is in doubt. The gutted remains of a destroyed Russian tank lies at the front line in Ukraine. Ukraine has lost far fewer tanks and vehicles than Russia has in the conflict, according to weapons trackers and experts. But faltering Western support means that Russia has an advantage. Ukraine needs help to keep its weaponry and tank fleet working. In the US, Republicans are blocking new support for Ukraine. The Pentagon said this meant there's no funding even to repair weapons already sent to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a German lawmaker said Ukraine was using only a "very small number" of the advanced Leopard tanks that Germany gave it because of a lack of spare parts and slow repairs. Many European countries are still giving support to Ukraine, but Hungary has blocked a major $52 billion support package.
Experts also say that Russia has material, industrial, and manpower advantages over Ukraine. Russia appears to have been able to manufacture enough missiles to replenish its depleted stockpiles after ramping up its production capabilities.
Over the course of the war, videos have emerged of Russia losing many armored vehicles, including footage filmed in the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, which has become one of the war's most intense hot spots.
One video showed a graveyard of damaged Russian vehicles in Avdiivka late last year. Ukraine also suffered major tank losses at the start of its counteroffensive efforts in June, but losses seem to have dropped since then. One expert told Business Insider that Ukraine quickly realized it had made a tactical mistake and pivoted from it, while Russia continued to make the same mistakes and saw repeated tank losses as a result.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 29-30.2024
Time to End UNRWA's Jihad against Israel
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/January 29, 2024
"Hamas is involved in everything. Hamas has their hands on UNRWA administration workers. Hamas manages UNRWA. They are those in charge in the agency. From the day Hamas came to power, they took control of everything. The UNRWA employees are from Hamas. The heads of the departments and the senior staff are Hamas members." —Palestinian from the Gaza Strip to an Israeli officer in a recorded call, X (Twitter) December 27, 2023.
It is now clear that the UN heads were lying when they said they were unaware of the involvement of their employees with terror groups. In fact, they knew but did their utmost to appease Hamas.
In a moment of rare honesty, in 2021 the UN acknowledged that UNRWA's school curriculum referred to Israel as "the enemy," taught children mathematics by counting "martyred terrorists," and included the phrase "Jihad is one of the doors to paradise" in Arabic grammar lessons.
"Before UNRWA, this terrorist accomplice [Abdallah Mehjez] worked for the BBC..." — Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
"Now is the time for reform. Reform for rehabilitation - so that the minds of Palestinian children can no longer be poisoned. So that there can be a shared vision of peace in this land." — Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner, X (Twitter), January 27, 2024.
Western taxpayers should not be funding terror groups disguised as humanitarian organizations.
UNRWA was established to support the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees, not to support the development of terrorism.
It is time to dismantle UNRWA and end the farce of Palestinian "refugees." There are no real refugees. There are millions of Palestinians living -- often in unspeakable conditions (so that Israel can be blamed) -- under the control of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
It is the UN that enables and perpetuates this human rights abuse. These Palestinians live under Palestinian and Arab regimes that should long ago have absorbed them instead of keeping them in "refugee camps" with the cheery "humanitarian" promise that they will one day flood Israel, turn the Jews into a persecuted minority in their own country, then bring about its demise.
It is now clear that the UN heads were lying when they said they were unaware of the involvement of their employees with terror groups. In fact, they knew but did their utmost to appease Hamas.
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has announced that he decided to fire several employees of his agency after Israeli authorities provided information about their "alleged" involvement in Hamas's massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023.
"To protect the Agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay," Lazzarini said. "Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "horrified" by the Israeli accusations.
Guterres asked the UNRWA chief to investigate the involvement of the employees in the Hamas atrocities and "ensure that any UNRWA employee shown to have participated in what transpired on October 7 or any other criminal activity be terminated immediately and referred for potential criminal prosecution," said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. "An urgent comprehensive review of UNRWA will be conducted."
The UN, which has long ignored or denied the involvement of its employees in anti-Israeli terrorism and incitement, is now feigning shock and horror by the participation of some of its employees in the Hamas atrocities, during which 1,200 Israelis were killed, thousands more wounded and more than 240 kidnapped to the Gaza Strip for use as hostages. During the October 7 carnage, Israelis and others (here and here) were brutally murdered, beheaded, mutilated and burned alive.
The UN does not need to launch an investigation "to establish the truth" about the involvement of its employees in terrorism and incitement against Israel.
There is no reason why the UN and its heads should be "horrified." For years, there has been ample evidence regarding the close connection between UNRWA and Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. It is now clear that the UN heads were lying when they said they were unaware of the involvement of their employees with terror groups. In fact, they knew but did their utmost to appease Hamas.
Former UNRWA head Peter Hansen openly conceded that Hamas members were likely employed by the agency. "Oh, I'm sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime," Hansen told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in October 2004. He added:
"Hamas as a political organization does not mean that every member is a militant and we do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion as against another."
In recent years, there have been several instances of Palestinian terrorists employed by UNRWA or using its facilities, equipment and vehicles to carry our terror attacks.
Between 2003 and 2004, 13 Palestinians employed by UNRWA were arrested for alleged involvement in terror attacks on behalf of a variety of terrorist groups, including Hamas. In one example, Nahed Rashid Ahmed Attalah, director of food supplies for UNRWA refugees, used UN vehicles and his UN free travel permit to aid the terrorist activities of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group consisting of several terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. Attalah admitted to using his UN vehicle on multiple occasions to transport arms, explosives, and terrorists to carry our terror attacks against Israel.
Since the beginning of the current Israel-Hamas war, Israeli troops have located dozens of explosive devices in UNRWA bags, as well as assault rifles and 15 explosive belts. Hamas terrorists have also been shooting from UNRWA schools at Israeli soldiers.
