English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For January 31/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For
today
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have
come not to abolish but to fulfil.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
05/17-20/:”‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the
prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you,
until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a
letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever
breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the
same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them
and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell
you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Titles For The Latest
English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on
January 30-31.2024
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/
Israel troops to 'go into action' soon at Lebanon border, Gallant says
Berri says held 'beneficial and promising' talks with Quintet envoys
Report: Johnson urges 5-nation group against unilateral moves
Quintet Ambassadors Coordinate on Lebanese Presidential Election
Two Hezbollah fighters killed in Israeli strikes on Syria
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Hezbollah denies report, says state in charge of border talks with Israel
Palestinians in Beirut protest UNRWA fund suspension
Kataeb Party condemns Hezbollah's grip on southern Lebanon, urges sovereign
forces to unite
Lebanon's Central Council is set to convene in the next two days
Frangieh meets Bangladeshi ambassador
Jumblatt meets new US Ambassador
Lebanese Foreign Ministry Condemns Attack on "American Individuals" on the
Jordanian Border: Violation of Jordan's Security and Sovereignty
"Oh, Shame on You, Najah!"/Emad Moussa/Nidaa Al-Watan
Hezbollah: Dilemma of Tough Choices/As'ad Beshara / Nidaa Al-Watan
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on
January 30-31.2024
'I hold them responsible': Biden says he's made a decision on response to
attack in Jordan
Iran Urges Diplomacy as US Weighs Response to Deadly Attack
Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah suspends attacks on US forces
Antony Blinken Says Conditions In The Middle East Most Dangerous Since 1973 War
Three US soldiers killed in Jordan attack named
Undercover Israeli troops dressed as medical staff kill three militants in West
Bank hospital raid, officials say
UK will consider recognising Palestinian state to help end conflict – Cameron
Gaza war and truce talks: Latest developments
Israeli forces dressed as women and medics kill 3 Palestinians in West Bank
hospital
Where do the parties stand on efforts to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and the
release of hostages?
‘We are dying slowly:’ Palestinians are eating grass and drinking polluted water
as famine looms across Gaza
Aid groups slam suspension of funding for UN agency in Gaza
As Europe's armies brace for war, allies call on Canada and others to catch up
Ukraine's strikes on targets inside Russia hurt Putin's efforts to show the war
isn't hitting home
Russia to Japan: Drop territorial claim if you want a peace treaty
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources on
January 30-31.2024
And Why Would Iran Change Its Behavior?/Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al-Awsat
The drone wars of Iran’s militias are becoming more deadly/Seth J. Frantzman/
The Jerusalem Post
Will Biden Dare to Recognize a Palestinian State/Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat
Where Is ‘America 2024…’ and Where Is it Going?/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/January
A Hundred Days after Gaza's October 7 (Part 3 of 4)/Culpable Ignorance and the
Devil's Spreadsheet/Gwythian Prins/ Gatestone Institute
US should rethink its Middle East strategy/Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on
January 30-31.2024
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
Israel troops to 'go into action' soon at Lebanon
border, Gallant says
Agence France Presse/January 30, 2024
Israeli troops will "very soon go into action" near the country's northern
border with Lebanon, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, 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. "The forces close to you... are leaving the field and moving
towards the north, and preparing for what comes next," he 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 that 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 that
the war against Hamas "will take months".
Berri says held 'beneficial and promising' talks with
Quintet envoys
Naharnet/January 30, 2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday held a meeting in Ain el-Tineh with
the ambassadors of the member states of the five-nation group for Lebanon, which
comprises the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt. The one-hour meeting
tackled “the latest developments, especially the presidential juncture,” the
National News Agency said. “The stance was unified and the meeting was
beneficial and promising,” Berri for his part said after the meeting. The
ambassadors will also meet with a number of political forces in the coming
hours. Informed sources told the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal in remarks published
Tuesday that the ambassadors’ new endeavor, which coincides with the Qatari
envoy’s behind-the-scene meetings in Beirut, represents a new exploratory
attempt aimed at seeking exits for the presidential crisis. “It will involve
discussions and consultations on means to achieve a presidential breakthrough
more than it will be a new initiative,” the sources said. “No candidates will be
proposed during this period but there will rather be an exploration of opinions
and reconciliation of viewpoints, based on the latest ambassadors’ meeting at
the residence of Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari in Yarze,” the sources added.
“The important proposal is related to the president election’s mechanism, in an
attempt to benefit from the atmosphere that engulfed the session that extended
the army chief’s term,” the sources went on to say.
Report: Johnson urges 5-nation group against unilateral
moves
Naharnet/January 30, 2024
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson has stressed that no member state of the
five-nation group for Lebanon should carry out any initiative or move without
prior coordination with the other members of the group, in an apparent reference
to Qatar, informed sources said. Johnson voiced her remarks during the latest
meeting of the group’s ambassadors that was held at the residence of the Saudi
envoy in Yarze, the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published
Monday. “She suggested that no party claim to represent the five-nation group or
speak on its behalf, in reference to the French side, whose envoy Jean-Yves Le
Drian will visit Lebanon following the meeting of the five-nation group that is
expected to be held in Riyadh,” the sources added.
Quintet Ambassadors Coordinate on Lebanese Presidential
Election
LBCI/January 30, 2024
After discussing the Lebanese presidential dossier bilaterally among themselves
and holding a general meeting last weekend at the residence of the Saudi
ambassador to outline a unified vision regarding the Lebanese presidential
elections, the ambassadors of the Quintet Committee begin their tour as a group
from Ain el-Tineh. This is due to the pivotal role of the Speaker of Parliament,
Nabih Berri, in this dossier, especially regarding the call for presidential
election sessions and preventing the violation of the legal quorum. The
ambassadors, whose sources said they share the same opinion about the
seriousness of the situation and the necessity of having a president in Baabda
to cope with the situation, emphasize the need to completely separate the
presidential file from the Gaza war and the events in the region. In brief
words, several ambassadors expressed unity of stance. Berri described the
meeting as promising and constructive, while Ain el-Tineh sources confirmed to
LBCI that the position was unified in the meeting, and the atmosphere was
positive. The meeting did not address the names of the presidential candidates,
and the discussion was limited to the presidential matter only, without touching
on the implementation of Resolution 1701 or the situation in the south, either
directly or indirectly. According to the available data, the ambassadors, who
indicated that their countries have no concern about any nominations for
candidates but that it is the sole responsibility of the Lebanese people, will
submit a comprehensive report to their foreign ministries. They may hold a
higher-level meeting of those tasked with examining the presidential file, with
French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian returning to Beirut for the fifth time before
February 10 after obtaining a complete picture.
Two Hezbollah fighters killed in Israeli strikes on Syria
Agence France Presse/January 30, 2024
Israeli strikes in Syria on Monday killed eight people, including pro-Iran
fighters, a war monitor said, in the latest such attack in the country against
groups loyal to Tehran. "Three Israeli missiles targeted a base belonging to
Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the Sayyida Zeinab district" south
of Damascus, "killing at least eight people," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. Two of those killed were Syrian,
including a security escort to an Iranian officer, as were two Hezbollah
fighters, he said, without specifying if any civilians were killed.
The Syrian defense ministry also reported an "air attack" that it blamed on
Israel, saying that strikes around 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) targeted multiple
locations south of Damascus. It said in a statement on social media that "a
number of Iranian advisers" were killed, before later revising it to remove any
mention of the Iranian advisers. Iran's Tasnim news agency, meanwhile, reported
that "the Zionist regime (Israel) targeted an Iranian advisory centre in the
Sayyida Zeinab area". However, Hossein Akbari, Iran's ambassador to Syria,
denied in a social media post that an advisory centre had been struck or that
"any Iranian citizens or advisers (were) martyred" in the attack. Hezbollah
announced late Monday that two of its fighters had died "on the road to
Jerusalem", its phrase for members killed by Israeli strikes, without further
details. A previous air strike in Sayyida Zeinab in late December, also blamed
on Israel, killed a senior Iranian general. Quds Force commander Razi Moussavi
was the highest-ranking Iranian general to be killed outside the country since a
January 2020 U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killed the elite force's chief Qasem
Soleimani. And on January 20, a strike on Damascus's Mazzeh neighborhood
targeting the Revolutionary Guards' Syria spy chief killed 13 people, the
Observatory had said. The Guards confirmed five members were killed in that
attack, which they blamed on regional arch-foe Israel. During more than a decade
of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in the
country, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces as well as Syrian army
positions. But such attacks have intensified since the war between Israel and
Hamas began on October 7. Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting
Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran, which backs President
Bashar al-Assad's government, to expand its presence there. Since 2011, Syria
has endured a bloody conflict that has killed more than half a million people
and displaced millions. Iran says it only deploys military advisers in Syria at
the invitation of Damascus.
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Agence France Presse/January 30, 2024
Hezbollah targeted Tuesday a group of soldiers in the Hadb Yarin post as Israeli
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israeli troops will "very soon go into
action" near the country's northern border with Lebanon.Hezbollah also said it
has targeted surveillance equipment near the border village al-Wazzani. The
group had claimed responsibility Monday for at least 12 attacks on Israeli army
positions near the border, using Iranian-made Falaq-1 and Burkan missiles while
the Israeli army said it carried out air strikes on Hezbollah targets in
Lebanon. On Tuesday, Israeli artillery and warplanes bombed Aita al-Shaab, and
the outskirts of Mays al-Jabal, al-Naqoura, Dhaira, Yarin, al-Jebbayn and Tayr
Harfa. 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 Hezbollah.
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.
Hezbollah denies report, says state in charge of border
talks with Israel
Naharnet /January 30, 2024
Hezbollah on Tuesday denied a media report about future border talks with
Israel, stressing that such negotiations are the responsibility of the Lebanese
state. “The Nidaa al-Watan newspaper today published a fabricated and insulting
report about what it called the file of indirect negotiations over the land
border between Lebanon and occupied Palestine,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
“Indirect negotiations are exclusively in the hands of the Lebanese state and
accordingly what was mentioned in the aforementioned report is totally
baseless,” Hezbollah added. The newspaper had quoted diplomatic sources as
saying that “the U.S. has been informed via the communication channels with
Beirut that Hezbollah … has ended its authorization for Speaker Nabih Berri and
caretaker PM Najib Mikati to negotiate over the border file on behalf of
Hezbollah.”
Palestinians in Beirut protest UNRWA fund suspension
Associated Press/January 30, 2024
Dozens of Palestinians gathered Tuesday in front of the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency headquarters in Beirut after several countries decided to
suspend funding for the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency. A number of key donors
-- including the United States, Germany and Japan -- had announced they are
suspending funding to the agency over Israel's accusations that some of its
staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack. The protesters held posters
that show the Israeli bombardment on Gaza and demanded that countries resume
funding of the agency. "Stopping funding for UNRWA threatens the future of
Palestinian refugees," some posters read, while an elderly woman held a poster
saying "UNRWA, my right until I return." They also demanded that staff who were
fired in the Gaza Strip over allegations that they took part in the Oct. 7
attack on southern Israel be returned to their jobs. Aid groups condemned
Tuesday the decision to suspend funding UNRWA, pointing to a "worsening
humanitarian catastrophe" and "looming famine" in Gaza. The U.N. Relief and
Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East was established to
provide aid to the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of
what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding the country's creation. The
Palestinians say the refugees and their descendants, who now number nearly 6
million across the Middle East, have the right to return to their homes. Israel
has refused, because if the right of return were to be fully implemented it
would result in a Palestinian majority inside its borders. The fate of the
refugees and their descendants was among the thorniest issues in the peace
process, which ground to a halt in 2009. UNRWA operates schools, health clinics,
infrastructure projects and aid programs in refugee camps that now resemble
dense urban neighborhoods in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon,
Syria and Jordan. It has 13,000 employees in Gaza alone, the vast majority of
them Palestinians. In Gaza, where some 85% of territory's 2.3 million people
have fled their homes, over 1 million are sheltering in UNRWA schools and other
facilities. Israel has long railed against the agency, accusing it of tolerating
or even collaborating with Hamas and of perpetuating the 75-year-old Palestinian
refugee crisis. The Israeli government has accused Hamas and other militant
groups of siphoning off aid and using U.N. facilities for military purposes.
UNRWA denies those allegations and says it took swift action against the
employees accused of taking part in the attack. The United States and eight
other Western nations that together provided more than half of UNRWA's budget in
2022 nevertheless suspended their funding to the agency. The United States,
which was the first country to suspend funding, is the biggest donor to UNRWA,
providing it with $340 million in 2022. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland have also suspended
aid. The nine countries together provided nearly 60% of UNRWA's budget in 2022.
"Our humanitarian operation, on which 2 million people depend as a lifeline in
Gaza, is collapsing," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini Lazzarini
posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. He expressed shock that countries would
suspend aid "based on alleged behavior of a few individuals and as the war
continues, needs are deepening & famine looms."
Kataeb Party condemns Hezbollah's grip on southern Lebanon, urges sovereign
forces to unite
LBCI/January 30, 2024
After reviewing the developments in Lebanon and the region, the political bureau
of the Kataeb Party held its meeting chaired by the party's leader, MP Samy
Gemayel.
It pointed out that "Hezbollah persists in solidifying its grip on the south and
its people, using them as human shields and bargaining chips to implement the
Iranian plan seeking to gain a decisive role in the region, from Lebanon to
Syria, Iraq, and Yemen."
"For this reason, it has ignited the southern front despite Arab and Western
warnings against continuing on this deadly path," it added. The political bureau
called on the Quintet Committee, which seeks to protect Lebanon from war, to do
its utmost to separate the presidential track from the regional negotiations so
that efforts bear fruit in a fully qualified state. This state should have a
president authorized solely to conduct negotiations, sign agreements, and speak
on behalf of the Lebanese people. The political bureau held those insisting on
"seizing" the presidential file and refusing to meet the opposition halfway
fully responsible. It urged selecting a universally acceptable president capable
of leading this stage. The party called on "sovereign forces, including parties,
individuals, and institutions, to unite and collaborate to confront the status
quo, regain the state and institutions, no matter how high the sacrifices." The
political bureau rejected defamatory attacks on Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar
Bechara Boutros al-Rahi and anyone raising their voice "against the domination
over Lebanon and the Lebanese, especially the leader of the Kataeb Party." The
political bureau considered that "the approved budget is just another proof of
the state's material and visionary bankruptcy. It constitutes a new 'tax burden'
on the shoulders of the Lebanese. In addition to being illegal, it came devoid
of any reformative or strategic utility, aiming only to reach out for the
citizen's livelihood to cover the gaps caused by a failed financial policy."
Lebanon's Central Council is set to convene in the next two days
LBCI/January 30, 2024
The Central Council is set to convene in the next two days to deliberate on the
future of Circular 151, contemplating discontinuing the fixed exchange rate of
LBP 15,000 per US dollar. Sources confirm to "Nidaa Al-Watan" newspaper that the
budget was approved when the state revenues, obtained in dollars (from the port
and airport, and such), were converted at this rate to be included as revenues
in Lebanese lira, with increases approved at 60 times the original value in
various budget items. Sources emphasized that the current market rate would
apply to bank transactions and withdrawals, as the acting Banque du Liban (BDL)
governor refuses to continue forced deductions from deposits (haircuts). They
stated, "The ball is back in the government and parliament's court because banks
will assert their stance, refusing to adopt the market rate for withdrawals and
budgets."
