Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 11-12/2024
Video & Text/Elias Bejjani/Iranian Hezbollah and the Dhimmitude in the approaches of Geagea, Habashi, Riachi and Jabour...You ar lost and confusing all the Lebanese people
PM Mikati continues efforts to keep war away from Lebanon
At least one killed, 'several injured' after Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon, sources say
Israel strikes near Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley
Hezbollah says it stages drone strike on Israeli outpost in Golan Heights
Netanyahu says Israel to return residents to north through diplomacy or war
Hezbollah attacks Israeli air defense center in Golan
Berri says would head dialogue initiated by National Moderation bloc
Mikati says 'God willing,' south won't see further escalation
Israeli army stages supply drill to prepare for potential Lebanon offensive
SchoolTec Exhibition and Conference wraps up in Beirut amid challenging circumstances
Muslims in Lebanon welcome Ramadan with mix of joy and deep concern

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 11-12/2024
Israel urges UN Security Council to pressure Hamas on hostages
Israeli military: Troops killed Palestinian on way to carry out suicide attack
An effort to get aid to Gaza by sea is moving ahead. But the first ship is still waiting in Cyprus
Biden cajoles Netanyahu with tough talk, humanitarian concerns but Israeli PM remains dug in
Flag of Sweden, NATO's 32nd member, raised at NATO headquarters
Biden, Netanyahu clash over Rafah 'red line,' planned Israeli operation
Palestinians in Gaza begin Ramadan amid hunger and war
Italian police arrest three Palestinians on terrorism charges
FM Mélanie Joly says Canada is pledging $1 million to support victims of sexual violence by Hamas
Qaida's Yemen branch leader dead in unclear circumstances
US military confirms Yemen’s Houthis targeting of vessel Pinocchio
Suspected attack by Yemen's rebels sees explosion near ship in Red Sea
On Russian TV ahead of the election, there's only one program: Putin's
Japan remembers the dead, 13 years after Fukushima nuclear disaster
Portugal in suspense after election produces no clear winner, surging populist party

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on March 11-12/2024
Fani Willis Is Probably Guilty of Perjury: Who Will Prosecute the Prosecutors?/Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/March 11, 2024
Spain’s Muslim Migrant Crisis through the Lens of History/Raymond Ibrahim/March 11, 2024
The Big Problem With Iran’s Strategy in the Middle East: It Works/James A. Warren/The Daily Beast/March 11, 2024
‘Islamic resistance’ weaponizes Arab states against their people/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/March 11/ 2024
What the world continues to get wrong about Libya/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/March 11/ 2024
Syria, too, desperately needs a ceasefire, says UN commission of inquiry/EPHREM KOSSAIFY/Arab News/March 12, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 11-12/2024
Video & Text/Elias Bejjani/Iranian Hezbollah and the Dhimmitude in the approaches of Geagea, Habashi, Riachi and Jabour...You ar lost and confusing all the Lebanese people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQxIXp6N2-8
All that is required of the Lebanese Forces Party at the leadership level, and with regard to Hezbollah’s situation, is for them to say publicly, frankly, without ambiguity, and without subservience and surrender, to say in their media appearances, approaches, speeches, and positions what Hezbollah says about itself, its affiliation, and its Persian project. Clear and courageous stances are required, "If you do not and unable stand against Hezbollah, home". Enough Is Enough.
March 09/2024