In a recorded call, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip told an Israeli officer in December 2023:
"Hamas is involved in everything. Hamas has their hands on UNRWA administration workers. Hamas manages UNRWA. They are those in charge in the agency. From the day Hamas came to power, they took control of everything. The UNRWA employees are from Hamas. The heads of the departments and the senior staff are Hamas members."
In a moment of rare honesty, in 2021 the UN acknowledged that UNRWA's school curriculum referred to Israel as "the enemy," taught children mathematics by counting "martyred terrorists," and included the phrase "Jihad is one of the doors to paradise" in Arabic grammar lessons.
Despite the acknowledgment, the UN did not take substantial measures to end the anti-Israel incitement, and despite the revelations, Hamas terrorists disguised as teachers have continued to work for UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip.
Recently, the Israel Defense Forces discovered copies of letters from Hamas's armed wing to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Education, requesting that teachers be excused to participate in "military training" exercises. The result: many Palestinian teachers were employed by UNRWA.
One letter read:
"Subject:
Lenient Work Schedule
With regard to the matter mentioned above, we ask of you to provide the brother Nur-Aldin Naim Mahmoud Siam, who works at the Aljanan high school (as a math teacher), with a flexible work schedule, as the nature of his position with us requires constant follow-ups."
Another letter by the Hamas armed wing to the Ministry of Education read:
"Subject:
Granting Release
With regard to the matter mentioned above, we ask of you to release the brother Moataz Abed-Alrazk Muhammad Alfara, who works at the education administration in west Khan Yunis, as we need him for military training on the date 28/09/2023. This date is not flexible."
UN Watch, a non-governmental organization whose mandate is to monitor the performance of the UN and its agencies, revealed on January 10 that UNRWA-employed teachers in the Gaza Strip celebrated the Hamas massacre and praised the murderers as "heroes." The teachers also glorified the "education" the terrorists had received, gleefully sharing photos of dead or kidnapped Israelis and urging the execution of the hostages.
According to UN Watch, a Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers in the Gaza Strip included thousands of hateful posts. These 3,000 are in addition to 133 UNRWA educators and staff who were exposed for promoting hate and violence in UN Watch's last report on March 2023.
In the Telegram group, UNRWA teacher Waseem Ula, who regularly posts information on salaries, shared a photo of a suicide bomb vest wired with explosives, with the caption: "Wait, sons of Judaism." He also glorified Hamas terrorist Akram Abu Hasanen as a "friend" and "brother" and prayed to God to "admit him to paradise without judgement."
UNRWA teacher Shatha Husam Al-Nawajha said of the Hamas terrorists: "They breastfed Jihad (holy war) with their mother's milk. May Allah grant them victory."
UNRWA teacher Abdallah Mehjez: "He does Hamas' work urging Gaza civilians NOT to heed warnings to move out of harm's way, and instead to serve as human shields. Before UNRWA, this terrorist accomplice worked for the BBC..."
"This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers' incitement to Jihadi terrorism," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
The Telegram chat group, meant to support UNRWA teachers, contains dozens of files with staff names, ID numbers, schedules and curriculum materials. Yet, the UNRWA teachers regularly share videos, photos and messages inciting to Jihadi terrorism, and openly celebrating the Hamas massacre and rape of civilians.
When UN Watch exposed the social media group, UN officials denied that the teachers work for UNRWA.
"Five days ago, we exposed a Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers in Gaza replete with praise of the Hamas massacre of October 7th. UNRWA cast doubt that they work for them. The UN spokesman disparaged us," wrote Neuer.
"[T]he group admins and members are indeed part of UNRWA..
"Group admins include Safaa Mohammad Al Najjar from Rafah (UNRWA ID#30026166). She often shares administrative information about UNRWA to the group, including UNRWA employee lists...
Now recall that UNRWA's position, in the words of [its spokesman] @Adnan_Hasna, is that 'We don't know who's in this Telegram group.'"
"Over the course of my military career I worked extensively with UNRWA in both the West Bank and Gaza," commented Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner.
"My role as a senior humanitarian liaison officer was to facilitate the humanitarian operations. I was an advocate in the defense establishment and over the years on social media for the importance to support the organizations activity... Now is the time for reform. Reform for rehabilitation - so that the minds of Palestinian children can no longer be poisoned. So that there can be a shared vision of peace in this land. So the Palestinian leadership, step up to their responsibilities (and don't defer them to the UN). So the term refugee will not be exploited to erase the connection to this land by one or the other."
The US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland are countries have so far paused funding for UNRWA in response to the revelations of involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorism against Israel. Western taxpayers should not be funding terror groups disguised as humanitarian organizations. These organizations have long served as flunkies of antisemitic regimes and Islamic extremists seeking to destroy the world's only Jewish state. It now remains to be seen if these countries will refuse to submit to pressure from the Palestinians to renew funding to UNRWA.
The notion that members of UNRWA staff were involved with, celebrated, advocated, and assisted with imprisoning Hamas's hostages is revealing. One of the hostages released in November 2023 was held for 50 days in the attic of an UNRWA teacher. The teacher locked the victim away, barely provided food, and neglected his medical needs.
The dismissed employees are just the start.
UNRWA was established to support the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees, not to support the development of terrorism. It is shameful that it took the world so long to take a stand when what was going on was plain for all to see.
The UNRWA teachers who celebrated the massacre of Israelis were simply acting on what they have been teaching their students for years. The teachers are complicit in promoting and teaching Hamas's ideology. They demonstrated how UNRWA has become an arm for terrorism and Jihad against Israel.