The sources added, "Hence, there is an urgent need to pass legislation to
regulate this, or else we will witness intense confrontations between depositors
and banks, with the government and parliament bearing responsibility." The
insiders explained to "Nidaa Al-Watan" that the DL would not issue a specific
directive on the exchange rate. Still, it would consider a proposal to allow
depositors to withdraw $150. They confirmed a divergence of opinions within the
Central Council on this matter, with one faction encouraging the proposal while
another deems the amount insufficient. The latter suggests a more prudent
approach, maintaining the status quo on haircuts pending the enactment of legal
measures to restructure banks and restore balance to the financial system.
Frangieh meets Bangladeshi ambassador
LBCI/January 30, 2024
Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh received on Tuesday Bangladeshi
Ambassador to Lebanon, Javed Tanveer Khan, at his residence in Bnachi.
Discussions were held regarding the current developments on both the Lebanese
and regional fronts.
Jumblatt meets new US Ambassador
NNA/January 30, 2024
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader, Walid Jumblatt, on Tuesday welcomed
at his Clemenceau residence, United States Ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson.
Also present had been the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, MP Taymour
Jumblatt, and MP Wael Abou Faour. Discussions during the meeting touched on the
latest political developments.
Lebanese Foreign Ministry Condemns Attack on "American
Individuals" on the Jordanian Border: Violation of Jordan's Security and
Sovereignty
NNA/öJanuary 30, 2024
(LCCC Translation)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in a statement, expressed its
condemnation and regret for the recent attack on "American individuals present
on the Jordanian border," resulting in the loss of several individuals and
injuries. It also considers this incident a violation of the security and
sovereignty of the brotherly Jordan, leading to dangerous escalation and tension
in the region due to the continued Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. The
Ministry also expressed its solidarity with the brotherly Jordan and its support
for the measures taken by the Jordanian authorities to preserve its security and
stability.
The Ministry called on all influential parties to intensify efforts to achieve
security and stability in the region and to halt the escalation and tension
through an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied
Palestinian territories, as a gateway to a political solution based on the
establishment of the Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, in
accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions.
"Oh, Shame on You, Najah!"
Emad Moussa/Nidaa Al-Watan/ January 31, 2024
(LCCC Translation)
We've reached a time when former deputy Najah Wakim addresses the "X" readers to
criticize the Maronite Patriarch for his remarks on illusory victories. Here's
what the young man from Nasiriya wrote:
"Patriarch Rai said that the victories of the resistance are illusory. Honestly,
if they were illusory, would you be upset? Certainly not. Shame on you, the one
with the condescending attitude towards the achievements, sacrifices, and the
blood of its fighters. Shame on you."
First: Let the malicious eighty-year-old deputy focus his hatred-filled glasses
on his own shortcomings and put out his cigarette, which obscures his view of
the lines, and reread what provoked his "sectarian" feelings in Patriarch Rai's
sermon. The Patriarch said, "Not abandoning national and Arab issues, but based
on my honesty with myself - I refuse to be a hostage, and my family members as
well, human shields and a sacrificial lamb for failed Lebanese policies and the
culture of death that has only brought illusory victories and humiliating
defeats to our country. We hear them, and our hearts bleed."
This is what the Patriarch said, and the words are attributed to people from the
border villages who visited him and conveyed their concerns and fears.
Second: Not all residents of the border villages support the choices of the
Islamic resistance in Lebanon that go beyond international and local legitimacy.
They do not support a war that occupies the enemy with our blood, and they do
not share the professor's Najah's whims.
Third: The president of the People's Movement, lacking popular representation,
should unleash his tweets on the "IX" platform and promote, as a secular figure,
the recent divine victories. He should join as a "movement" supporting the
Baathist cubs and the forces of dawn, aligning with "the party," instead of
indulging in Don Quixote-style heroics.
Fourth: It is truly regrettable that brother Najah resorts, the youngest deputy
of the 1972 council, to pettiness and a market language, fully engaging his
political consciousness in a "dirty" defamation war waged by the electronic
loyalists on anyone opposing the war, from the head of the Maronite Church and
downwards.
Fifth: Assuming that the Maronite Patriarch literally adopted what was conveyed
to him by his flock rejecting the "complements" of the Flood of Al-Aqsa, do we
blame him for not sharing the fate of those adventurers who are risking what
remains of the country, their "readings," "victories," and their Tehran-centric
vision?
Sixth: As if the former fiery deputy from Beirut, the moody, neurotic, and
half-lover of the Earth and three-quarters of the Arab world, is more
enthusiastic and desiring to liberate Jerusalem than those with sanctity. Man,
just as the road to Jerusalem did not pass through Jounieh, it will not pass by
exposing the southerners to death or displacement!
Shame on you, brother Najah, for your rapid decline. Indeed, shame on you!
Hezbollah: Dilemma of Tough Choices
As'ad Beshara / Nidaa Al-Watan / January 31, 2024
(LCCC Translation)
In a lengthy session, a knowledgeable ambassador revealed Israeli plans ready to
strike Hezbollah if the U.S. initiative fails to convince the party to comply
with Resolution 1701 and move away from the Blue Line. The ambassador did not
specify a timeframe for the confrontation but shared insights into the
information his government received about the nature of the threat to Israel.
Israel is expected to act without red lines to achieve the goal of relocating
its settlers to northern settlements after the "Operation Flood of Al-Aqsa"
forced their evacuation.
These details reflect the gravity of the current situation in the south. The
U.S. initiative has not succeeded in dismantling the explosive situation due to
Hezbollah's insistence on linking the ceasefire to the end of the war in Gaza.
This seems difficult unless a ceasefire is implemented, which could last for
weeks, followed by a resumption of war in other forms, including security
measures. Faced with this reality, what will be Hezbollah's position, backed by
Iran? Will it withdraw seven kilometers from the Blue Line? What are the
potential consequences of this withdrawal on its long-term project? Can
Hezbollah bear the consequences if it refuses to withdraw?
It is clear that Hezbollah is in a dilemma of tough choices. It has a window
that, if opened, will lead to only partial loss – withdrawal that could be
accompanied by American concessions regarding demarcation. In case of refusal,
Hezbollah can anticipate a scenario well-known to it, understood by Iran, which
has been determined since October 7 to maintain its strong position without
exposing itself to what Hamas faced in Gaza. Iran does not want to lose its
strong position but appears incapable of watching Hamas fight alone. The limited
support war, which did not deter Israel, seemed to allow Tehran to save face in
the short term. However, Israel has given a withdrawal deadline, refusing to
negotiate any file before completing the withdrawal, while Hezbollah offers the
Americans a postponed solution: readiness to discuss all issues after a Gaza
ceasefire.
After Iran targeted the U.S. site on the Jordanian-Syrian border, Israel gained
a new card in the escalation path. The Biden administration, pressured by
domestic demands for a response in Iranian territory, finds itself in a dilemma.
Israel is preparing in the south, and as the knowledgeable ambassador revealed,
Israel will not settle for airstrikes in Lebanon; it is preparing to establish a
buffer zone, even through a ground invasion, a final decision with no turning
back.
Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News
published on
January 30-31.2024
'I hold them responsible': Biden says
he's made a decision on response to attack in Jordan
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY/January 30, 2024
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he had made a decision on how to respond
to the recent attack at a military base in Jordan that killed three U.S. troops
and wounded 25 others. Asked if he holds Iran responsible, Biden said: "I do
hold them responsible in the sense that they're supplying the weapons to the
people who did it."Biden spoke to reporters on the White House South Lawn before
heading to Palm Beach, Florida, for a fundraiser. The president's remarks follow
a vow he made on the day of the attack to take swift action to deal with the
attacks. “We shall respond,” he said Sunday. Biden blamed the unmanned aerial
drone attack on the troops stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syria border
on “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.” He vowed
to “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our
choosing.”In his remarks on Tuesday, Biden did not reveal any specifics about
what the response will look like. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby
on Tuesday said he was not in the position today to confirm exactly which
militant group was responsible for the attack. "We're still working through the
analysis, but clearly the work has all the hallmarks of groups that are backed
by the IRGC and, and in fact by Hezbollah as well," he said. The three American
troops were the first to be killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since Hamas-led
militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, igniting the war that has led to more than
26,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a
statement, also vowed retaliation. Meanwhile some Republicans have blamed Biden,
and others, responded calling for a military response of "targets of
significance inside Iran." Those in favor of some sort of strike include Sens.
Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott of South Carolina, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Sen.
John Cornyn of Texas. Former President Donald Trump, the leading GOP
presidential contender, blamed Biden for the attack on Truth Social."This brazen
attack on the United States is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of
Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender….," he wrote.
Iran Urges Diplomacy as US Weighs Response to Deadly Attack
Bloomberg/January 30, 2024
Iran urged the US to use diplomacy to ease tensions in the Middle East, as
Tehran braces for a military response to a deadly attack on an American base
over the weekend. The foreign minister of the Islamic Republic said “active”
diplomacy is underway to find a political solution to the war in Gaza and the
regional fallout, without elaborating. “The White House knows very well” that
the way to end the war “and the current crisis in the region is political,”
Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a post on X. The
comments came as the US weighs how to retaliate against a deadly attack on a
base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers and injured dozens. President
Joe Biden blamed Tehran-backed militias in neighboring Syria and Iraq and said
he’d respond “at a time and in a manner of our choosing.”
Iran denied involvement in the strike, which was the first to
kill Americans since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October.
Many Republicans, including former President Donald Trump,
have said the attack shows Biden’s been too soft on Iran.
The US and Iran don’t have formal diplomatic ties but have
exchanged messages about the crisis since October, sometimes through the Swiss
embassy in Tehran. Both sides say they want to de-escalate the situation while
blaming the other for inflaming it. The US says Iran’s support for regional
militias is fueling tensions, while Tehran says Washington must put pressure on
Israel to end its military offensive in Gaza. Hamas
militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7 from Gaza, triggering the war and roiling
the wider region. Since then, US bases in Iraq and Syria have come under regular
fire from Iran-supported groups. Hezbollah, also backed by Iran, is exchanging
fire with Israeli forces almost daily across the Israel-Lebanon border.
Deadly Attack Near Syria Renews Focus on US Bases in Middle
East
The Houthis, meanwhile, have caused mayhem in the shipping world with attacks on
vessels around the southern Red Sea. They say they won’t back down until Israel
pulls out of Gaza, despite the US and UK launching missiles on their positions
in Yemen.
“This is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East,” US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken said on Monday. “I would argue that we’ve not seen a situation as
dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973,” he
said, referring to the year in which Israel fought the Yom Kippur war against
Egypt and Syria. “We’ve made very, very clear from day
one that we’re going to defend our people, we’re going to defend our personnel,
we’re going to defend our interests,” he said. “At the same time, the
president’s been very clear that we want to prevent broader escalation.”
Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah suspends
attacks on US forces
Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah announced on Tuesday the
suspension of all its military operations against U.S. troops in the region, in
a decision aimed at preventing "embarrassment" of the Iraqi government, the
group said. "As we announce the suspension of military and security operations
against the occupation forces - in order to prevent embarrassment of the Iraqi
government - we will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways,"
Kataib Hezbollah Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said in a statement
released by the group on Telegram. Three U.S. troops were killed in a drone
attack near the Jordan-Syria border on Sunday that the Pentagon said bore the
"footprints" of Kataib Hezbollah, though a final assessment had not yet been
made. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the group's statement,
adding: "Actions speak louder than words."The U.S. has vowed to respond to the
attack. Iran-aligned groups have been waging attacks against Israeli and U.S.
targets from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, since their Palestinian ally Hamas
and Israel went to war on Oct. 7. Kataib Hezbollah is the most powerful faction
in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of hardline Shi'ite armed
factions that have claimed more than 150 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and
Syria since the Gaza war began. The U.S. has responded with deadly strikes in
Syria and Iraq in a cycle of escalating violence that Iraqi officials said
threatened to undo progress towards stabilizing the country after decades of
conflict. Kataib Hezbollah's decision followed days of intensive efforts by
Iraq's prime minister to prevent a new escalation after the Jordan attack, his
foreign affairs adviser Farhad Alaadin said. "Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani
has been hard at work in the past few days, engaging with all relevant parties
inside and outside Iraq," Alaadin said in an interview. "All sides need to
support the efforts of the Prime Minister to prevent any possible escalation,"
he added. Founded in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Kataib
Hezbollah is one of the elite Iraqi armed factions closest to Iran. Iran has
denied involvement in the attacks by Iraqi groups, saying all members of Iran's
"Axis of Resistance" plan and execute operations by themselves. Iraq's
government is backed by parties and armed groups close to Iran, though not
directly by the hardline groups that have been firing on U.S. forces, Western
and Iraqi officials say. Baghdad has condemned the attacks while also saying
regional escalation would continue as long as the Gaza war went on.
Antony Blinken Says Conditions In The Middle East Most Dangerous Since 1973 War
HuffPost/January 30, 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday described the present situation
in the Middle East as the most worrying it’s been since the 1973 war between
Israel and a partnership between Egypt and Syria. In a
press conference alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Blinken said
the U.S. will respond to the drone attack that killed three U.S. troops and
injured over 40 U.S. service members but noted the Biden administration is
intent on preventing “broader escalation” in the region amid Israel’s war in
Gaza. “I think it’s very important to note that this
is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East,” Blinken said. “I would argue
that we have not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now
across the region since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.”The
short-lived war between Israel and Arab states, sparked by a surprise attack on
Israel on Oct. 6, 1973, killed 2,656 Israeli troops and injured more than 7,250
Israeli soldiers. It is estimated that as many as 15,000 Egyptians and 3,500
Syrians died but exact numbers are unknown, according to Reuters.
It is known as the “Yom Kippur War” in Israel and the
“October War” in Egypt and Syria.Meanwhile, the U.S. is investigating the deadly
attack at a military base in Jordan that hosts about 350 U.S. troops. The enemy
drone was allowed to pass because it was allegedly mistaken for a U.S. drone
returning to the U.S. installation near Jordan’s border with Syria, U.S.
officials cited by The Associated Press said.
Blinken offered no details on what a U.S. response would entail.
“Obviously I’m not going to telegraph what we might do in
this instance or get ahead of the president,” he said. “But I can again tell you
that as the president said [Sunday], we will respond and that response could be
multi-leveled, come in stages and be sustained over time.”
Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said the U.S.
is still working to assess who was behind the attack, but said a militia backed
by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was likely involved. “Iran continues to
arm and equip these groups to launch these attacks, and we will certainly hold
them responsible,” Singh added.
During his press conference, Blinken also addressed the pause in U.S. funding
for UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, following allegations that
some its staff may have been involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed
about 1,200 Israelis. Blinken said the accusations were “troubling,” calling on
the agency to investigate and potentially hold people accountable if wrongdoing
is found, noting the group is playing “an absolutely indispensable role in
trying to make sure that men, women and children who so desperately need
assistance in Gaza” receive it.
“No one has the the reach, the capacity, the structure to do what UNRWA has been
doing,” Blinken said. “And from our perspective, it’s important, more than
important, imperative that that that role continues. So that only underscores
the importance of UNRWA tackling this as quickly, as effectively and as
thoroughly as possible, and that’s what we’re looking for.”Meanwhile, the U.S.
is taking part in talks hosted in Paris between Israel, Egypt and Qatar
regarding a potential cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that would reportedly
see a six-week pause in fighting in exchange for the release of hostages still
held by Palestinian militants, according to The New York Times. “I can just tell
you that there is again, strong, I would say alignment among the countries
involved that this is a good and strong proposal and the work that was done over
the weekend, including by CIA director Bill Burns, was important in helping to
advance this,” Blinken said. Blinken did not directly answer a question on how
Israeli senior officials taking part in a conference encouraging resettlement in
Gaza coupled with a leaked recording of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu criticizing Qatar, which is helping mediate hostage talks with Hamas,
could hurt the ongoing talks. The war in Gaza has
killed over 26,000 Palestinians and injured more than 65,000, according to local
officials. At least 220 Israeli troops have so far died in the conflict, Israeli
officials say.