One can only hope that the Biden administration now realizes the grave mistake it made in 2021 when it announced the resumption of US assistance to UNRWA. The Trump administration had halted funding to UNRWA after accusing it of being "riddled with waste, fraud and concerns of support to terrorism."
It is time to dismantle UNRWA and end the farce of Palestinian "refugees." There are no real refugees. There are millions of Palestinians living -- often in unspeakable conditions (so that Israel can be blamed) -- under the control of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
It is the UN that enables and perpetuates this human rights abuse. These Palestinians live under Palestinian and Arab regimes that should long ago have absorbed them instead of keeping them in "refugee camps" with the cheery "humanitarian" promise that they will one day flood Israel, turn the Jews into a persecuted minority in their own country, then bring about its demise.
*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.

Genocide ruling a vindication for international justice
Baria Alamuddin./Arab News/January 29, 2024
Last week’s ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel has a case to answer on accusations of genocide against the Palestinian people was cause for celebration as a reaffirmed vindication of the primacy of international law and the UN-centered global system, after decades of neglect and deliberate sabotage had allowed crimes against humanity to become the new worldwide normal.
No less a figure than US President Joe Biden hailed the court last November as “one of humanity’s most critical institutions to advance peace around the world.” Though Biden may now be regretting this praise, the court is indeed one of the few precarious bulwarks we have against savage laws of the jungle, and genocidal campaigns against Uighurs in China, Rohingya in Myanmar, Syrians, Ukrainians, India’s minorities, and Darfur communities. The calm and precise manner in which presiding judge Joan Donoghue — the American lawyer and legal scholar — delivered her judgment was particularly impressive. “An entire generation of children in Gaza is traumatized. Their future is in jeopardy,” she warned.
Although the ruling stopped short of explicitly demanding a ceasefire, the court specifically ordered Israel to take “all measures within its power” to prevent the genocide of Palestinians and to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. A defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not be constrained by the ruling, and retorted: “We will act as needed for our security.” Nevertheless, a chastized Israel must submit a report in one month confirming how it is implementing the court’s orders. The judgment also rightly called out Hamas for its bloody Oct. 7 attack and ordered it to liberate the 130 or so Israeli hostages it still holds.
With judges nominated by countries such as the US, France, Germany, Australia and Japan, it cannot be claimed that the court is stacked against Israel – although British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak fumed that the decision was “totally unjustified.” Member states such Russia, India and China — with problematic human rights records — can hardly be accused of nominating activists. Even the Israeli judge Aharon Barak voted for two of the court’s six orders. The rulings have blown a large and irreparable hole in the aura of impunity that Israel has forever enjoyed, evidenced by Netanyahu’s furious reaction that they were a “disgrace that will not be erased for generations.” Never have truer words been spoken regarding the Gaza carnage.
Israel’s international donors and champions will be understandably reluctant to find themselves accused of abetting genocide, particularly as the court will take several years to reach a final judgment. The EU demanded “full and immediate” implementation of the ruling. Countries must consider their legal exposure if selling arms to Israel, and there are implications for Israel losing voting and membership rights in international bodies if it refuses to comply. The ruling also provides rocket fuel for worldwide initiatives toboycott Israel.
With 30,000 staff members, UNRWA is the UN’s largest agency and one of its longest-running operations. Around 152 UN staff have already been killed in Gaza. Whatever the substance of the latest allegations against a small number of staff members, for numerous states to suspend donations at this crucial moment is cruel and ill considered, every bit as much an act of collective punishment as Israel’s post-Oct. 7 retaliation.
Israel may hate having the G-word used against it, but genocide and ethnic cleansing are inscribed within the ethos of the brutal Gaza campaign.
It is difficult not to see this as yet another strand of Israel’s efforts to starve and extinguish Gaza’s population, while simultaneously seeking to discredit the UN. As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “The tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized.”
Israel may hate having the G-word used against it, but genocide and ethnic cleansing are inscribed within the ethos of the brutal Gaza campaign. As Washington Post journalist Karen Attiah argued, Netanyahu’s emphatic rejection of Palestinian sovereignty necessitates either dominating or eliminating the Palestinian people: “Either apartheid or ethnic cleansing. How can these words be understood any other way?”
Numerous Israeli officials have been categorical about never allowing Gaza’s civilians to return to their homes, or eradicating them altogether. Netanyahu has given credence to such calls with his reluctance to publicly clarify his vision for the Gaza endgame, and with his own quoting of Biblical injunctions that command: “Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants.” Such manifestly genocidal statements persuaded the court to refer specifically to “incitement” in its interim judgement.
Cheerleaders for Israel have angrily retorted that the court ruling is especially offensive wielded against Israel, a country that was forged in the ashes of the worst genocide in human history. The latter point is not in dispute. But actual historical genocide against Jews in no way permits Israel’s leaders to embark on their own genocidal acts. Neither can such historical facts be used as a blunt instrument with which to bludgeon those holding Israel to account. The Nazi Holocaust is a compelling reason why the world has such robust — albeit weakly enforced — human rights and war crimes laws.
In the aftermath of Hamas’s atrocities, Israel’s campaign of vengeance and annihilation has been so brutal that more than 30,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, are already almost certainly dead, including those lost under the rubble. In its rush to exact collective vengeance against Palestinians, Israel has brought itself full circle to the point where it is almost universally viewed as, like Hamas, the criminal and not the victim. As one analyst put it: “It is not the Palestinians alone who must be saved from Israel. Israel needs to be saved from itself.”The urgency with which the US has revived behind-the-scenes negotiations toward hostage release and a longer-term ceasefire demonstrates how fundamentally the court ruling has reconfigured the Gaza status quo.