Three US soldiers killed in Jordan attack named
Fiona Nimoni - BBC News/Tue, January 30, 2024
The US government has released the names of three troops killed by an enemy
drone attack in Jordan on Sunday. Sgt William Jerome
Rivers, 46, Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, and Specialist Breonna
Alexsondria Moffett, 23, were killed when a drone hit their housing unit.
The US has blamed Iranian-backed groups and the Pentagon said it carried the
"footprints" of Kataib Hezbollah. The Pentagon also reiterated the US does not
want a war with Iran. "We don't seek war, but we will take action, and respond
to attacks on our forces," said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh. CBS News,
the BBC's US partner, said it was told by a US official that the drone used in
the attack appeared to be Iranian-made. The official indicated it was a "type of
Shahed drone," which is a one-way attack drone Iran has been providing to
Russia. Iran has denied US and British accusations
that it supported militant groups blamed for the strike. The Pentagon said the
three soldiers killed on Sunday morning came from an army reserve unit based in
Fort Moore, in the state of Georgia. Lt Gen Jody
Daniels, Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General US Army Reserve Command,
paid tribute to the fallen soldiers. "On behalf of the
Army Reserve, I share in the sorrow felt by their friends, family, and loved
ones. Their service and sacrifice will not be forgotten, and we are committed to
supporting those left behind in the wake of this tragedy", said Gen Daniels.
The drone attack took place in Rukban, north-eastern Jordan, near the Syrian
border. The base was later named by US officials as Tower 22.
More than 40 military personnel were injured when the
unmanned aerial system hit the container housing unit they were in on Sunday
morning. Features of an air defence system were turned off at Tower 22 at the
time of the attack, US officials told CBS News, because the enemy drone arrived
at the same time as a returning US drone. They added
that troops at the air base were still in their sleeping quarters when the drone
struck - with little to no warning. Iran has denied playing a part in supporting
groups suspected of being responsible for the strike. Nasser Kanaani, Iran's
foreign ministry spokesman, said it was "not involved in the decision making of
resistance groups" in how they chose to "defend Palestinians or their own
countries".Iran's Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said that regional armed
groups aligned with Iran respond to "American aggressors" at their own
discretion. US President Joe Biden said the US "will hold all those responsible
to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing". The US Defence Secretary
Lloyd Austin said he and Mr Biden would take "all necessary actions" following
the attack on American forces. Pentagon spokeswoman
Sabrina Singh said the attack was carried out by an Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps-backed militia and had the "footprints" of Iraq-based militant group
Kataib Hezbollah.
What options does US have to respond to Jordan attack?
Death of US troops ratchets up pressure on Biden
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed it was behind the attack.
The umbrella group emerged in late 2023 and is comprised of
several Iran-affiliated militias operating in Iraq. It has claimed other attacks
against US forces in recent weeks. In a statement, the group said it had
targeted three US bases in Syria - identifying them as Shaddadi, Tanf and Rukban.
However, Rukban is on the Jordanian side of the border with Syria. The group
also said it targeted an Israeli oil facility in the Mediterranean. It is the
first time that a strike has killed US troops in the region since the start of
the war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.
There have been other attacks on US bases in the region, but
before Sunday there were no fatalities, according to the US military.
Officials said that US sites in Iraq and Syria had been
attacked at least 165 times since 17 October. Last month, the US carried out
airstrikes against Iran-affiliated groups after three US servicemembers were
injured, one critically, in a drone attack on a base in northern Iraq. Earlier
in January, one retaliatory US strike in Baghdad killed a militia leader accused
of being behind attacks on US personnel. A map showing the number of attacks
that have taken place on US bases in Iraq, Syria and Jordan
Undercover Israeli troops dressed as medical staff kill
three militants in West Bank hospital raid, officials say
Abeer Salman, CNN/January 30, 2024
Israeli special forces, dressed as civilians and medical staff, infiltrated the
Ibn Sina hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday and killed
three Palestinian men, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.
CCTV footage shared on social media appeared to show around a
dozen commandos disguised as nurses, women in hijabs, and others, with one
pushing a wheelchair and another carrying a baby car seat, as they stormed a
hospital corridor carrying assault weapons. Hamas said the men were Jenin
Brigades fighters, an umbrella group of armed Palestinian factions in the West
Bank city. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were terrorists linked to
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and an Israeli government minister praised the
operation. The disguised special forces “infiltrated
the hospital individually, headed to the third floor, and assassinated the young
men,” Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported, citing sources from inside
the hospital. The IDF said it targeted Hamas fighter
Mohammed Jalamneh who “had recently been involved in promoting significant
terrorist activity and was hiding in the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin.”
Two brothers were also killed in the raid, the IDF said:
“Mohammed Al-Ghazawi from the Jenin Camp, a terrorist operative of the Jenin
Battalions who was involved in numerous attacks including firing at IDF soldiers
in the area, and Basel Al-Ghazawi from the Jenin Camp, Mohammed’s brother, an
Islamic Jihad terrorist organization operative involved in terror activities in
the area.”Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared
the CCTV footage on social media and praised the raid.
“I congratulate and strengthen the naval commando forces of the Israeli police
on their impressive operation last night in cooperation with the IDF and the
Shin Bet in the Jenin refugee camp, which led to the elimination of three
terrorists,” Ben Gvir said alongside the video on X. Hamas’s military wing, the
Al Qassam Brigades, claimed Jalamneh as a member and released a photo of him. It
said he had been “martyred by the bullets of a special force from the occupation
army that infiltrated Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin with his comrades Mohammed and
Basil Ayman Al-Ghazawi,” calling them “fighting martyrs.”The Ibn Sina hospital
said Basil Al-Ghazawi had been receiving treatment for injuries sustained in a
rocket explosion inside the cemetery of Jenin in October, when he was killed by
the special forces Tuesday morning. The hospital said the three men were
sleeping at the time of the attack. There were no reports of other casualties in
the raid. The Palestinian Ministry of Health condemned
the attack and the targeting of a health center and called on the UN General
Assembly and NGOs to provide the necessary protection for medical treatment
centers and emergency crews. “This crime comes after
dozens of crimes committed by the occupation forces against treatment centers
and crews. International law provides general and special protection for
civilian sites, including hospitals,” the ministry said in a statement on
Tuesday.
UK will consider recognising Palestinian state to help end conflict – Cameron
PA Media: UK News/January 30, 2024
Britain will look at recognising a Palestinian state under diplomatic efforts to
end the conflict with Israel, Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron has said.
He told a reception in London on Monday evening that the move
would help to make a two-state solution – currently stalled with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed to it – an “irreversible” process. Lord
Cameron discussed the need to give the “Palestinian people a political horizon”
under efforts to end the Israeli-Hamas war as he addressed a reception for Arab
ambassadors in Parliament. Meanwhile, the Tory peer will pledge that Britain
will “do everything” it can to prevent the conflict from “spilling over borders”
during a visit to the Middle East. Last week during a meeting in Jerusalem the
Foreign Secretary pushed Mr Netanyahu over a two-state solution to bring about
peace for both Israeli and Palestinian people. Mr Netanyahu has rebuffed efforts
from allies, including the US, to win his for support the proposal, saying it
would “endanger the state of Israel” as he criticised the “attempt to coerce
us”. But Lord Cameron spelled out how the UK and
allies could add to pressure by considering recognising a Palestinian state at
the United Nations. “We should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state
would look like – what it would comprise, how it would work,” he said. “As that
happens, we, with allies, will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian
state, including at the United Nations.
“This could be one of the things that helps to make this process
irreversible.”Palestinian ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot said it was a
“significant” moment.
“It is the first time a UK Foreign Secretary considers recognising the State of
Palestine, bilaterally and in the UN, as a contribution to a peaceful solution
rather than an outcome,” the diplomat wrote on social media. “A UK recognition
is both a Palestinian right and a British moral, political, legal, and
historical responsibility. “If implemented, the
Cameron Declaration would remove Israel’s veto power over Palestinian statehood,
would boost efforts toward a two state outcome, and would begin correcting the
historic injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people by colonial Britain’s
Balfour declaration.”
Lord Cameron will this week make his fourth visit to the Middle East since being
appointed Foreign Secretary in November as he presses for a de-escalation of
tensions. Starting in Oman, the senior Conservative peer is expected to call for
stability amid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and an immediate pause in the
conflict in Gaza as he looks to work diplomatically to stop the Israel-Hamas war
from escalating into a wider conflict. An attack by Iran-backed militia in
Jordan over the weekend that killed three US troops and left dozens injured has
stoked fresh fears of a western confrontation with Tehran.The UK, the US and
other allies have looked to police the Red Sea after the Houthis, another
Iran-backed rebel group, based in Yemen, began targeting commercial shipping on
the vital global trade route in recent months. The US
and the UK launched a second round of joint strikes against the rebels but it
appears to have done little to deter the Houthi missiles.
A British-linked oil tanker went up in flames after a strike
claimed by the Yemen-based group on Friday, before a further attack on HMS
Diamond, a Royal Navy destroyer stationed in the Red Sea, was repelled. Speaking
before his return to the Middle East, Lord Cameron said: “The Houthis continue
to attack ships in the Red Sea, risking lives, delaying vital aid getting to the
Yemeni people and disrupting global trade. “And we
cannot ignore the risk that the conflict in Gaza spreads, spilling over borders
into other countries in the region. “We will do everything we can to make sure
that does not happen – escalation and instability is in nobody’s interests.”
Gaza war and truce talks: Latest developments
Agence France Presse/January 30, 2024
Deadly fighting and bombardment rocked Gaza on Tuesday as international
mediators pushed for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Israel-Hamas
war. Heavy Israeli strikes and urban combat across the besieged Gaza Strip
killed 128 more people overnight, the health ministry in the Hamas-run
Palestinian territory said. The epicentre of fighting has been the southern city
of Khan Yunis -- the hometown of Hamas's Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, the alleged
architect of the October 7 attack -- where vast areas have been reduced to a
muddy wasteland of bombed-out buildings.
Troops fighting in city blocks and tunnels have raided several military sites,
Sinwar's office and "a significant rocket manufacturing facility", the Israeli
military said. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed troops in the city had
"eliminated over 2,000 terrorists above and below ground". Israeli undercover
troops in the occupied West Bank meanwhile killed three alleged members of a
Hamas "terrorist cell" in a raid on a hospital. The agents -- some dressed as
medical staff and carrying a wheelchair and baby carrier as props -- shot dead
three men at Ibn Sina Hospital in the northern city of Jenin, according to
officials and hospital CCTV footage released by the ministry. The official
Palestinian news agency Wafa named the three men as Muhammad Jalamnah, Muhammad
Ayman Ghazawi and Basel Ayman Ghazawi. The Israeli army charged that Jalamnah,
allegedly "inspired" by the October 7 attack, had "planned to carry out a terror
attack in the immediate future and used the hospital as a hiding place and
therefore was neutralised". The Palestinian health ministry stressed that
hospitals enjoy special protection under international law and urged the United
Nations to help end Israel's "daily string of crimes... against our people and
health centres".
'Dire need'
The Gaza war, now in its fourth month, has left much of besieged Gaza in ruins
and sparked a spiralling humanitarian crisis for its 2.4 million people, many of
whom face the threats of hunger and disease. Israel has charged that around a
dozen staff of the main UN aid agency for Palestinians took part in the October
7 attack, leading key donor countries including the United States and Germany to
suspend funding. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has pleaded for
continued support to meet the "dire needs", will meet donors in New York on
Tuesday, his office said, as investigations into Israel's claims continue. U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged UNRWA to address the allegations, but
also hailed its "absolutely indispensable role in trying to make sure that men,
women and children who so desperately need assistance in Gaza actually get it".
Truce talks
In the latest efforts to broker a new truce, CIA chief William Burns met top
Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials in Paris on Sunday. Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called the talks "constructive" but pointed
to "significant gaps which the parties will continue to discuss". Blinken
expressed hope for a deal, telling reporters that "very important, productive
work has been done. And there is some real hope going forward." Qatari Prime
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, whose government helped
broker a previous truce in November and who attended the talks, said "good
progress" had been made. Sheikh Mohammed said the plan included a phased truce
that would see women and children hostages released first, with aid also
entering Gaza, and that an initial deal might lead to a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas confirmed on Tuesday that it had received the proposal, saying on its
Telegram account that it was "in the process of examining it and delivering its
response". A senior Hamas official, Taher al-Nunu, said the Islamist group
wanted a "complete and comprehensive ceasefire, not a temporary truce".
Regional tensions
The deadliest ever Gaza war was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented October 7
attack that resulted in about reportedly 1,140 deaths in Israel. Militants also
seized 250 hostages, of whom Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza, including
the bodies of at least 28 dead captives. Israel's relentless military offensive
has killed at least 26,637 people in Gaza, most of them women and children.
Fears have grown that Israel and its ally the United States could face a
widening Middle East conflict after months of violence involving Iran-backed
groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Those fears were heightened after
Washington vowed to respond to a drone attack Sunday that killed three US troops
in a remote outpost in Jordan near the Syrian and Iraqi borders. Tehran has
denied any involvement in the attack. Washington said the Jordan attack
"requires a response", but White House spokesman John Kirby also underlined that
"we are not looking for a war with Iran". The Israeli-Lebanese border has seen
almost daily exchanges of fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, heightening
fears of a wider conflict there. Israel has said it is ready for any attacks but
does not seek a wider war in the north. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said late
Monday that some units in Gaza were "moving up to the north and preparing for
what's to come".
Israeli forces dressed as women and medics kill 3
Palestinians in West Bank hospital
Associated Press/January 30, 2024
Israeli forces disguised as civilian women and medical workers stormed a
hospital Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants
in a dramatic raid that underscored how deadly violence has spilled into the
territory from the war in Gaza.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces opened fire inside the wards
of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the town of Jenin. The ministry condemned the raid
and called on the international community to pressure Israel's military to halt
such operations in hospitals. A hospital spokesperson said there was no exchange
of fire, indicating that it was a targeted killing. The military said the
militants were using the hospital as a hideout, without providing evidence. It
alleged that one of those targeted in the raid had transferred weapons and
ammunition to others for a planned attack, purportedly inspired by the Hamas
assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered the war in Gaza. Footage
said to be security camera video from the hospital that circulated on social
media showed about a dozen undercover forces, most of them armed, dressed as
women with Muslim headscarves or hospital staff in scrubs or white doctor's
coats. One in a surgical mask carried a rifle in one arm and a folded wheelchair
in the other. The forces were seen patting down one man who kneeled against a
wall, his arms raised. The Associated Press has not independently verified the
footage, but it is in line with its reporting. Meanwhile, fighting continued in
the Gaza Strip, even as talks inched forward on a cease-fire to pause the war,
which began when hundreds of Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing
about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. In
response, Israel launched a blistering air, sea and ground offensive that killed
more than 26,700 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run
territory. The ministry count does not distinguish between fighters and
noncombatants, but it says about two-thirds of the dead are women and minors.
The conflict has also leveled vast swaths of the tiny coastal enclave, displaced
85% of its population, and pushed a quarter of residents to starvation. That
humanitarian crisis may soon be exacerbated, the U.N. has warned, after several
countries froze funding to the main aid provider to Palestinians in Gaza
following Israeli claims that a dozen of its workers participated in the Oct. 7
assault.