This court ruling should be a first step toward wholesale rehabilitation of grievously abused international justice and conflict resolution mechanisms: a blueprint for how, when international justice speaks, the world is compelled to decisively respond.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

What will be the effect of momentous world court ruling?
Chris Doyle/Arab News/January 29, 2024
Far too many viewers, listeners and readers in Western states would not have been fully informed about Israel’s loss at the International Court of Justice last Friday. Much of the media ignored or downplayed the rulings of the paramount judicial body in international law when it found that there were plausible grounds to consider that Israel’s conduct against Palestinians in Gaza could amount to the crime of genocide and ordered a series of provisional measures. There are few crimes graver than genocide, which is the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. The international court determined that, for the purposes of the Genocide Convention, the Palestinians of Gaza constitute a people. This will infuriate the many Israeli leaders and politicians, both past and present, who deny that the Palestinian people even exist. The court said they do exist and that they may be at risk of being erased. Moreover, this was not a close decision. It was a clear-cut vote from the judges, either 15-2 or 16-1, with even the Israeli ad hoc judge voting in favor in two cases. Many expected the court to be far more divided.
It will be several years before the court reaches an ultimate determination as to whether Israel’s actions constitute genocide, but Tel Aviv is now on trial for that crime. Every action it takes in Gaza has to be assessed. So, if it strikes another hospital, is this a single act or pattern of behavior?
It will be hard, if not impossible, to implement the orders of the court without there being an immediate ceasefire
Palestinians are widely bemoaning the court’s failure to order an immediate ceasefire. One can understand why, given the huge loss of life, destruction and starvation they are enduring. Looking at the situation on the ground, how can any right-thinking person wish to see this carnage continue for one moment longer? Moreover, having determined that a genocide could be occurring, should the court not be ordering every possible measure to stop it? Various reasons have been cited as to why this was the case. Hamas is not a state and not a party to the Genocide Convention, so the court has no authority over it. It also agreed that Israel did have the right to take action after the atrocities of Oct. 7, which few deny. One should not belittle the momentous nature of these rulings and the knock-on impact they should have.
Firstly, it will be hard, if not impossible, to implement the orders of the court without there being an immediate ceasefire. This is the view of, for example, B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization. You cannot provide humanitarian aid in Gaza while it is under bombardment, so a cessation of Israeli attacks is essential. Secondly, the rulings may have a chilling effect on diplomats, officials and military personnel in states that are actively aiding and abetting Israel, and specifically those that supply Israel with weapons. These people should be asking if any of their actions might make them complicit in a potential genocide. What about the Israeli reaction? Despite their public outbursts, the Israeli leaders must be rattled. The cozy existence in which they enjoyed complete impunity has been, if not shattered, at least rocked. The Israeli defense against the charge of genocide was lamentable. On the one hand, its spokespeople claimed that the international court is the legal arm of Hamas. On the other, Israel won because the court did not order a ceasefire. Netanyahu was in full global gaslighting mode when he claimed that “Israel’s commitment to international law is unwavering.” If only.
The cozy existence in which Israeli leaders enjoyed complete impunity has been, if not shattered, at least rocked
Will Israel adhere to any of the orders? Will Israel agree to provide a report on its progress within a month? Very unlikely. More likely, Israeli leaders may start limiting the bombardment of Gaza and permit more humanitarian aid into the Strip to lower the international pressure.
As for the reaction of Israel’s allies, the US, UK and others have refused to demand that Israel adhere to the rulings. The accusations of double standards are overwhelming. When the court ordered provisional measures in the case against Myanmar, the UK welcomed the decision and asserted that Myanmar must do more “to protect the Rohingya.” In the case of Israel, the British government stated: “We respect the role and independence of the ICJ. However, we have stated that we have considerable concerns about this case, which is not helpful in the goal of achieving a sustainable ceasefire.”
Instead, at least 10 donor states have suspended funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency after it dismissed several employees on the basis of allegations, not proven claims, that they participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Was this a punishment for the temerity of South Africa in taking Israel to the world court? Who knows? But it is punishing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, who are already on the cusp of death by bombing, starvation and disease.
While UNRWA is punished as a result of mere allegations, Israel is exonerated of all charges by the US and others before an investigation has even properly begun. In its more than 110 days of bombardment of Gaza, Israel has not been held to account once. For example, I have yet to hear one American or British leader condemn the public incitement to genocide from Israeli leaders. The court ordered Israel to investigate and punish such statements. The rest of the world is looking on aghast. How did the US and its allies react to these allegations? It suspended funding. How has the US reacted to the International Court of Justice’s ruling that there are plausible grounds that Israel is committing genocide? Nothing. Did the US or the UK say they would be suspending the sale of arms and the massive bombs that have been used in the Gaza Strip to destroy civilian infrastructure? Not a bit. Attention will this week turn to the UN Security Council. Algeria is pursuing a case there “in order to activate the ruling of the International Court of Justice on the provisional measures imposed on the Israeli occupation.” Will the US veto a resolution calling for the court’s orders to be implemented? How will Britain and France vote?
The ruling should also push the International Criminal Court to expedite its investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by any party in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Delay is inexcusable and questions must be asked why this is not proceeding faster.
At the optimistic end of the spectrum — if there is one — perhaps even Israel’s most ardent backers will conclude that a proper ceasefire is overdue. The international court may not have ordered one directly, but perhaps it has made a ceasefire more likely.
**Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London. X: @Doylech

Time for EU to show some backbone and stand up to Israel
Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/January 29, 2024
The EU largely stayed silent when Israel began pounding the besieged Gaza Strip with the kind of ferocity that could only lead to genocide. In fact, it remained silent even when the word “genocide” quickly replaced the earlier reference to the “Israel-Hamas war,” starting on Oct. 7.