HOSPITALS TARGETED
Israel has come under heavy criticism for its raids on hospitals in Gaza, which
have treated the tens of thousands of Palestinians wounded in the war as well as
providing critical shelter for displaced people. Gaza's health care system,
which was already feeble before the war, is on the verge of collapse, buckling
under the scores of patients, the lack of fuel and medical necessities limited
by Israeli restrictions and repeated interruptions from fighting in and near the
facilities. Israel says militants use hospitals as cover, hiding out in them or
launching operations from them. The military has found underground tunnels in
the vicinity of hospitals, and says it has located weapons and vehicles used in
the Oct. 7 attack on hospital grounds.
WEST BANK CRACKDOWN
Since Oct. 7, violence in the West Bank has also surged as Israel has cracked
down on suspected militants, killing more than 380 Palestinians, according to
the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most were killed in confrontations with Israeli
forces during arrest raids or violent protests. The Israeli military says it has
arrested nearly 3,000 Palestinians in the West Bank over the past four months.
The military said in Tuesday's hospital raid, forces killed Mohammed Jalamneh,
27, who it said was planning an imminent attack. The two other men killed,
brothers Basel and Mohammed Ghazawi, were hiding inside the hospital and were
involved in attacks, the military claimed. The military did not provide details
on how the three were killed. Its statement said Jalamneh was armed with a
pistol, but made no mention of an exchange of fire. Hamas claimed the three men
as members, calling the operation "a cowardly assassination." Hospital
spokesperson Tawfiq al-Shobaki said there was no exchange. He said the Israelis
attacked doctors, nurses, and hospital security during the raid. "What happened
is a precedent," he said. "There was never an assassination inside a hospital.
There were arrests and assaults, but not an assassination." He said Basel
Ghazawi had been a patient in the hospital since October with partial paralysis.
The raid took place in Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel
and the frequent target of Israeli raids even before the war began. Israeli
operations there and in an adjacent built-up refugee camp have left vast
destruction. Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east
Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel withdrew troops and settlers from
Gaza in 2005, but imposed a stifling blockade on the territory, along with
Egypt, when Hamas came to power in a violent takeover in 2007. It maintains an
open-ended occupation of the West Bank, where more than half a million Israelis
now live in settlements. The Palestinians claim these territories as part of
their future independent state, hopes for which have increasingly dimmed since
the war began.
PROGRESS ON CEASE-FIRE TALKS ELUSIVE
Progress, meanwhile, appeared elusive on a new deal between Israel and Hamas
that could lead to a pause in fighting and see the release of dozens of hostages
still held in Gaza. On Tuesday, Hamas' supreme political leader Ismail Haniyeh
said the group was studying the latest terms for a deal, but said the priority
was the "full withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza, something Israel opposes,
and that any agreement should lead to a long-term cease-fire. He said Hamas'
leadership had been invited to Cairo to continue talks. Israel had said that
cease-fire talks held Sunday were constructive but that "significant gaps"
remained in any potential agreement. The prime minister of Qatar — which has
served as a key mediator along with Egypt and the United States — was more
upbeat, saying American and Middle Eastern mediators had reached a framework
proposal. Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington on Monday, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the mediators had made "good
progress."The Israeli military said it was fighting Palestinian militants in
south, central and northern Gaza, which was pummeled in the first weeks of the
war and where Israel has claimed to have largely dismantled Hamas. It said
aircraft destroyed the rocket launcher that fired a barrage of rockets at
central Israel on Monday, the first rockets targeting the populated area in
weeks.
Where do the parties stand on efforts to secure a
cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages?
Associated Press/January 30, 2024
U.S. and Mideast mediators appeared optimistic in recent days that they were
closing in on a deal for a two-month cease-fire in Gaza and the release of over
100 hostages held by Hamas. But on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu rejected the militant group's two main demands — that Israel withdraw
its forces from Gaza and release thousands of Palestinian prisoners — indicating
that the gap between the two sides remains wide. The war began with Hamas' Oct.
7 assault into Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly
civilians, and abducted around 250. Nearly half the hostages were released
during a weeklong November cease-fire in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel's offensive has killed over 26,700 Palestinians, according to the Health
Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, whose count does not separate civilians from
combatants. Some 85% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have fled their homes
and the U.N. says a quarter of the population is starving. It has also sent
ripples across the region, with Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and
Yemen attacking Israeli and U.S. targets in support of the Palestinians, drawing
reprisals in a spiraling tit-for-tat that could set off a regional
conflagration. Here's a look at where each of the parties stand on ending the
conflict.
ISRAEL'S NETANYAHU SEEKS 'TOTAL VICTORY'
Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to continue the war until Israel destroys Hamas'
military and governing capacity and returns all the hostages, two increasingly
elusive goals that many Israelis fear are mutually exclusive. Speaking at a
religious pre-military academy in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, he said “we
will not withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip and we will not
release thousands of terrorists.”That would seem to rule out any agreement with
Hamas, but it could also be posturing aimed at strengthening Israel's hand in
the ongoing indirect talks. Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from families
of the hostages and the wider public to reach a deal with Hamas to bring the
captives home. Many Israelis fear time is running out. At the same time, his
governing coalition — dominated by ultranationalist hard-liners who oppose a
deal — could fall apart if he is perceived as being too soft on Hamas. Israel's
military has only successfully rescued one hostage, and Hamas says several have
been killed in airstrikes or during failed rescue operations. In December,
Israeli forces mistakenly killed three hostages who had escaped and were waving
a white flag.
HAMAS WANTS THE WAR TO END
Hamas has refused to release more hostages until Israel ends its offensive and
withdraws from Gaza. It wants a broader agreement that would include a long-term
truce and reconstruction. The group's top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said
Tuesday that its priority is the “full withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.
He said any agreement should also lead to reconstruction, the lifting of an
Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the territory, and the release of “all our heroic
prisoners.” Hamas is widely believed to be holding the hostages in heavily
guarded tunnels deep underground, using them as human shields for its top
leaders and bargaining chips for the release of thousands of Palestinian
prisoners. These include high-profile militants involved in attacks that killed
Israeli civilians. If Hamas releases the hostages without ending the war, it
would leave itself exposed to an even greater Israeli onslaught once any
cease-fire expires. Failing to secure a major prisoner exchange would expose it
to intense criticism from Palestinians after the unprecedented death and
destruction in the tiny coastal enclave prompted by its Oct. 7 attack. On the
other hand, if Hamas secures a long-term cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli
forces and the release of thousands of prisoners, it would be seen as the war's
victor, at least by its own supporters.
MEDIATORS SEEK MIDDLE GROUND
The United States, which has provided crucial military aid for the offensive,
largely supports Israel's goals in the war. It wants all hostages released and
assurances that Hamas can never again carry out an attack like the one on Oct.
7. But the Biden administration also has a strong interest in winding down a war
that has caused regional instability and divided Democratic voters in an
election year. Arab countries, including key mediators Egypt and Qatar, have
been calling for a cease-fire since the earliest days of the war, fearing
broader instability. The U.S. and Arab mediators appear to be seeking a middle
ground in which hostages would be released in stages over a two-month period in
exchange for Palestinian prisoners, more desperately needed humanitarian aid
would be allowed into Gaza, and Israeli forces would partially withdraw. A
two-month respite could buy time for negotiating a larger agreement to address
the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. U.S. and Arab diplomats have
spoken of a potential grand bargain in which Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel
and join other Arab countries and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in
helping to rebuild and govern Gaza, in return for a credible path to the
creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But Netanyahu, whose
government is opposed to Palestinian statehood, and Hamas, which refuses to
recognize Israel, have ruled that out as well.
‘We are dying slowly:’ Palestinians are eating grass and drinking polluted water
as famine looms across Gaza
Sana Noor Haq and Rosa Rahimi, CNN/January 30, 2024
Hanadi Gamal Saed El Jamara, 38, says sleep is all that can distract her
children from the aching hunger gnawing at their bellies.
These days, the mother-of-seven finds herself begging for
food on the mud-caked streets of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
She tries to feed her kids at least once a day, she says,
while tending to her husband, a cancer and diabetes patient. “They are weak now,
they always have diarrhea, their faces are yellow,” El Jamara, whose family was
displaced from northern Gaza, told CNN on January 9. “My 17-year-old daughter
tells me she feels dizziness, my husband is not eating.”As Gaza spirals toward
full-scale famine, displaced civilians and health workers told CNN they go
hungry so their children can eat what little is available. If Palestinians find
water, it is likely undrinkable. When relief trucks trickle into the strip,
people clamber over each other to grab aid. Children living on the streets,
after being forced from their homes by Israel’s bombardment, cry and fight over
stale bread. Others reportedly walk for hours in the cold searching for food,
risking exposure to Israeli strikes. Even before the
war, two out of three people in Gaza relied on food support, Arif Husain, the
chief economist at the World Food Programme (WFP), told CNN. Palestinians have
lived through 17 years of partial blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. Israel’s
bombardment and siege since October 7 has drastically diminished vital supplies
in Gaza, leaving the entire population of some 2.2 million exposed to high
levels of acute food insecurity or worse, according to the Integrated Food
Security and Nutrition Phase Classification (IPC), which assesses global food
insecurity and malnutrition. Martin Griffiths, the UN’s emergency relief chief,
told CNN the “great majority” of 400,000 Gazans characterized by UN agencies as
at risk of starving “are actually in famine.” UN human rights experts have
warned “Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and using food as a weapon
against the Palestinian people.” Over more than 100
days, Palestinians in Gaza have seen mass displacement, neighborhoods turned to
ash and rubble, entire families erased by war, a surge in deadly disease and the
medical system wrecked by bombardment. Now starvation and dehydration are major
threats to their survival. “We are dying slowly,”
reflected El Jamara, the mother in Rafah. “I think it’s even better to die from
the bombs, at least we will be martyrs. But now we are dying out of hunger and
thirst.”Israel’s strikes on Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks have killed
at least 26,637 people and injured 65,387 others, according to the Hamas-run
Ministry of Health. The Israeli military launched its campaign after the
militant group killed more than 1,200 people in unprecedented attacks on Israel
and says it is targeting Hamas.
People in northern Gaza ‘eat grass’ to survive
Mohammed Hamouda, a physical therapist displaced to Rafah, remembers the day his
colleague, Odeh Al-Haw, was killed trying to get water for his family.
Al-Haw was queueing at a water station in Jabalya refugee
camp, in northern Gaza, when he and dozens of others were struck by Israeli
bombardment, Hamouda said. “Unfortunately, many
relatives and friends are still in the northern Gaza Strip, suffering a lot,”
Hamouda, a father-of-three, told CNN. “They eat grass and drink polluted water
Israel’s blockade and restrictions on aid deliveries mean stocks are desperately
low, driving up prices and making food inaccessible to people across Gaza.
Shortages are even worse in the northern parts of the strip, according to the
UN, where Israel concentrated its military offensive in the early days of the
war. Communication blackouts stifle efforts to report on starvation and
dehydration in the region. “People butchered a donkey
to eat its meat,” Hamouda says friends in Jabalya told him earlier this month as
shortages worsened. In what could be a serious blow to humanitarian efforts,
several Western countries have suspended funding to the main UN agency in Gaza,
the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East (UNRWA) in recent days over explosive allegations by Israel that several of
its staffers participated in the October 7 attacks. The UN fired several
employees in the wake of the allegations. Jordan’s foreign minister urged those
countries suspending funding to reconsider, saying UNRWA was a “lifeline” for
more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza and that the agency shouldn’t be
“collectively punished” over allegations against a dozen of its 13,000 staff.
‘No clean water’
Gihan El Baz cradles a toddler on her knee while comforting her children and
grandchildren, who she says wake each day “screaming” for food.
“In the shelters, there is not enough food, the sun sets on us, and we haven’t
even had any lunch,” El Baz, who lives with 10 relatives inside a weather-worn
tent in Rafah, told CNN. She nurses her husband, who she says fell and broke his
arm while dizzy from exhaustion. “There are no drinks, no clean water, no clean
bathrooms, the kid cries for a biscuit and we can’t even find any to give
her.”Infant orphans Hoor (left) and Kanan (right) shelter inside a tent in a
displacement camp in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on January 25. Palestinian
caregivers say the stress of being unable to protect children from strikes is
exacerbated by their inability to provide enough food. - Courtesy Hazem Saeed
Al-Naizi
Infant orphans Hoor (left) and Kanan (right) shelter inside a tent in a
displacement camp in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on January 25. Palestinian
caregivers say the stress of being unable to protect children from strikes is
exacerbated by their inability to provide enough food. - Courtesy Hazem Saeed
Al-Naizi
Displaced parents in Rafah, where OCHA reported more than 1.3 million residents
of Gaza have been forced to flee, say the stress of being unable to protect
their children from bombardment is compounded by their inability to provide
enough food. Limited access to electricity makes perishable goods impossible to
refrigerate. Living conditions are overcrowded and unsanitary. “People are
forced to cut down trees to get firewood for heating and preparing food. Smoke
is everywhere and flies spread widely and transmit diseases,” said Hazem Saeed
Al-Naizi, the director of an orphanage in Gaza City who fled south with the 40
people under his care – most of whom are children and infants living with
disabilities. Hamouda, the displaced health worker, used to feed his children –
aged six, four and two – a mixture of fruits and vegetables, biscuits, fresh
juices, meat and seafood. This year, he said, the family has barely eaten one
meal a day, living on dried bread and canned meat or legumes.
“Children are being violent towards each other to get food and water,” said
Hamouda, who works at Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital and volunteers at a nearby
shelter. “I can’t stop my tears from falling when I talk about these things,
because it’s very hurtful seeing your kids and other kids hungry.”
All 350,000 children under the age of five in Gaza are especially vulnerable to
severe malnutrition, UNICEF reported last month.
Increased risk of dying
The “scale and speed” of potential famine in Gaza will consign child survivors
to a lifetime of health risks, said Rebecca Inglis, an intensive care doctor in
Britain who regularly visits Gaza to teach medical students.
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life are “absolutely critical” for physical
growth and cognitive development, Inglis told CNN. Malnourished children have an
11-fold increased risk of dying compared to well-nourished children, she said.
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies force the body into an “emergency shut-down
state” where it loses the ability to make energy, put on weight, or maintain
kidney and liver functions, she added. Malnourished children, especially those
with severe acute malnutrition, are at greater risk of dying from illnesses like
diarrhea and pneumonia, according to the World Health Organization. Cases of
diarrhea in children under age five have increased about 2,000% since October 7,
UNICEF said. Hamouda said his own children have diarrhea, cold and flu symptoms.
“The children’s bodies are dehydrated … their skin is dehydrated.”In times of
severe stress, pregnant women are more likely to miscarry or give birth
prematurely, health workers previously told CNN. Gaza is home to 50,000 pregnant
women, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Babies who do
survive in utero are more likely to be born underweight and are therefore at
higher risk of dying, Inglis said. Starving and dehydrated mothers cannot
provide enough breast milk for their babies.
Challenges to food distribution, blocked aid
Shadi Bleha, 20, is trying to feed a family of six. Twice a week, they receive
two water bottles, three biscuits and “sometimes” two cans of food from UNRWA,
he said.
“It is not enough to meet my family’s needs at all,” the student, who is
sheltering in a tent in Rafah, told CNN. Palestinians in southern Gaza also told
CNN that poorly regulated humanitarian distribution means some civilians get no
aid at all, while those who do may sell for profit. In other cases, vendors
purchase aid from merchants and trade at markets for inflated costs. Some people
with cars travel further afield to get water, returning to displacement camps to
resell water for hiked prices. Intensified strikes also raise prices. Three
weeks ago, a 25-kilogram bag of flour cost $20 in Khan Younis, according to Al-Naizi,
but after the IDF intensified attacks on the southern city, it became $34.
Others say they receive humanitarian parcels that have been opened, with items
missing. Dates, olive oil and cooking oil found in aid packages are reportedly
sold on the black market for more than double their value.
On January 21, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories
(COGAT), said 260 humanitarian trucks were “inspected and transferred to Gaza,”
marking the highest number since the start of the war.
But aid agencies say it is not enough. The Israeli military in January only
granted access to a quarter of aid missions planned by humanitarian agencies to
Gaza, OCHA said on January 21. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on
OCHA’s statistics.
The WFP has called for new aid entry routes, more trucks to pass through daily
border checks, fewer impediments to the movement of humanitarian workers, and
guarantees for their safety. On January 5, the agency reported six bakeries in
Deir al-Balah and Rafah had restarted operations, but three remained out of use.
“Bread is the most requested food item, particularly as many families lack the
basic means for cooking,” it said. Meanwhile, Israel’s military offensive has
razed at least 22% of Gaza’s agricultural land, according to OCHA. Livestock are
starving and fresh produce is hard to come by. Displaced civilians queue for aid
distributed by the World Food Programme in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on January
21, 2024. - Courtesy Mohammed Hamouda. Displaced civilians queue for aid
distributed by the World Food Programme in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on January
21, 2024. - Courtesy Mohammed Hamouda
Juliette Touma, director of communications for UNRWA, said the needs of
displaced civilians in Gaza outweigh the amount of aid allowed into the strip by
authorities. “We simply don’t have enough, and we cannot keep up with the
overwhelming needs of people on the ground,” she told CNN. “That makes the
delivery of humanitarian assistance extremely challenging.”
Both UNRWA and WFP told CNN while they could not verify reports of individuals
reselling aid for higher prices, it is entirely possible given the scale of
desperation and hunger in Gaza. “It’s absolute chaos and people are absolutely
desperate, people are absolutely hungry,” added Touma. “The clock is indeed
ticking for famine.”
WFP told CNN that aid distributions are based on verified beneficiary lists and
observed by food monitors, who “report back that the food is delivered to its
intended recipients.”“Sometimes families make a personal decision to sell WFP
food in exchange for other household items that they might need. To be clear,
any food distributed by the WFP is not for sale,” the agency said in a
statement. The war has also caused widescale loss of
employment in Gaza, further draining residents’ purchasing power as prices
rocket. Hamouda now spends $250 per week to buy food and supplies for his family
– compared with $50 to $70 before the war. In an invoice seen by CNN, monthly
supplies for orphans under Al-Naizi’s care were purchased from a procurement
company for $6,814 – including $2,160 for infant formula alone. Before the war,
the same quantity of formula would have cost $1,680.
“We live almost in a jungle where war, murder, the greed of merchants, the
injustice of institutions in distributing aid, and the absence of government
lead to this deadly chaos,” al-Naizi said. CNN’s
Nourhan Mohamed, Christiane Amanpour, Eyad Kourdi, Celine Alkhaldi and Hira
Humayun contributed reporting.
Aid groups slam suspension of funding for UN agency in
Gaza
Agence France Presse/January 30, 2024
Aid groups condemned on Tuesday a decision by several countries to suspend
funding for the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), pointing to a
"worsening humanitarian catastrophe" and "looming famine" in Gaza. A number of
key donors to UNRWA -- including the United States, Germany and Japan -- have
announced they are suspending funding to the agency over Israel's accusations
that some of its staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack. UNRWA has
fired several employees since Israel's accusations and promised a thorough
investigation into the claims, which were not specified.
The two dozen top charities, including Oxfam and Save the Children, stressed the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency was the main provider of aid to millions
of Palestinians in Gaza and the wider Middle East. "The suspension of funding by
donor states will impact life-saving assistance for over two million civilians,
over half of whom are children," the NGOs said in a joint statement. "The
population faces starvation, looming famine and an outbreak of disease under
Israel's continued indiscriminate bombardment and deliberate deprivation of aid
in Gaza." A total of 152 UNRWA staff had already been killed and 145 of the U.N.
agency's facilities had been damaged by bombardment, according to the statement,
issued in English by the Norwegian Refugee Council, on behalf of the aid groups.
"If the funding suspensions are not reversed, we may see a complete collapse of
the already restricted humanitarian response in Gaza," they said.
Duty to Palestinians
The NGOs said more than a million displaced Palestinians were taking shelter in
or around 154 UNRWA shelters, stressing that the agency has been working in
"near impossible circumstances." "Countries must reverse these funding
suspensions, uphold their duties towards the Palestinian people and scale up
humanitarian assistance for civilians in dire need in Gaza and the region."On
Friday, the UN's top court said Israel must prevent genocide in its war in Gaza
and allow aid into the besieged Palestinian territory, but stopped short of
calling for an end to the fighting. On Saturday, Israel said it would seek to
stop UNRWA from operating in Gaza after the war. The World Health Organization
said on Tuesday that the row over funding for the U.N. agency for Palestinian
refugees was distracting from the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in about 1,140 deaths, mostly
civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. Militants also seized
about 250 hostages. Israel's relentless military offensive since then has killed
at least 26,751 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to
the health ministry in the densely populated Hamas-run territory.
As Europe's armies brace for war, allies call on Canada and
others to catch up
CBC/January 30, 2024
In Estonia, they're talking about building more public bomb shelters and making
them mandatory in all newly constructed homes.
In neighbouring Latvia, the government is going through the second draft of
mandatory military service legislation. Next door in Lithuania, there's talk of
universal conscription.
"I understand that when we speak from the Baltic perspective, it might sound
somewhat dramatic and shocking," Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, the speaker of the
Seimas, Lithuania's legislature, told CBC News Monday in Ottawa.
"It is obvious that today, democracy itself, democratic countries, democracies
all around the world are under pressure from Russia and its autocratic
allies."Since the beginning of 2024, security warnings in Europe about Russia's
future intentions have been landing fast and furious.
And they've come in different forms and from different officials — many of whom
are known best for their discretion and lack of hysteria. These warnings are
being driven in part by Russia's stated plans to put defence and munitions
production on a war footing — something western nations, and Canada in
particular, have struggled to accomplish in their efforts to bolster Ukraine's
defence against Russia's invasion. Many observers wonder whether the security
warnings are even being heard by Ukraine's allies, especially Canada and the
United States.
Two weeks ago in Sweden, a political debate erupted after the country's two top
defence officials warned that war could be on the horizon. Sweden's Civil
Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin and its military commander-in-chief Gen.
Micael Byden said people should prepare mentally for the possibility — and begin
stocking up on supplies.
A land war in Western Europe?
The head of the British Army, Gen. Sir Patrick Sanders, said in a recent speech
that the United Kingdom should train a "citizen army" and be ready to fight a
war on land in the future. Three parliamentary speakers from the Baltic nations
of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are the latest to deliver fresh warnings about
how prepared western nations are for the prospect of an even bigger conflict in
Europe. They visited Ottawa on Monday and met with senior government officials
before heading to Washington for more meetings. Daiga Mierina, the speaker of
Latvia's legislature, said that because Baltic nations were occupied by the
Soviet Union, they have a decidedly more visceral approach to the threat posed
by the Kremlin and can "very clearly see what we can expect from Russia.
"We understand Russia differently."
The speaker of Estonia's legislature said building up public resilience in
western nations starts with understanding that an information war is already
underway. "This is really important in a moment because it's full-scale war and
[that's what] underlies the online attacks in social media and elsewhere," said
Lauri Hussar. Whether these warnings are registering in western countries is
debatable. Opposition politicians in Sweden described the warning from the
defence chief as alarmist. Former Swedish prime minister Magdalena Andersson
told Swedish TV that while the world's security situation is serious, "it is not
as if war is just outside the door."Since many defence experts say the
professional Russian Army that started the war in Ukraine has been virtually
destroyed, there's a kernel of truth to Andersson's argument. But Moscow has an
ambitious rebuilding plan. Russia's military spending in 2024 will increase to
7.1 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and will account for 35 per
cent of total government spending, according to the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute. What's needed in the West, in addition to ramped-up
production, is a shift in mindset, said Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, chair of NATO's
Military Council. "I think a nation needs to understand that when it comes to a
war, as we see in Ukraine, it is a whole-of-society event," Bauer said recently
following a meeting of NATO chiefs of defence staff. Ukrainian women assemble
military drones at the drone manufacturer Atlas Aerospace in the capital Riga,
Latvia, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February,
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — three states on NATO’s eastern flank scarred by
decades of Soviet-era occupation — have been among the top donors to Kyiv.
Ukrainian women assemble military drones at the drone manufacturer Atlas
Aerospace in the capital Riga, Latvia, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. Since Russia
invaded Ukraine last February, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — three states on
NATO’s eastern flank scarred by decades of Soviet-era occupation — have been
among the top donors to Kyiv. Ukrainian women assemble military drones at the
drone manufacturer Atlas Aerospace in the capital Riga, Latvia, Wednesday, Feb.
1, 2023.
The West, he said, has for decades been labouring under the belief that "the
professional military ... would solve these security issues that we had in
Afghanistan in Iraq." That approach isn't good enough any longer, he said.
"You will need more people from society to sustain the military in terms of
people," he said. "You need the industry to have enough ammunition to produce
new tanks, new ships, new aircraft, new artillery pieces. All that is part of
this discussion of a whole-of-society event.
"I think more people need to understand it's not just something of the armed
forces and money. We need to be readier across the whole spectrum."When asked about the recent comments in Sweden during an interview with CBC News
last week, Defence Minister Bill Blair said the rising alarm in Europe is
totally understandable, given the proximity to the threat.
He insisted Canadians understand that their way of life, and the rules under
which western nations have operated for decades, are at stake. "We've always
been a country that stood up [for] those rules and those principles and we're
going to continue to do so," Blair said.
But do Canadian leaders truly share that sense of urgency felt across much of
Europe? Last fall, a House of Commons committee heard about a critical shortage
of artillery ammunition, notably the NATO standard 155 millimetre shells. Unlike
its allies, Canada has not signed an agreement with munition-makers to radically
boost production.
Ukraine's strikes on targets inside Russia hurt Putin's efforts to show the war
isn't hitting home
The Associated Press/Tue, January 30, 2024
The wail of air raid sirens is commonplace in Belgorod, a Russian border city
whose residents are on edge following a Ukrainian missile attack on a New Year's
holiday weekend that left dozens of people dead and injured. A spectacular
explosion rocked a huge fuel export terminal on the Baltic Sea southwest of St.
Petersburg this month from a Ukrainian drone, forcing the energy company Novatek
to suspend operations for several days. Last week, an apparent drone attack in
the Black Sea port of Tuapse in the southern Krasnodar region hit one of
Russia's largest refineries and ignited a fire, while another big refinery in
the Volga River city of Yaroslavl, north of Moscow came under attack early
Monday, but officials said there was no damage. There also have been strikes on
a gunpowder factory in the Tambov region and arms producers and military
facilities in the Bryansk, Smolensk and Tula regions.
Attacks like these are dealing a heavy blow to President Vladimir Putin’s
attempts to reassure Russians that life in the country is largely untouched by
the nearly 2-year-old war. “Ukraine has increased its capacity to strike back
against Russia,” Michael Kofman, a military expert with the Carnegie Endowment,
said in a recent podcast. “You see increased Ukrainian attacks against Russian
critical infrastructure, retaliatory attacks against cities like Belgorod and
greater strikes against Russian military base in Crimea,” he said. As Putin
ramps up his campaign ahead of the presidential election in March, he wants to
maintain an air of normalcy. But the increasingly frequent Ukrainian attacks
have raised the visibility of the war on Russian soil, and there are other signs
the conflict is increasingly challenging the Kremlin's tight control of the
political scene.
Thousands across Russia have signed petitions supporting the longshot
presidential bid of liberal politician Boris Nadezhdin, who has made ending the
war his main campaign issue. Wives of some soldiers rounded up in a partial
mobilization in 2022 have pushed for their discharge. And despite a tight ban on
protests, hundreds rallied in Bashkortostan province, clashing with police to
protest the jailing of a local activist.
Certainly the Dec. 30 strike on Belgorod marked a bloody escalation in the minds
of many Russians. A barrage of missiles struck the city of 340,000, which is
about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, on a holiday
weekend when people were out shopping, ice skating and watching New Year's
festivities. Officials said 25 people were killed, including five children, and
over 100 were injured.
Residents described seeing victims with horrific injuries and pools of blood
staining the sidewalks. One resident told the RBC news outlet he saw a baby
carriage hit by shrapnel, the bloodied parents lying next to it. A drug store
clerk said injured pedestrians ran into his pharmacy, seeking help.
“I’m seeing requests on social networks from people who write: ‘We are scared,
please help us get to a safe place!’” said regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov,
adding that several hundred people were evacuated, including over 1,000 children
heading to camps in neighboring regions.
Holiday and religious festivities were muted or canceled entirely. The shelling
damaged nearly 600 apartments and scores of private homes, and shrapnel peppered
over 500 cars. Bus stops are being reinforced with concrete blocks and sandbags.
Residents say they flinch at any loud noise these days and are afraid to go
outside. Schools in the city and near the border have switched to online classes
until mid-February. It's not the first time Belgorod has been touched by the
war, with drone strikes and other attacks early in the conflict. In April 2023,
a bomb accidentally released by a Russian warplane exploded in a street, gouging
a huge crater and injuring two people. On Jan. 24, the Defense Ministry said a
military transport plane was shot down in the Belgorod region while carrying
Ukrainian prisoners of war, killing all 74 people aboard. Although Russia has
released what it called evidence that it said proved Ukrainian POWs were aboard,
officials in Kyiv disputed it and instead blamed Moscow for trying to use the
incident to hurt Ukrainian morale.
Putin said the Dec. 30 shelling of Belgorod left him “boiling with anger,”
describing it as an act of desperation by Kyiv following the failure of
Ukraine's counteroffensive.
“They want to show their people and their sponsors who give them money, weapons
and ammunition that they can retaliate against Russia’s action,” he said. “They
want to show that they can also do something, but instead of fulfilling military
tasks, they use barbaric methods and strike peaceful settlements with
indiscriminate weapons.”Throughout the war, the Kremlin claims Russia has hit
only military targets in Ukraine — despite widespread evidence to the contrary
and heavy civilian casualties in places like Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv.
Ukrainian officials rarely comment on strikes inside Russia but they emphasize
their right to use all means to counter Moscow's aggression.
At a news conference in August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said
Russia had launched over 6,500 missiles and 3,500 drones since the war began,
most of them at civilian targets. In a New Year’s address to the nation, he
vowed: “The one who brings hell to our land will one day see it from their own
window.”Russian hawks have pointed to Belgorod as a turning point for the
Kremlin to raise the stakes in the war. Alexander Dugin, a nationalist ideologue
whose daughter was killed in a car bombing blamed on Ukraine in August 2022,
argues that Russia should respond by escalating the fighting and declaring a
broad mobilization.
“I would like to believe that Russia now will take off the white gloves and
start fighting for real,” he wrote. “Should we abide by the rules at a time when
a gateway to hell opens? Our task for 2024 is to restructure the state and
society to put it on military footing and throw all our resources to achieve
victory.”