Those familiar with the EU’s political discourse and actions regarding Israel and Palestine must already realize that most of its governments have always been on the side of Israel. However, if this is true, what can we make of last week’s comments by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, when he seemed to lash out at Israel, accusing it of “seeding hate for generations?” During a joint press conference in Brussels with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi, Borrell said: “Israel cannot have the veto right to the self-determination of the Palestinian people.”
But is Borrell being genuine? His frustration with Tel Aviv stems from the realization that Israel does not take the bloc seriously. He is right. Tel Aviv has never truly seen Brussels as a strong and relevant political actor in comparison to Washington, or even London. Recent months have further exposed this unequal relationship. Soon after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, European leaders — starting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron — flocked to Tel Aviv to, in the words of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, reiterate that “Israel has every right to defend itself.”Israel sees the EU as a lackey, even though the bloc, collectively, carries significant economic weight
But European support exceeded that of language or political gestures. It also arrived in the form of military and intelligence support. “As of Nov. 2, the German government has approved the export of close to €303 million ($323 million) worth of defense equipment to Israel,” Reuters reported, comparing the large sum to the €32 million of defense exports that were approved by Berlin in all of 2022. This is just one example. While the Americans did not shy away from assuming the role of partner in the Gaza war, the EU’s position seemed dishonest and, at best, morally inconsistent. For example, an enthusiastic Macron wanted to establish an anti-Daesh-like military coalition to target Hamas, while the leaders of Spain and Belgium jointly called for a permanent ceasefire during a press conference at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Nov. 24.
Borrell initially approached the genocidal war from an entirely pro-Israeli perspective. “I am not a lawyer,” he said, when asked in an interview last November whether Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza. A minute later, he asserted that Hamas’ Al-Aqsa Flood operation was undoubtedly a war crime.
This is not a simple case of Western double standards. Israel sees the EU as a lackey, even though the bloc, collectively, carries significant economic weight. However, in the case of Israel, it refuses to translate this into political leverage. Until Brussels learns to resolve this dichotomy, it will continue with this kind of bizarre foreign policy. One reason Israel sees the EU as an inferior political actor compared to Washington is because the Europeans have linked much of their foreign policy agenda to America’s, which is, in turn, motivated by Tel Aviv’s agenda and interests.
Their governments are the ones that have empowered Israel and disempowered Palestinians over the years. This is how it works. When Macron joined Biden in unconditionally supporting Israel at the beginning of the war, Netanyahu remarked that he was “highly appreciative” of the French position. But when, in November, Macron dared criticize Israel’s killing of women and babies in Gaza, Netanyahu immediately lashed out, accusing Macron of making “a serious mistake, factually and morally.”
Slowly, the EU began developing a somewhat stronger position on Gaza, though certainly not strong enough to demand an end to the war or to threaten consequences. Last week, it held a ministerial meeting, inviting Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and his Palestinian counterpart Riyad Al-Maliki to attend. The conference was a feeble attempt to signal the EU’s readiness to assert itself as a relevant political actor in the Middle East. The truth, however, is that the bloc was motivated by other factors, including a green light from the Biden administration, which has grown more frustrated with Netanyahu for refusing to engage in Washington’s discourse about future visions and a two-state solution.Also, the regional instability, whether in the Red Sea or in Lebanon — itself a result of the Gaza war — continues to pose a direct risk to Europe’s economic and strategic interests. The EU’s relationship with the Middle East is, in some ways, different to that of Washington. While the US is always ready to reinvent its geopolitical priorities, Brussels is indefinitely bound by the rules of physical proximity to the region — its vital geography, its resources and its people. It knows this. Borrell, who devised the maxim that “Europe is a garden” but “the rest of the world is a jungle” and the “jungle could invade the garden,” understands that the instability of the Middle East could endanger his precious “garden,” even when the war is over.This is why Borrell was keen on the EU’s ministerial meeting. But instead of engaging in serious talks, the meeting further highlighted the bloc’s irrelevance, at least in the eyes of Israel.
Katz went to the meeting to present plans for an artificial island off the coast of Gaza — likely to displace Palestinians from the Strip — and a railway to India. “I think the minister could have made better use of his time,” Borrell said. Other top EU diplomats said the videos were part of old ideas presented by Katz in a previous role, while they “surprised” others in the room. But the EU diplomats should not be surprised. After all, their governments are the ones that have empowered Israel and disempowered Palestinians over the years. Even now, many of them continue to champion Israel’s mass killings in Gaza as Tel Aviv’s right to self-defense. If Borrell truly wishes to develop a political backbone, he should fully back international law and advocate for the use of the EU’s massive economic leverage to put pressure on Israel to end its war and its military occupation of Palestine. Failing to do so gives greater credibility to the claim that Brussels, just like Washington, is a direct partner in the Israeli war on the Palestinian people.
*Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and author. He is editor of The Palestine Chronicle and nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappe, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.” X: @RamzyBaroud

Gaza war could shift region’s rules of engagement
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/January 29, 2024
Operation Al-Aqsa Flood has openly displayed the conflicting interests of stakeholders and brought the region back to the center of attention. Certain observers believe that the outcome of the Gaza dispute will shape the global order, surpassing other current conflicts in Asia or Europe. Amid the Gaza war and other regional interactions, Iran’s tensions with the US and Israel are escalating. Tel Aviv is exploiting the current volatility to target Iranian proxies, particularly Hezbollah. This is part of Israel’s greater plan to position itself as the dominant economic and political power in the Middle East by reshaping the region. In light of this, Iran is revamping its strategies and approaches to engage and confront its adversaries.