Russian military bloggers note the challenges of spotting Ukrainian rocket
launchers moving to positions under 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border,
emphasizing the need for better surveillance. Many lamented Russia's withdrawal
from the area in September 2022 amid Kyiv's swift counteroffensive, arguing that
more Ukrainian territory should be captured to secure Belgorod and other border
regions. With fighting largely frozen along the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front
line during winter, the missile and drone attacks inside Russia have
demonstrated Ukraine’s long-range strike capability that is stretching Moscow’s
security assets. “Continued Ukrainian strikes in deep rear areas in Russia may
thus increase pressure on Russia’s air defenses overall,” the Washington-based
Institute for the Study of War said in a recent analysis. If this is Kyiv’s
plan, it’s similar to what Russia did a year ago by targeting Ukraine's power
grid in the hope that repairs would take time. In the end, Ukraine managed to
get enough spare parts and make quick fixes so that Moscow’s campaign failed.
Now, it's Russia that needs to find a coping strategy.
Sergey Vakulenko, an energy analyst at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said
it could be challenging for Russian refineries to fix the damage quickly. While
Ukraine's small drones can't cause major destruction, he said “they can damage
not just pipelines, but also compressors, valves, control units, and other
pieces of equipment that are tricky to replace because of sanctions.” “If we are
seeing the beginning of a wave of attacks on western Russia’s oil refineries,
the consequences will be serious,” Vakulenko said in a commentary.
Russia to Japan: Drop territorial claim if you want a peace
treaty
Reuters/January 30, 2024
Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev told Japan on Tuesday it would
have to drop territorial claims to a group of Pacific islands if it wanted to
conclude a peace treaty with Russia formally ending World War Two.The blunt
remarks by Medvedev, a former president who is deputy chairman of Russia's
Security Council, over what Moscow calls the Kuril islands are likely to anger
Japan which lays claim to four of the southernmost islands, which it calls the
Northern Territories.Russia, the main successor state to the Soviet Union, and
Japan have never signed a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities during
World War Two, with the islands remaining the primary stumbling block. The
islands are located off Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, and were
seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two. Diplomats on both sides
once spoke of the possibility of reviving a Soviet-era draft agreement that
envisaged returning two of the four islands to Japan as part of a peace deal.
But Russia withdrew from peace treaty talks with Japan and froze joint economic
projects related to the islands in 2022 because of Japanese sanctions over
Russia's war in Ukraine and relations have soured further since. Medvedev said
he was respondidipng to comments by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who he
said had spoken in favour of a peace treaty with Russia. "Nobody's against the
peace treaty on the understanding that ... the 'territorial question' is closed
once and for all in accordance with the constitution of Russia," Medvedev said
on his official X account. In 2020, Russia's constitution was amended to bar
handing over territory to a foreign power. Medvedev, who styles himself as one
of the Kremlin's most hardline anti-Western hawks, said Japan would also have to
accept that Russia would develop the Kuril islands and station new weapons
there. "We don't give a damn about the 'feelings of the Japanese' concerning the
so-called 'Northern Territories'. These are not disputed territories but
Russia," said Medvedev. "And those samurai who feel especially sad can end their
life in a traditional Japanese way, by committing seppuku (Japanese ritualistic
suicide by disembowelment). If they dare, of course." Medvedev accused Japan of
cosying up to the United States despite the fact that the U.S. military had
dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Russia said in December it regarded joint military exercises by Japan, the
United States and Australia near Hokkaido to be a "potential security threat".
It has complained about Japan - with U.S. help - expanding its military
infrastructure and increasing arms purchases. Japan has periodically expressed
unease about Russia beefing up its military infrastructure on the disputed
island chain.
Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on
January 30-31.2024
And Why Would Iran Change Its Behavior?
Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 30/2024
Unless Washington radically changes its strategy for dealing with Iran, after
the attack on an American base in Jordan, there is no reason to expect another
Qasem Soleimani to be eliminated, and by extension, that the US will rebuild
deterrence vis-a-vis the Mullah regime.
If there's one thing Iran understands more than the language of force, it is the
language of weakness. Iran believes that President Joe Biden’s administration is
weak, confused, and ready to make unimaginable concessions because it has two
illusions: the first is pursuing political rationality is the best way to arrive
at an understanding. The second is that it can buy its way out of escalation by
bribing the Iranians, through a money-for-hostages policy and by easing oil
sanctions, as it believes that this is the safest route to avoid getting bogged
down in the mud of the Middle East.
Both illusions stem from a major structural flaw in the United States’
conception of Iran's objectives in the region and its strategy for achieving
them.
It's no coincidence that the Iranian militias’ attacks on US bases have
coincided with debates in the US about plans to withdraw from Syria and Iraq.
This is Iran's declared objective, and nothing could please the Iranians more
than hearing the Biden administration explicitly discuss such plans, or seeing
something similar in the discourse of the Republican candidate, Donald Trump -
although Trump's line of thinking and actions are more decisive towards Iran and
its threats.
Indeed, it is clear that Tehran's strategy to use attacks on American forces by
militias allied with it in Syria and Iraq, as well as the actions of the Houthis
in the Red Sea, the specter of opening a Lebanese front, and intervention in the
Gaza war, to ramp up the pressure on US interests in several sites, and push the
US to withdraw from the Middle East, in order to entrench Iran’s regional
hegemony.
In addition, it is no coincidence that the Iranian lobby in Washington - which
consists of Iranian-American academics, researchers, and journalists, whose ties
to the Iranian government have been exposed, with some even finding their way
into the American government through the diplomat ousted from the Biden
administration, Robert Malley - is loudly arguing that the escalation of Iranian
militias will end if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
Pushing this line of thinking, which ties the actions of Tehran's militias to a
ceasefire in Gaza, is an effort to hijack the ongoing political process - the
joint American, Arab, and Gulf push to establish a ceasefire as part of a
political settlement for Palestine and ensure Israel’s security, ending the
perverse state of affairs reinforced by Benjamin Netanyahu's governments. On the
other hand, Iran wants the ceasefire in Gaza to solidify Hamas' standing in
Palestine and give credence to the idea of armed struggle across the region, as
it sees that as a gateway to regional dominance.
Those in the US who are convinced that an understanding with Iran is possible
overlook the fact that this would require Iran to discard the only cards it has
to play. Indeed, Iran has none of the strengths that rivals in the region can
depend on, be it economic power, the strength of the social model, prosperity,
welfare, openness, or peace.
So, why would Iran abandon the pillar of its strength through dialogue and
understanding?
1. What are Iran's alternatives to exploiting regional conflicts, like the
situation in Gaza, or supporting attacks on American forces and threatening the
interests of Washington and its allies in the Red Sea region?
2. What are the other tools for influencing the United States’ policy on Iran,
its revolutionary ideology, and its worldview, that Iran has at its disposal and
could encourage Iran to agree to abandon its current tools?
3. What other avenues could Iran take besides further escalating tensions on
various fronts, to divert attention away from its nuclear program and weaken the
international community’s resolve to address this issue?
4. What options for enhancing its regional or domestic standing does Iran have,
other than constantly harassing the United States and showing that it can play
with the big boys without Washington daring to hit it with a strong military
response?
5. What tools does Iran have, even in the midst of negotiations with the US, to
influence nuclear and non-nuclear diplomatic negotiations, besides blackmailing
it with regional destabilization?
6. How else could Iran compel the US to withdraw its military forces from the
Middle East, if not by using militias to increase the costs of its military
presence in the region and creating domestic pressures for withdrawal?
7. What are Iran's other tools for ensuring that the regime has a seat at the
table in which the region’s political and security issues are discussed, other
than its network of militias and allied states, which allow it to showcase its
power and safeguard its interests?
Iran's immediate and critical interests are intricately linked to what the
United States calls Iran’s behavior. Thus, calling for a change in behavior is
akin to demanding that Iran stop being Iran. Imposing such a change on any
nation through dialogue and negotiation is not realistic.
Nazi Germany did not transform through dialogue and appeasement, nor did Japan
turn its back on its military imperialist doctrine through political
understanding and goodwill. Fascism wasn't defeated through a swing in public
opinion. These regimes are acutely aware of their interests, and they do not
hesitate to protect the pillars of their power.
Washington's insistence on refusing to understand what Iran represents and what
its behavior implies is the primary reason for the decline of US influence in
the Middle East. Indeed, because of this insistence, the US finds itself facing
adversaries who are not intimidated by it and allied with actors who do not
trust it.
The drone wars of Iran’s militias are becoming more deadly
Seth J. Frantzman/ The Jerusalem Post/January 30, 2024
Iran is seeking to improve the capabilities of its drones. It has now had almost
ten years to use them throughout the region.
Over the last decade, Iran has been increasingly exporting drones to its proxies
throughout the Middle East. The drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are
playing a gradually larger role in Iran’s policies and the attacks by its
proxies.
Several years ago, the drone threat may not have been seen as a major issue.
Today, it’s a different story and is taken much more seriously across the
region. Even so, Iran continues to try to improve the precision and deadly
effectiveness of its drones. The attack on US forces in Jordan, in which three
servicemen were killed and dozens wounded, is merely one example.
The bigger picture is one in which Iran’s drones threaten Israel, the US, and
many partner countries across thousands of miles of the front line. That means
Iran’s proxies have become terrorist armies with drones, which gives them a
larger area to threaten.
This is because drones, unlike rockets, can fly a more complex flight path and
can be more precise. Hezbollah, for instance, has thousands of drones and has
already used dozens against Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7.
Iranian-backed militias in Syria also have drones and have been using them since
at least 2017. Iran has based its drones in Syria, primarily at the T-4 base
near Palmyra. In 2018, for instance, an Iranian drone entered Israeli airspace
and was shot down. It was carrying munitions destined for the West Bank.
Iran has also sought to target Israel with drones flown from Iran and Iraq.
These threats increased over the last several years. During Operation Guardian
of the Walls in 2021, for example, Iranian-backed groups in Iraq tried to target
Israel with a drone. Iran also sent a “killer drone” team to an area near the
Golan Heights in 2019. In January 2021, Iran supplied the Houthis in Yemen with
the Shahed 136 drone, Newsweek reported. A year later, that same drone was being
used by Russia against Ukraine.
Increased use of drones against US forces by Iranian proxies
Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have increasingly used drones against US forces
and to target Kurdish dissidents. The drones are more effective for them than
using 107-mm. and 122-mm. rockets. The drone threat has now increased again, and
they were used to target US forces in Tanf, Syria, near the Jordanian border and
in Jordan. Iraqi-based groups linked to Iran have claimed credit for the
attacks. Iran has denied involvement. The drones used to attack US forces in
Jordan and Syria were able to penetrate modern air-defense systems, according to
Beirut-based Al Mayadeen news channel, which is pro-Iranian. It is difficult to
confirm these claims. That pro-Iran media is making the claims, however,
indicates they want them to be true.
That means Iran is seeking to improve its drones’ capabilities. It has now had
almost 10 years to use them throughout the region.
Iranian-backed militias are increasingly turning to drones as their go-to weapon
system. This can be seen from the Iranian-backed Houthis using them against
ships, how Hezbollah uses drones, and their use in Iraq and Syria.
*Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine,
Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an
adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Will Biden Dare to Recognize a Palestinian State
Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 30/2024
Both Iran and Israel have managed, in record time, to mobilize the largest
number of adversaries or lose the largest number of friends. Iran has Europe’s
overt or covert sympathy, pushing the Europeans to adopt a position more aligned
with their US ally because they have concluded that Iran has become a
destabilizing force in the region. Indeed, Iran has gone as far as undermining
European economic interests, as it is accused of being behind the Houthis’
actions in the Red Sea, in addition to other reckless actions by its allies in
the region.
As for Israel, it has done more to alienate friends than its arch-enemy,
dissipating the support it enjoyed after October 7th. At this point, almost the
entire world has condemned the brutality of Israel’s retaliation to the "Al-Aqsa
Flood'' attack. Israel has stubbornly rejected all initiatives and mediations,
and it has insisted on perpetuating the violence with the declared aim of
annihilating Hamas, and the hidden aims of displacing Palestinians, which do not
end with the occupation of Gaza and could even include displacing the population
of the West Bank.
Iran, Israel, and some factions are the parties to the Gaza war and the smaller
ongoing conflicts in the region, from Lebanon to Syria, Iraq, and the Red Sea.
The state of affairs has created a ticking time bomb that will eventually blow
up in everyone's face. Although the United States and some Western countries
share Israel's goal of containing and weakening Hamas, they oppose its
right-wing government’s other war objectives. Instead, they seek, through
initiatives and active diplomacy, to put an end to the war and reach a
sustainable political settlement for the Israeli-Palestinian and the broader
Arab-Israeli conflict.
The primary belligerents, namely Israel, Iran, and other factions, are unanimous
in their rejection of the short-term or permanent initiatives and settlements on
offer, raising questions about whether they can obstruct them and for how long.
This question is particularly pertinent given the fact that the Europeans, the
United States, and Arab states - specifically the Gulf states, Egypt, and
Jordan, agree on the diplomatic objectives. These goals include a two-state
solution, ensuring regional security, and the normalization of Arab-Israeli
relations, which would ensure security for Israelis, Palestinians, and Arabs.
We must acknowledge that these are broad objectives, and the details need to be
hashed out. The first question to answer is what a two-state solution would look
like and what regional security actually means. They must also determine how
these goals should be achieved, the guarantees needed by the parties concerned,
and the entity or entities that will back these guarantees. Other questions
regarding the approach to managing the ongoing conflicts across the region
between Israel and Iran's local allies must be resolved. What are the costs Iran
will pay, or what will it receive, and how will these costs or rewards align
with its concept of regional security? Moreover, Iran is very apprehensive about
the prospect of a final, permanent settlement of the conflict and Arab-Israeli
normalization facilitated by US guarantees. How would Iran respond to such a
scenario? Would it be capable of preventing it?
Without delving into whether Iran wants to obstruct this process or not, the
question of whether it has the capacity to disrupt a major settlement path
remains, especially after it "shuffled the cards" in the region through the
"Al-Aqsa Flood" operation and froze the US-sponsored peace process between the
Arabs and Israel.
The dynamics of the region, the intertwined interests of its various actors, and
the capabilities of the parties involved complicate these questions and make the
answers pivotal to the future trajectory of the region, its stability, and its
diplomatic relationships.
We should not underestimate the significance of the push to end the conflict,
especially after everything that the Al-Aqsa Flood and the Gaza war have
revealed to Israel, the Arab states, and the region. Indeed, recent developments
have had serious implications for the security of the region, the interests of
Western powers, and the balance of power in the region.
Iran alone can create obstacles and hurdles to such a settlement if it
materializes, and it is not alone in this battle. Rather, it is spearheading
this effort after consolidating its hold on strategically important and
sensitive areas of the region. Iran's influence reaches the Red Sea, and it has
effectively encircled Israel from the north through Lebanon and from the east
through Syria. Its proxy militias are spread across Iraq, dominate Yemen, and
control the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait; it also has capabilities across the globe and
relationships with a variety of powers.
Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other members of the Resistance Axis are
pushing in the opposite direction. They are patiently and methodically
bolstering an alliance that could pose a direct challenge to the regional order
established by the West that has shaped the Middle East for decades. The
Iran-backed Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea show that they pose a
threat to global trade and energy supplies, underlining the complexity and the
multifaceted nature of the challenges to peace and security in the region.
Iran is not the only entity capable of putting a stick in the wheels. It is
unclear how much longer will Israel remain governed by the hard right, which is
vehemently opposed to any form of settlement and poses its own set of
challenges. Any potential changes in Israel would likely encounter staunch
opposition from the right, which could resort to violence and undemocratic
methods.