Iran’s approach to the Gaza war is based on three key factors. Firstly, its relationship with Hamas and the so-called Axis of Resistance. Secondly, internal socioeconomic conditions, with Iran aiming to address them through de-escalation and reconciliation with its neighbors, as reflected in last year’s Saudi Arabia-Iran rapport deal. Thirdly, its relations with the US, amid concerns that, if the war continues and expands, Washington will intervene on the side of Israel, ultimately ending the Iranian project. Iran is keen to avoid this scenario.
Iran’s perspective, since the outbreak of the Gaza war, is that the US is aiming to reposition itself as a vital actor in the region in the light of China’s growing engagement through its transnational corridor, diplomacy and partnerships with Gulf states. Iran posits that, in order to achieve this, Washington and its partners last year announced the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, which Tehran perceives as a threat to its own aspirations to connect East and West, as well as the Global North and Global South, via economic corridors. The elimination of Hamas would open the door to more advanced and aggressive campaigns against other Iranian proxies
Some interpretations suggest that the Oct. 7 attack was an attempt to derail the US project to normalize relations between Israel and the Gulf states. Iran views this project as being dismissive of Palestinian interests and has opposed it since Day 1. Hence, observers argue that Iran, via its proxies — in this case, Hamas — has adopted a more offensive and proactive approach to disrupt the US project, totally altering the understood rules of engagement between the actors.
Regardless of interpretations and which one is more valid than the other, from Israel’s perspective, the prime goal of the Gaza war is to eliminate Hamas. If it is successful, Iran will suffer significantly, as it will lose an important lever it has employed in its regional dispute against the US and Israel. In addition, the elimination of Hamas would open the door to more advanced and aggressive campaigns against other Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq. With the end of these proxies, Iran’s influence and role in the region would come to an end.
Iran’s forward defense strategy is facing a crisis, with Iranian proxies feeling the heat and Tehran believing that the battle could eventually shift to inside its territories. Typically, Iran blamed the US and Israel for this month’s Kerman incident, in which almost 100 people were killed and more than 200 injured. Thousands had gathered at the tomb of Qassem Soleimani to mark the fourth anniversary of the former Quds Force commander’s killing. In addition, cyberattacks on fuel stations and other critical infrastructure have been showcased by Iran as further evidence of the battle shifting closer to home.
Iran is struggling to deal with three key challenges: continual support for its proxies, the consequences of the Gaza war and clear warnings from the US not to expand the conflict. To navigate these challenges, Iran has adopted a strategy that minimizes risks, maximizes gains and considers Arab public opinion. Through this, it aims to prevent the Gaza war’s ramifications from affecting its domestic stability, avoid direct confrontation with the US or Israel and win the sympathy of the Arab world. For its success, it depends on Iranian proxies sticking to the established rules of engagement. There may be breaches, Iran acknowledges this, and is willing to accept US or Israeli retaliation, even if it is harsh.
This strategy is shaped by Iran’s recognition of its limitations and constraints. It is pursuing a gradual approach of inflicting multiple minor blows on the US and Israel, rather than risking a costly direct confrontation that could risk the Iranian state and its regional ambitions.
Iran is pursuing a gradual approach of inflicting multiple minor blows, rather than risking a costly direct confrontation
The current conflict between Iranian proxies, Israel and the US has entered a new phase. Many key commanders and masterminds of Iranian proxies, such as Razi Mousavi, Saleh Al-Arouri and Abu Taqwa, have all been assassinated in recent weeks. These assassinations and other attacks were conducted quickly, with short time gaps in between, signifying a shift in the US and Israel’s approaches and establishing a new deterrence equation that aims to minimize the chance of broader confrontations, while leaving the door open for US-Iranian dialogue on critical matters.
In light of this new equation, Iran’s responses have been measured, reflecting its limitations. In addition, domestically, the Iranian political currents are divided over whether the country should or should not engage in a multifront regional war. Even Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued instructions to commanders, urging them to exercise restraint and avoid direct military confrontation.
Russia and China’s preoccupations with other war theaters, as well as US efforts to isolate them in the region, could further narrow Iranian options and responses in the future. If the US is successful in pushing back the Russians and Chinese, Iran will be left stranded, with little support, especially if it entangles itself deeper into the Gaza war or works to expand its scope. Through analyzing Hassan Nasrallah’s statements, it seems Hezbollah and Iran are coordinating to prevent a large-scale confrontation. The limited conflict in Lebanon-Israeli border areas serves as a sign of Hezbollah’s willingness to engage in negotiations, particularly concerning border demarcation and issues that have remained unresolved since 2006.
By analyzing Iran’s strategic mindset and reviewing the previous actions taken by Tehran under similar circumstances, it becomes apparent that the conditions for confrontation between it and Israel are currently unfavorable. The qualitative recent Israeli operations have predominantly targeted the support provided by Iran to Hamas via its proxies. These operations are not aimed at directly striking the Iranian project, nor do they target Hezbollah’s top leadership or military committees — which are positioned far away from the targeted areas — despite Israel’s capability to do so.
The current situation indicates that the region will undergo significant changes following the Gaza war. The previous balances established in the past decade are no longer in place and the Iranian regime faces an existential threat if it continues to impede the US-Israeli project. Despite this bleak outlook for the regime, it still possesses various levers it could employ to stay afloat.