Furthermore, the Palestinian issue remains on the margins. To change that,
concerted Arab, American, and Israeli efforts. They must also wisely and
carefully support a renewed Palestinian Authority committed to durable peace.
The role of Russia, which is keen on hindering US efforts in the region, and
this will perhaps eventually be true for China, should not be overlooked either.
On the other hand, Western and Arab countries do not want the war in the Gaza
Strip to escalate and set the region alight. However, rifts are deepening with
time, and the pace of the "mini-wars" across the region is intensifying. Time is
also not on the side of the Biden administration, which is set to face a fierce
electoral contest, be it against Donald Trump, if he manages to secure the
Republican nomination, or Nikki Haley. Biden needs a significant breakthrough
that marks his presidency, as a Trump victory could upend everything, including
the situation in the Middle East and the accomplishments of his administration.
Achieving a breakthrough will certainly be challenging, it can only be achieved
by pressuring Israel. That pressure is unlikely to include a halt in military,
financial, or diplomatic support, particularly at international fora at a time
when it is isolated and has been ordered to prevent genocide by the
International Court of Justice. Biden's viable only option might be to
immediately recognize the Palestinian state, leaving Netanyahu's government to
deal with a fait accompli. This scenario is not far-fetched, as the Biden
administration has already paved the way for this through its explicit support
for a two-state solution. The most notable statement in this regard was made by
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Speaking about Arab-Israeli relations
and their link to a political solution for the Palestinians: “We determined that
the best approach was to work toward a package deal that involved normalization
between Israel and key Arab states together with meaningful progress and a
political horizon for the Palestinian people... "It is President Biden's firm
conviction that the best way to do that is two states with Israel's security
guarantee."
Will Biden dare to translate Sullivan's words into action?
Where Is ‘America 2024…’ and Where Is it Going?
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 30/2024
Amid the influx of "political gifts" Israel is being granted by major Western
countries on the anniversary of the Holocaust, and the sympathy shown for its
leaders following the position of the International Court on the actions it has
taken - and continues to take - in the Gaza Strip... political analysis has been
focused on Israel. However, there have also been accelerating unfamiliar
developments unfolding in the United States over the past two weeks.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ decision to pull out of the Republican Party
primaries may have surprised some observers. DeSantis, whom many considered an
"ideal candidate" to win the upcoming elections, decided that it would be best
to cut his losses and leave the arena early on, although he came second to
Donald Trump in the first primary election in Iowa.
The following qualities determined the strength and weakness of DeSantis’
candidacy, first against Trump in the primaries and then in the presidency
against Joe Biden:
1- He was a candidate whose extreme conservatism is indisputable, vying for the
nomination in a party where the influence of the extreme conservative right is
growing strongly and rapidly.
2- He is among the young politicians expected to shape the future of the
Republican Party after the "personalized" Trump era.
3- He was among the first politicians to recognize the significance of pushing
back against immigration and asylum seekers. To this end, he unequivocally
adopted "Trumpian policies," sometimes seemingly going further than the
"founder", who sought a "separation wall" with Mexico.
4- He is the governor of the third most populous state in the United States,
which is also the third largest "Latino state" (after California and Texas), and
along with Texas, a major stronghold for the Republican Party.
However, it seems that at some point, DeSantis's qualities began worrying his
"mentor." Trump went from seeing the man as a promising student to an arch-rival
seeking to inherit his position too quickly. The truth is that Trump's
apprehension about any serious candidate challenging him from the right is
growing in parallel with the increasing doubts about his ability to carry on his
electoral campaign until the next fall, given the "myriad" of legal issues and
"mines" of political allegations he must overcome.
This reality becomes increasingly evident not only from Trump's stance towards
DeSantis but also in his position towards the second competitor, Nikki Haley
(the former Governor of South Carolina), who became his serious rival after the
withdrawal of the Governor of Florida. Haley might stand to benefit if the
problems of the former president accumulate and the provocations he instigates,
or sometimes gets dragged into, increase.
In fact, following the Iowa caucus and then the New Hampshire primary,
"sensible" voices within the party have urged Haley to remain in the race
against Trump so that the party does not find itself without a plan if something
unforeseen were to happen in the next few months.
In addition, the recent court ruling against Trump in the defamation case
brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was ordered to pay over $83 million,
is not the first and may not be the last verdict that goes against him.
Nevertheless, the former president continues to pursue his familiar tactic of
"rousing" his supporters by accusing the current administration of targeting him
and manipulating the judiciary to fight him.
Meanwhile, another potential "successor" of Trump’s has made use of the
"virtues" of "agitation" and populist "rabble-rousing" tactics to assert
himself, Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Abbott, who governs a state that borders Mexico and has a long (political,
cultural, and bloody) history with it, decided that Texas would curb immigration
and asylum on the borders with its own forces, without referring to the federal
government. The Supreme Court of the United States (despite its conservative
majority), ruled last Monday, by a narrow margin (5 against 4), in favor of the
federal government's right to remove the barbed wire installed on the border
with Mexico.
However, Abbott, who is part of the extreme right in the Republican Party,
decided to challenge the court's ruling and the government's policy. He has
decried the federal government for being soft on immigration and added more
barbed wires. He also encouraged his fellow right-wing Republican state
governors to ignore Washington and order their National Guards to protect their
borders. Six states did indeed follow the example of Texas, including Florida,
which faces the Caribbean Sea, and Montana in the far north on the border with
Canada.
Their mutiny brings the instigation of the 1861 American Civil War to mind. At
the time, the state of South Carolina militarily rebelled against the federal
government's anti-slavery policy and fired the first secessionist shot from Fort
Sumter in Charleston.
At that time, as is the case today, the pretext was "state rights." The argument
was that in a federal political system, the center (i.e., the central
government) should not impose its will on the component parts (i.e., the
states). As for the new challenge, it is the second in modern American history,
after the storming of the Capitol, the seat of the federal legislative
authority, by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021... following the refusal of
the outgoing president to acknowledge his electoral defeat a few months earlier.
What do we see before us today?
The United States, the world's leading power, suffers from very serious
structural problems. Foremost among them is the collapse of the "broad national
consensus" on political principles. There are explicit disagreements over how to
define democracy, political legitimacy, the independence of the judiciary, and
the transfer of power, to say nothing of the trivialization and threat to public
freedoms, including academic and media freedoms.
The collapse of a broad consensus in a pluralistic entity in which citizens have
the right to bear arms, amid a climate of violent and exclusionary polarization
carries the portents of major risks.
A Hundred Days after Gaza's October 7 (Part 3 of
4)/Culpable Ignorance and the Devil's Spreadsheet
Gwythian Prins/ Gatestone Institute/January 30, 2024
Sir William Shawcross's much delayed and now recent report on "Prevent" - the
British Government anti-radicalisation programme - which has documented the
failure of efforts at integration and the degree of risk residing within Muslim
extremism has secured this disturbing knowledge its place on the public record.
In a climate of Israelophobia, where moral compasses go haywire, Hamas is not
being held to account. Predictably, the BBC has presented international law as
superior to national law and the International Court of Justice as a higher
court than any national court. Neither is true. Under the guise of "human
interest", the BBC repeatedly broadcasts prurient details of injuries to
individual children in Gaza. Why? It is designed to shock and anger the listener
and to demonize Israel; and it leaves those implications unspoken, hence
deniable.
The former Director of BBC Television asks, "When do individual errors add up to
something more? When do 'mistakes' become a clear pattern of institutional bias?
These are questions the BBC must answer when it comes to its reporting of
Israel's conflict with the terrorist group Hamas." He then lists nine other
cases of gross error since 7/10 where the bias has been always the same, namely
anti-Israel. "...Is the BBC just unlucky that this keeps happening? The answer
is no."
Hamas has nowhere to hide under Geneva 4. Its crimes are war crimes of the
highest order. The ICJ's interim ruling is vexatious and, while unable to make
an objective finding, tarnishes that Court by implying that Israel might in the
future commit "genocide" when there is neither evidence of intention nor a
community which meets the criteria to be victims of genocide. The same day as
its ruling, evidence arrived that UNRWA on which in part it had relied had
itself now been discredited by evidence of its operatives' involvement in 7/10.
This is the latest form of Holocaust denial.
It is a matter of moral and legal judgment about how a country with high moral
standards wages war against a terrorist enemy that has none. The framework for
such an assessment has not been satisfactorily spelled out.
Israel's entire ground force is part of an interactive all-arms
cyber/air/sea/land concept of operations optimised for precision targeting to
minimise collateral casualties, maximise the extinction of Hamas terrorists and
ensure the effectiveness of its own force protection.
Hamas, conversely, has only a homicidal interest in its own Gaza civilian
residents. Bluntly, for its purposes, the more that are killed the better
because their deaths can then be blamed on the IDF and added to the
undifferentiated butcher's bill in which Western media take figures issued by
Hamas uncritically as being all civilian. Hamas repeatedly obstructed Gazans
trying to evacuate south of Wadi Gaza, blocking the route -- even shooting them
-- when, before the first phase of ground operations began, the IDF gave
civilians notice to move.
The devil's spreadsheet therefore brings the ethical terms of engagement
squarely front and centre. Israel did not bring war on 7th October. It has Just
Cause, is fighting by just means, and has clear precedent.
So the relevant ethical compass is all too clear. It is Hamas and by extension
its supporters wherever they are – on the world's streets, even in the BBC it
seems – who carry all moral blame for the fate of Gaza and its people.
In the modern trope of woke "intersectionality", as victims of purported "white,
Jewish colonialism", Arabs are licensed to do freely any depraved act; and by
definition Jews can never be victims.
[F]ar from being an agent of indiscriminate warfare, the IDF is probably the
most successfully discriminate modern army. Has the comparison with other modern
armies been heard or discussed in BBC analyses? The genocide case was just an
attempt to smear with loose language... and has no relevance to Israeli conduct,
which will not stop attempts to claim that it has.
Since 7th October, the jihadist plus radical left alliance of Jew-haters in
Great Britain directs phalanxes of ignorant British members of the "woke"
movement, expressing support as the latest radical-chic virtue signal. Pictured:
Anti-Israel protesters in London on January 13, 2024.
For ten days after 7th October 2023, the jihadist plus radical left alliance of
Jew-haters in Great Britain was quiet. On the one hand, there are the
truculently non-integrated Salafist Muslim immigrants centred on many mosques,
including Hamas leaders who, incredibly, have been allowed to settle in Britain
since 1997. The scale of this group has been long known to the intelligence
services; but it is Sir William Shawcross's much delayed and now recent report
on "Prevent" -- the British Government anti-radicalisation programme -- which
has documented the failure of efforts at integration and the degree of risk
residing within Muslim extremism. It has secured this disturbing knowledge its
place on the public record.
Since 7th October, this jihadi leadership directs phalanxes of ignorant British
members of the "woke" movement, expressing support as the latest radical-chic
virtue signal. That this second part of the alliance is ignorant, is not
difficult to deduce: random inquiry by journalists found people on the
well-organised street-marches "for Gaza" who could identify neither the river
nor the sea in their Israelophobic chanting, and who, indignantly and (one
hopes) equally ignorantly, shouted ancient anti-Semitic blood libels.
Initially, this alliance had found it hard to find a way to blame the Hamas
massacres of Israelis on the Israelis. They soon discovered a way and their
normality returned. On 17th October, in the evening, Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital –
actually its car-park -- was hit by some sort of weapon. Some people died, but
not in the many hundreds initially claimed by al-Jazeera news agency.
Nonetheless Israel could once more be blamed for killing women and children:
especially children. In that subliminal echo from medieval times, this became
the new blood libel. The London street-protesters had their green light.
Pretty quickly, all serious Western analysts confirmed the Israel Defence
Force's telemetry analysis, pointing to an Islamic Jihad missile that fell
short, as they frequently do, and that casualties were much lower than the
initial claims. Yet all that was swept aside. The 'Arab street' exploded across
the region. Arab states, that had been in the process of normalising relations
with Israel through the Abraham Accords, fell silent; and, to its shame, the BBC
played a central role.
In an instant, despite the IDF denial, later substantiated in evidence, one of
the BBC's reporters, Jon Donnison, pronounced, "...it's hard to see what else
this could be really, given the size of the explosion, other than an Israeli
airstrike or several airstrikes", thus conferring on the Arab claims the BBC's
inherited but nowadays undeserved authority. Lies went around the world before,
as the saying goes, the truth had got its boots on. From the very start, the BBC
refused to describe Hamas as terrorists, despite the organization being widely
proscribed as a terrorist organisation, and even now will not go beyond the
circumlocutory formula: "which is proscribed by the British Government."
As UK Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat reproved the BBC's flagship
radio news show, the "Today" programme, the BBC's rush to judgment was "not the
BBC's finest hour" – and even then (if you listen to the interview) presenter
Nick Robinson tried, rather pompously, to push back. Some moral clarity from the
BBC would be welcome, not to mention journalistic competence, instead of
misapplied moral equivalence and the endless dog whistle of "collective
punishment" used obnoxiously to portray the victim of a genocidal attack as the
perpetrator of one.
So too, in these days after the world turned upside-down, we need to recollect
the currently active obligations of High Contracting Parties -- the state
signatories to the conventions -- to pursue and punish Hamas, the proven
genocidaires, within their sovereign jurisdictions under the 4th Geneva
Convention. In a climate of Israelophobia, where moral compasses go haywire,
Hamas is not being held to account. Predictably, the BBC has presented
international law as superior to national law and the International Court of
Justice as a higher court than any national court. Neither is true. Under the
guise of "human interest", the BBC repeatedly broadcasts prurient details of
injuries to individual children in Gaza. Why? It is designed to shock and anger
the listener and to demonize Israel; and it leaves those implications unspoken,
hence deniable.
The BBC's past reputation, especially heroic during the war against the Nazis,
is one of supreme objectivity. Its reporting, therefore, is uniquely
influential. Today, however, something seems to have gone seriously wrong.
In an extraordinary intervention, the former Director of BBC Television, Danny
Cohen, asked:
"When do individual errors add up to something more? When do 'mistakes' become a
clear pattern of institutional bias? These are questions the BBC must answer
when it comes to its reporting of Israel's conflict with the terrorist group
Hamas."
He then lists nine other cases of gross error since 7/10 where the bias has been
always the same, namely anti-Israel.
"...Is the BBC just unlucky that this keeps happening? The answer is no. The
sheer volume of these incidents instead tells us something highly significant
about institutional bias at the corporation and its management's failure to get
to grips with it."
In sum, the BBC's institutional bias is the most serious because of its unique
world-wide influence. This makes it the most influential case of culpable
ignorance, although it is by no means alone in this respect.
The al-Ahli Hospital episode was not unique. Two months later, on 16th December,
His Eminence Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa of the Latin Patriarchate of
Jerusalem instantly blamed IDF "snipers" for killing two Gazan Christian women,
Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter, Samar, "in cold blood" at the Holy Family
Church, the only Catholic Church in Gaza. The Cardinal furthermore stated
unequivocally that no Hamas terrorists were present. This report was taken at
face value -- more culpable ignorance -- and immediately retransmitted by
Cardinal Vincent Nichol in London and by the Pope himself who described the
alleged IDF shooting as "terrorism".
Once again, after investigation by the IDF, facts showed differently. Hamas
guerrillas and "spotters" were present, using the Church precinct as a shield –
thereby removing the legal protection of the protected site as explained in
Article 19 of the 4th Geneva Convention of 12th August 1949 (Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War). Israeli troops had been attacked by Hamas with
RPGs fired from the precinct. Positive identification of the terrorists had been
made and they were all killed. The two women were not killed by Israeli gunfire.
But even if they had been, it would not have been in breach of the laws of war.
Hamas was in grave breach of Geneva 4 while the IDF has complied throughout.
But, once more, moral equivalence was ascribed to Hamas the genocidaire and the
IDF and this time, most ignobly by the Pope.
Therefore the Holy Family Church episode is not just a question of evidence and
ignorance. It is deeper. It is a matter of moral and legal judgment about how a
country with high moral standards wages war against a terrorist enemy that has
none. The framework for such an assessment has not been satisfactorily spelled
out.
The 7th October pogrom compelled the Israel Defence Force to embark on
intensive, high-precision urban warfare against an enemy that as a matter of
deliberate tactics and in flagrant breach of the laws of armed conflict hides
among civilians and in tunnels underneath the civilian Arab population that it
holds hostage and, specifically, in and under protected places such as
hospitals, schools, religious sites as defined in Geneva 4, Article 18 and Annex
1.
Hamas's attacks of 7th October were in specific breach of Geneva 4 Article 27
(protecting women) and the perpetrators are in breach of the most serious of the
"grave breaches" of Geneva 4 set out in Article 147, namely wilful killing,
torture or inhuman treatment and the taking of hostages. For this they stand
liable to severe punishment. Nuremberg established long ago that following
orders was no defence. So, Hamas members from leadership downwards are all
miscreant with consequent obligations for all signatory states, if the laws of
armed conflict are to mean anything, anymore. Hamas are enemies of all mankind:
international outlaws.
Hamas has nowhere to hide under Geneva 4. Its crimes are war crimes of the
highest order. Article 146 lays down those obligations of pursuit, trial and
punishment incumbent on every High Contracting Party, singly or together, as
follows:
"...Each High Contracting Party shall be under the obligation to search for
persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, such
grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality,
before its own courts. It may also, if it prefers, and in accordance with the
provisions of its own legislation, hand such persons over for trial to another
High Contracting Party concerned, provided such High Contracting Party has made
out a prima facie case...."
FIBUA (fighting in built-up areas) is the most difficult type of warfare and the
IDF is probably the world's most meticulously trained and best equipped modern
army for this sort of fighting. Technical military capabilities plus their modes
of operation are not irrelevant details: they are material demonstration of
intent. Israel's Merkava Mk IV tanks and huge Namer armoured personnel carriers,
both field revolutionary automatic close-in protection from the "Trophy" system.
They integrate with combat engineering units deploying Caterpillar D9 armoured
bulldozers in novel combinations. In fact Israel's entire ground force is part
of an interactive all-arms cyber/air/sea/land concept of operations optimised
for precision targeting to minimise collateral casualties, maximise the
extinction of Hamas terrorists and ensure the effectiveness of its own force
protection. Technical military capabilities and their modes of operation
demonstrate intent.
Hamas, conversely, has only a homicidal interest in Gaza civilian residents.
Bluntly, for its purposes, the more that are killed, the better: their deaths
can then be blamed on the IDF and added to the undifferentiated butcher's bill
in which Western media take the figures issued by Hamas uncritically as being
all civilian. Hamas repeatedly obstructed Gazans trying to evacuate south of
Wadi Gaza, blocking the route -- even shooting them -- when, before the first
phase of ground operations began, the IDF gave civilians notice to move.
In contrast, the IDF "kill ratio" of civilian collateral victims to terrorists
since 7th October is reckoned by British military expertise to be more likely
2:1, which is less sparing that the 0.6:1 ratio in the May 2023 Operation Shield
and Arrow -- a world record for precision -- but more sparing than was ever
achieved by US or British forces in Iraq or Afghanistan (3:1 to 5:1) . 7:1 to
9:1 is the norm. David Miliband's International Rescue Committee calculated that
87% of casualties in modern wars are civilian.
Thus, in another perverse inversion, far from being an agent of indiscriminate
warfare, the IDF is probably the most successfully discriminate modern army. Has
the comparison with other modern armies been heard or discussed in BBC analyses?
The genocide case was just an attempt to smear with loose language, imperilling
the special status of genocide, the "crime of crimes" and has no relevance to
Israeli conduct, which will not stop attempts to claim that it has.
There, is, however, an even worse episode of perverse inversion fresh before us.
In Part 1 of this series, I predicted that the South African attempt to tar
Israel with the implication of genocide risked putting the ICJ in the dock
rather than Israel if it did not throw out the case as being without merit; and
so it has proved. The ICJ's interim ruling is vexatious. While unable to make an
objective finding, the Court disgraced itself by implying that Israel might in
the future commit "genocide" when there is neither evidence of intention, as was
noted in Part 1, nor a community which meets the criteria to be victims of
genocide. This second reason was implied in Part 2 and was stated by Melanie
Phillips who deserves to be quoted in full. In terms of the Genocide Convention
and within the logic of pan-Arabism:
[T]he Palestinians are not a discrete 'national, ethnical, racial or religious
group' but — as many of their own leaders have acknowledged in the past — they
are an indissoluble part of the broader Arab nation. They have no culture,
language or religion that makes them distinct from that broader Arab nation;
many if not most of their ancestors in the last century immigrated into
Palestine from neighbouring states such as Egypt and Syria; their 'Palestinian'
identity was forged in the 1960s purely as a weapon of war to destroy Israel and
to appropriate Jewish history as their own. By this standard, they aren't
covered by the Genocide Convention at all."
Matters then got even worse for the reputation of the ICJ. The very day that its
ruling was pronounced, evidence arrived that UNRWA, on whose evidence in part it
had relied, had itself now been discredited by verified Intelligence of its
operatives' involvement in 7/10. Furthermore United Nations Watch has published
documentation that not one of 3,000 UNRWA teachers on their Telegram chat group
dissented from celebrating the pogrom. This, as Phillips writes, is the latest
form of Holocaust denial. Little wonder than many major state funders of UNRWA,
aghast, are withdrawing their support.
Tugendhat also reminded "Today" on 19th January that Hamas has exploited Gazans
as forced labour to build its tunnels, using concrete and steel stolen in breach
of Geneva 4 Art 23, Exception (a) from aid intended for relief of the
non-combatant population.
Furthermore, he firmly instructed the interviewer Robinson on what
"proportionality" means in such a war. It is not a "devil's spreadsheet" of body
count for body count. It is proportionality in war aims. The complete
neutralisation of an enemy is legally and ethically a proportionate objective
when the enemy's aims are neither territory nor the welfare of civilians (Gazan
in this case) but genocide, as the Hamas Charter states in black and white,
trailing its Nazi-inspired pedigree.
The devil's spreadsheet therefore brings the ethical terms of engagement
squarely front and centre. Israel did not bring war on 7th October. It has Just
Cause, is fighting by just means, and has clear precedent.
As one of his case studies in his classic study, Just and Unjust Wars, Michael
Walzer relates the history during the American Civil War of the siege and
burning of Atlanta, a crucial Confederate supply base and rail hub. The Union
General William Tecumseh Sherman had ordered Confederate General John Bell Hood
to evacuate the city, so that it could be burned.
Those were more literate days. Hood replied to Sherman's order:
"...the unprecedented measure you propose transcends, in studied and ingenious
cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention in the dark history of
war."
Sherman was having none it and wrote back in careful but forceful terms:
"War is cruelty and you cannot refine it... those who brought war into our
country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I
had no hand in making this war".
That is just cause. Yet, like the IDF, Sherman offered his enemy the chance to
evacuate before he acted firmly the more quickly to end the war. That is right
conduct. The IDF calls it "tohar haneshek" – purity of arms – and practices it,
often sacrificing surprise, for example with the "knock on the roof" to warn
occupants of buildings about to be targeted to vacate them, and at a cost to
itself of endangering its own troops.
Sherman torched Atlanta on 15th November 1864, wrecked the Confederate rail
system hub and then laid waste to Georgia in his "March to the Sea", a military
undertaking which proved to be efficient in obtaining swift surrenders, thereby
materially shortening the war.
Sherman, however, was no reveller in bloodshed or destruction. His purpose was
in his letter to Hood. After the war he often said in lectures that "war is
hell". So the relevant ethical compass is all too clear. It is Hamas and by
extension its supporters wherever they are – on the world's streets, even in the
BBC, it seems – who carry all moral blame for the fate of Gaza and its people.
To end the evil of an unjust war that Israel did not initiate as soon and as
humanely as possible, the IDF is applying maximum focussed force, without
interruption, for both operational and moral reasons, just as Sherman did. If
there is a proven patron and co-ordinator of its proxies' actions, as in this
instance Iran, then, by extension, to touch that state is also both legitimate
and germane. Moreover, toppling the mullahs would be a blessing to the brave
Iranians, especially the women protesting against restrictive veiling and being
savagely flogged incarcerated or killed for so doing. It was noteworthy that at
the march against anti-Semitism in London on 26th November there were many
supporters of a secular Iran along with tens of thousands of other non-Jews.
At Nuremberg, SS Commander Otto Ohlendorf's penultimate throw of the dice was to
invoke a tu quoque defence ("you too", discrediting an opponent's character
rather than his argument), but pre-emptively: his 91,000 murders well preceded
large-scale Allied bombing of German cities. When pressed to justify his actions
in 1941 in ordering and overseeing the systematic murder of defenceless
civilians and in particular of Jewish and Gypsy children, he first sought to
place the actions of his death squads on a par with the Allied bombing of
Dresden in February 1945:
"... I cannot imagine that those planes which systematically covered a city...
square meter for square meter, with incendiaries and explosive bombs and again
with phosphorous bombs ...in Dresden ...could possibly hope not to kill any
civilian population, and no children".
That was his Dresden Defence.
SS-Gruppenführer Otto Ohlendorf, commander of Einsatzgruppe D, in 1943. (Image
source: German Federal Archive)
The analogous Hamas defence, which is often heard more by implication than
directly and repeatedly by implication on the BBC, would be that the actions of
7th October were justified by children killed as unintended collateral victims
in subsequent (or indeed any) IDF air strikes. In the modern trope of woke
"intersectionality", as victims of purported "white, Jewish colonialism", Arabs
are licensed to do freely any depraved act; and by definition Jews can never be
victims.
The double helix hovers over law and ethics too.
Gwythian Prins is Research Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics
and a past member of the British Chief of the Defence Staff's Strategy Advisory
Panel.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20357/israel-gaza-culpable-ignorance
US should rethink its Middle East strategy
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/January 30, 2024
Sunday’s lethal drone attack on US forces stationed at a military post in
northeastern Jordan was the most severe challenge to America’s military presence
in the region since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel. US forces in
Syria and Iraq have been targeted at least 150 times since then by pro-Iranian
militias based in Iraq. But three US soldiers were killed in the Jordan attack
and as many as 30 injured. The drone is believed to have been launched from
Iraq. The so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella of several Shiite
groups attached to the Popular Mobilization Units, claimed responsibility.
The target location is believed to be a vital center of military communications
and surveillance that covers Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Pro-Iranian groups have
said their post-Oct. 7 operations are in response to Israel’s war on Gaza. The
same groups claim they have attacked targets in Israel itself, including Eilat
in southern Israel.
At the same time, the Houthis in Yemen have managed to disrupt commercial
maritime activity in the Red Sea by attacking US, British and Israeli ships and
any vessels heading to Israeli ports. They have also launched many long-range
missiles against southern Israel. They, too, claim they are supporting the
people of Gaza against the Israeli onslaught. The US and Britain have carried
out several aerial attacks against Houthi positions in response.
Sunday’s attack took the US by surprise. The fact that the strike took place on
Jordanian territory is also essential. President Joe Biden and the Pentagon
promised to retaliate, but Republican lawmakers and the right-wing media want
him to strike Iran, which has denied any connection to the incident. Tehran said
that resistance groups are the ones that have decided to respond to the US
military presence in the region, not itself. The White House finds itself in an
awkward position, needing to show deterrence while avoiding an open war with
Iran and its proxies. The White House finds itself in an awkward position,
needing to show deterrence while avoiding an open war
The US has retaliated in the past few weeks with strikes against forces at the
Al-Asad and Irbil airbases in Iraq. The most serious was last month’s strike on
a Kata’ib Hezbollah base in Baghdad, which killed at least one senior official
and wounded 18, including civilians. The Iraqi government protested the US
strike, calling it an “unacceptable attack on Iraqi sovereignty” that would
“harm bilateral relations.” Since then, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani
has requested that negotiations should begin to end the US military presence in
Iraq.
Meanwhile, US media reports have stated that Washington is also considering
pulling out of northeastern Syria. The main question is how the US will
retaliate. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that
America is not looking to go to war with Iran, nor does it want to expand the
regional conflict.
Sunday’s attack raises many challenges for the US. First, its military has been
in this region for decades, toppling Saddam Hussein and triggering a sectarian
war in Iraq, while incriminating itself in war crimes. After destroying Iraq, it
allowed Iran to play a crucial role in the country’s politics, resulting in what
we have today: multiple nonstate actors that are supported by Iran and are
ideologically against the US presence, not only in Iraq but the region. Second,
the US has launched wars or been involved in them from Afghanistan to Libya and
from Yemen to Somalia and Syria, with one clear outcome: the creation of failed
states. This has enabled proxy groups and nonstate actors and led to the death
or displacement of millions of innocent civilians. Other than triggering wars,
the US has had no clear regional strategic objective. It has alienated its
traditional allies and created anti-US sentiments across the region.
Third, in this latest Israeli aggression on Gaza, the US has sided, as usual,
with the aggressor without any consideration of how the people of the region
will feel. They may not like Iran and its proxies, but opposition to Israel’s
bloodbath in Gaza has created so much grassroots support for the so-called
resistance front that it also puts pressure on America’s allies in the region,
which have to answer to their citizens.
The US must stop viewing the region from an Israeli perspective if it wants to
build genuine and lasting alliances
Still, the Middle East is changing and leaders are learning the lessons of the
past. One immediate outcome of this is that leaders now affirm there will not be
any regional stability so long as the Palestinian cause remains unresolved. This
is the position of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and other Arab and
regional players. This is a message that Washington has refused to understand.
The neocons in the US Congress and right-wing media, who believe the US can club
together an anti-Iran coalition, triggering another costly war in the region,
are not only delusional but simply wrong. The leaders in the area have learned
their lessons. “Never again” also means never repeating the mistakes of the
past.
The Gaza war has been an eye-opener for millions of people around the world. The
region’s leaders have also absorbed the lessons. The US Middle East policy has
delivered chaos and radicalism since the 1990s. America’s blind bias in favor of
Israel has turned it into an accessory to war crimes and now an allegation of
enabling genocide.
The US must stop viewing the region from an Israeli perspective if it wants to
build genuine and lasting alliances with countries in this part of the world.
Today’s leaders are aware of their geopolitical options, opening up to Russia
and China while also keeping links to the US. Suppose the US has an agenda for
the region. In that case, it must consider what the vast majority of the people
of this region want. A resolution to the Palestinian question in a just and
viable way would be a significant step in the right direction.
A direct attack on Iran should not be on the cards for the US. An all-out
regional war is something that helps Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
objective of dragging everyone into a conflict that serves no one’s interests
but his. Instead, the US should examine its national interests in a
fast-changing region, in which leaders opt to resolve their differences through
diplomacy.
America’s 30-year military engagement in the region has been toxic and
disruptive. No one here wants to see another war flaring up. Instead, leaders
want a durable and just resolution to the core of regional instability;
something the Palestinians will accept so that other nonstate actors stop using
them as an excuse to destabilize the region. Washington needs to rethink its
Middle East strategy after Sunday’s attack.
**Osama Al-Sharif is a veteran journalist and political commentator based in
Amman. X: @plato010Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are
their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view