These include closing the Strait of Hormuz and targeting strategic sea routes, with the Red Sea crisis being an example of this. It could also advance its nuclear program to establish a deterrent force against major threats, attack oil tankers to impact global oil prices or expand the scope of the confrontation in the Middle East by targeting Israeli interests both within and outside the Occupied Territories. Another option would be to activate Iranian cells in Europe and worldwide to destabilize global security and stability. To conclude, given the Gaza war, its consequences and Iran’s adaptation of its approaches and strategies to deal with new challenges, the most likely scenario is for Israel to generalize the model of the 2006 war and its aftermath, such that the cost of the war deters Hamas and other Iranian proxies from attacking it again. However, this Israeli aim is not in contradiction with Iran’s overarching ambitions, as its proxies will continue to carry out their operations and roles across the region in line with Tehran’s objectives.
**Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is the founder and president of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah). X: @mohalsulami
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The American cook and the poison dosage
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper./Arab News/January 29, 2024
The new Middle East crisis went to the “Guterres clinic” and returned with international disappointment. Russia, which is involved in the Ukrainian war, is not an effective doctor despite its military presence in Syria. Chinese medicine is not the appropriate treatment for this type of disease. Europe, which is frightened on its borders, cannot reassure others. Only the American surgeon remained, despite the comments on his methods of diagnosis, anesthesia and stitches.
A decade ago, America hinted at resigning from the thorny Middle East. It exhausted it and got tired of it. Washington said that its momentousness had declined and that it was not the stage for the “great fight.” Priorities have changed. America’s first concern is preventing the birth of the Chinese era or at least delaying its birth. But the Middle East cannot be forgotten. It is a land of wealth, paths and conflicts that sometimes surpass its own borders. Today, the US is involved in the region and is called upon to extinguish the current fire, the sparks of which are hitting US bases in Iraq and Syria and tankers in the Red Sea.
The continuation of the massacre in Gaza is costly to the countries of the region and to the global economy. It is also costly to America’s interests and image at a time when it is drowning in the winds of elections. Once again, the American chef is a must, despite anxiety about his meals and doubts about the integrity of his handling of ingredients.
On Oct. 7, Hamas, under the leadership of Yahya Sinwar, dealt an unprecedented blow to Israel. This strike revealed the fragility of Israel’s security and the negligence of its institutions, shook the image of the army and security institutions, and spread terror among the settlements and settlers. The earthquake necessitated America’s involvement. It came with its president, fleets and ammunition. The participation of its envoys in the war Cabinet’s meetings became a common sight. The US threw in its weight and its resources, and Benjamin Netanyahu launched a devastating war that flooded Gaza with the rubble of homes and the bodies of children.
Blinken is dealing with a region that is completely different from the one that previous American mediators were navigating
America gave the political and military establishment in Israel an extended opportunity to achieve victory. But the time of the fatal Israeli strikes is over, as the Gaza war is different in its theater and nature. Now, in the fourth month of the conflict, the only question that arises is: Who can stop the war, the continuation of which exceeds the region’s ability to endure?
The scene could have been different if the war had expanded in its first hours, if Hezbollah had engaged with full force from the Lebanese front, the Golan front had caught fire and if Iranian missiles had been launched from Iranian territory itself and not from Yemen.
The scenario of the great collapse — that America sent its fleets to prevent — did not happen. As of the next day, Hezbollah waged a war of distraction, while the Houthi missiles replaced a complete and open confrontation on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The past months have shown that the UN cannot be relied upon to stop the war. Recent days have revealed that the escalation of international condemnation of the ongoing massacre in Gaza, the step of the International Court of Justice and the tension occurring within Western decision-making halls are all important factors, but they cannot stop the war. Only America can lead an effort in this direction. Without Washington, Israel cannot continue its attack. Without the US, it is not possible to crystallize a political horizon that would justify Hamas’ return from the war or force it to return from it.
An integrated plan for a solution has not yet taken shape despite Antony Blinken’s tours and William Burns’ communications. Blinken is dealing with a region that is completely different from the one that previous American mediators were navigating. In the past, it was enough to convince country leaders to reach a settlement to implement their decision. There are new realities in the region today and, in some parts of it, governments are mingling with factions or residing under their authority. There is Iran and its role in launching the era of factions in four maps.
It is clear that the mission of the US mediator is no less than distributing poison to the parties.
Those who have followed American diplomatic movements talk about ideas heard by the mediators. They talk about an Israeli decision not to stop the war except in the context of a settlement that guarantees the release of hostages and the complete exit of the Gaza Strip from the confrontation, so that it does not pose a threat to Israel. This means that Hamas shall no longer be the authority in Gaza and that the faces of Oct. 7 will not emerge again from the Strip.
On the other hand, the Palestinian side demands a specific mechanism to launch the two-state solution, as well as the “whitewashing” of Israeli prisons; that is, the release of Palestinian detainees. There are those who propose that Hamas becomes a political movement and part of the Palestinian scene. Observers talk about ideas for reforming the Palestinian Authority with the aim of moving to “another generation and another mentality,” with “some Arab role in the post-ceasefire phase, along with ensuring the Israeli withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip.”
This role may be in the form of observers, experts or advisers who will verify the Israeli withdrawal and guarantee that the causes of the conflict are not repeated.
It is clear that the mission of the US mediator is no less than distributing poison to the parties. Netanyahu has spent his long rule assassinating the idea of a Palestinian state, so how can he facilitate it today? Hamas unleashed the October earthquake, so how could it agree to give up power when the war has not yet stripped it of its missiles and tunnels?
President Mahmoud Abbas kept the PA barely alive despite Netanyahu’s practices and the divorce with Hamas, so how can he accept ideas that smell of a farewell? Moreover, Netanyahu considers a Palestinian state much more dangerous than the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. Sinwar knows that the establishment of a Palestinian state is conditional on its recognition of Israel and international guarantees for Tel Aviv.
For Netanyahu, a state would mean drinking the poison. For Sinwar, recognizing Israel would also mean swallowing the venom. How will the American cook be able to distribute the doses of poison to the belligerents who have gone so far? This is without forgetting that the establishment of a Palestinian state would also mean removing the Palestinian card from Iran and the so-called Axis of Resistance — a removal that was among the reasons for the fall of the Oslo Accords.
**Ghassan Charbel is editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. X: @GhasanCharbel

‘Europeans Will Succumb to Islam,’ Says Former Intelligence Chief
Raymond Ibrahim/January 29, 2024
Islam is on the verge of completely taking over Europe, in all ways—at least according to one who should know, Hans-Georg Maaßen, Germany’s top domestic intelligence chief from 2012 to 2018. In a recent interview, he stressed several points that spell the imminent downfall of Europe to Islam.
His warnings are buttressed by disturbing demographic changes. According to conservative estimates from Pew Research, over the next 25 years—meaning most of the current generation’s lifetime—Europe’s Muslim population will triple to a staggering 76 million. In fact, the actual current and future numbers of Muslims appear to be higher, though there are no official tallies. For example, in an earlier, 2011 study, Pew Research found that “The number of Muslims in Europe has grown from 29.6 million in 1990 to 44.1 million in 2010. Europe’s Muslim population is projected to exceed 58 million by 2030.” Clearly 58 million in five years’ time is more significant than 76 million in 25 years’ time.
Not only is mass migration responsible for Islam’s exponential growth in Europe, but once there, the average Muslim woman has significantly more children than the average European woman. “Muhammad” is taking West Europe by storm as the number one name for newborn baby boys.
During his interview, Hans-Georg Maaßen said that these large numbers are intentional, and the work of Europe’s ruling elite. For this intelligence chief, the “great replacement” theory is no myth. The more ideologically mixed a population is forced into becoming, the less able it is to identify itself, much less protect any beliefs:
[O]ur politicians want a different population. The political left follows the course of the anti-German ideology. The more heterogeneous a population, the less able it is to articulate itself and have a democratic say. The more politics accept immigrants from other countries as they see fit and grants them citizenship, the more politics select the people of the state and influence the election results. These migrants then vote differently than the locals.
He pointed out how easy it would be for European governments, especially Germany and Austria, to prevent Muslim migrants from entering their borders—and how easy it would be to send the many criminal ones who have already gained entry back to their countries of origin—but they refuse to do so.
As proof, Maaßen cited a recent “migration summit” in Germany, where he saw only “showcase politics” or “dummy politics,” primarily focused on how to raise more money for asylum seekers and faster asylum procedures. However, nobody, he said, seemed interested in asking the all-important question: “Why are we letting these people into Germany and Europe in the first place?”
This question is especially urgent considering that every European city and region that has a significant migrant presence has become a hellhole, rife with violent and criminal activity. For example, as far back as 2017, an article titled, “Austrians living in fear as violent migrant gangs carry out DAILY attacks in Vienna,” reported:
Muggings and beatings are becoming commonplace in the historic capital city, with passersby being attacked on almost a daily basis….The Praterstern area, just outside central Vienna, is now controlled by North Africans and is considered the worst area in the city for crime. Despite police increasing their presence in the area it has become riddled with crime. On the other side of the city, the area surrounding the West Railway Station has been taken over by Afghans who have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons…. Crimes carried out by migrants in Austria have risen rapidly over the past year as more arrive in the country. Last year [2016], there were a total 22,000 criminal complaints against migrants, up from 14,000 in 2015, the Austrian Interior Ministry revealed. Sex attacks carried out by asylum seekers has become a serious problem in Austria, with a 133 per cent increase in migrant sex attacks in the past year since the migrant crisis erupted. Swimming pools and other public venues have become some of the most prevalent areas for attacks to take place.
Indeed, as in other European nations, sex crimes—including against young boys—have skyrocketed in Austria. According to one report, “Hardly a day goes by without reports of sex attacks” at the hands of migrants.
Along with imposing migration, European politicians have taken other measures to help establish and empower Islam in Europe, to the detriment of the natives. Thus, free speech is all but gone in Ireland, after the Irish rose in anger following yet another unprovoked assault by a Muslim (the stabbing of three small children and their caretaker). And in Denmark, which long welcomed the mockery of Christianity under the guise of “freedom of expression,” mockery of Islam is now strictly forbidden.
Unchecked migration is only possible because nihilistic Europeans have no motivation to halt the transformation of their continent or eject their traitorous leaders, suggested Maaßen:
We don’t know where we want to go. What should Germany or Austria look like in 2030? We are living only in the moment, and therefore we are losing out to others who have a religion or ideology, who know where they want to go. We lack a mission… Mostly Muslims come to us with a completely different awareness of culture, religion and family. In secular Europe, religion and family — if they are still important at all — are a matter for the individual, but in these cultures it is a matter for the clan.
In short, “Europeans will succumb to Islam. On the one hand, because they are unable to even see this conflict coming, and on the other, because they are incapable of resolving conflicts in a similar fashion.”
By this, he means that Europeans are incapable of resolving conflict the way the Muslims who are flooding their continent do—through violence. After describing Islam as “a completely different culture” that “we are not at all prepared for,” the former intelligence chief stressed that “we’re incapable of resolving conflicts even by means of violence, like family clans do from the Arab states. These people resolve conflicts by violence, whereas people in Central Europe think that this can only be done through the courts.”This is an important point and explains the paralysis. For most non-Western peoples, not just Muslims, if they see something they believe is wrong, they fix it—including through force. Most Western people, on the other hand, are so accustomed into believing that a “rule of law” still exists—that the authorities will see justice done. This is clearly no longer the case. The sooner this is acknowledged, the better. Otherwise, and as Maaßen concluded, “The end result will be the destruction of our European cultures.”