PM Mikati continues efforts to keep war away from Lebanon
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/March 11, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday he hoped the situation on the country’s southern border with Israel would not deteriorate after five months of hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli forces. “We are maintaining contact with all relevant parties locally and internationally to prevent war in Lebanon. Despite the suffering our country has endured, particularly in terms of the number of martyrs, we pay homage to their souls,” he said. Mikati spoke after Israel dropped leaflets over the Wazzani border area using a drone on Monday, in which it attempted to incite residents against Hezbollah, holding it responsible for the fate of residents and their property. “Hezbollah is endangering your lives, the lives of your families, and your homes, and its members and weapons are entering your residential areas. From your backyard at the expense of your family. Such a shame,” the leaflets said.
Texts circulated on social media warned that the leaflets fell within the framework of psychological warfare, showing fake concern for the interests of people while Israel commits crimes in Gaza and southern Lebanon. The counter-campaign was followed by calls not to share the leaflets or circulate them on social media. Meanwhile, a predominantly Christian private school in the Keserwan area in Mount Lebanon punished a nun who urged students to pray for the south and its youth. Two days earlier, a widely circulated video showed Sister Maya Ziadeh addressing the school’s students in the playground, in which she reportedly said: “In the south, there are students your age who say they have no dreams other than liberating their land. “Today, we will pray for the south, for the children of the south, for the people of the south, for the mothers of the south, and the men of the resistance because they are men from Lebanon, and they toil to protect this homeland.”
She added: “If we do not pray for them or love them regardless of what we think, then we are traitors to our land, our homeland, and every book we read. “We pray for the protection of our youth and homeland because it is going through a difficult ordeal, and nothing but love and solidarity strengthens us.”The video led to widespread criticism by Christians from Keserwan, who wrote on the platform X and called for the nun to be punished. A parent of one student later announced that the school administration decided to “ban the nun from teaching and transfer her from the school to another place.” On Monday, a political group opposing Hezbollah — Our Lady of the Mountain — accused the Lebanese authorities of “putting the people of the south in the eye of the storm of the killing, destruction, and displacement by fully and openly supporting the Hezbollah militia in its declared and ongoing war only to support Gaza.”
The group asked in a statement: “By what legitimate authority does Hezbollah give itself the right to decide war and peace, putting all Lebanon and the Lebanese at risk of death and destruction? “Isn’t this a decision that the parliament and the Lebanese government take? Where do these presidents, ministers, and deputies stand on all that is happening?” The statement came as Hezbollah carried out several military operations against Israeli military sites on Monday, including an aerial attack with four drones on the Israeli air and missile defense headquarters at Keila barracks. The Jal Al-Alam site and a gathering of Israeli soldiers in Al-Tayhat Hill have also been targeted. Israeli attacks continued around the Lebanese border areas, and a house was targeted on the outskirts of the town of Jebbayn. Israel claimed that the house was a “Hezbollah military site.” The National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone fell due to a technical malfunction in the outskirts of the town of Halta in the Hasbaya district. Hezbollah, meanwhile, said one of its members, Ali Mohammed Zein, from the town of Sohmor in the Western Bekaa, had died.
Al-Fajr Forces also mourned the deaths of three members — Mohammed Riyad Moheyiddine from Beirut, Dr. Hussein Hilal Darwish from Shhim in Iqlim Al-Kharroub, and Mohammed Jamal Ibrahim from Habbariyeh — who were killed on Sunday in Habbariyeh, in the Aarkoub area, when their car was targeted by an Israeli drone. The group had previously announced it was “launching operations against the Israeli occupation, against the backdrop of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.” Its military activity was limited to the Sunni-dominated Aarkoub area on the outskirts of Shebaa and Kfarshouba, and it previously lost two members when Israel targeted Hamas offices in a building in the southern suburb of Beirut in early January, killing Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri.

At least one killed, 'several injured' after Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon, sources say
BEIRUT (Reuters)/Mon, March 11, 2024
At least one civilian has been killed and several others injured after Israel launched four strikes on eastern Lebanon's city of Baalbek on Monday, two security sources and the Baalbek governor, Bashir Khader, told Reuters. One of the strikes hit the southern entrance to the city of Baalbek, at least 2 km (1.2 miles) from ancient Roman ruins, the security sources said. The three other strikes hit near the city of Taraya, 20 km (12.4 miles) west of Baalbek, they added. The first bombardment of eastern Lebanon since regional hostilities erupted following the start of the war in Gaza occurred in late February. Israeli strikes had been mostly limited to the southern border region of Lebanon, although they have edged further north in recent weeks, a broadening of Israel's campaign, a Lebanese security source told Reuters.

Israel strikes near Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley
AFP/March 11, 2024
BAALBEK, Lebanon: Israel launched air strikes near Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek on Monday, security sources said, the second raids in the region since cross-border hostilities began after the Gaza war. Since October 8, the day after the war broke out in the Gaza Strip, Hamas ally Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have exchanged near-daily fire. The strikes have been largely contained to the border between the two countries — although Israel has on occasion launched strikes elsewhere in Lebanon. “Israeli aircraft targeted a former Hezbollah building near Dar Al Amal Hospital,” a security source told AFP, adding that Israel “conducted another raid on a warehouse west of Baalbek.” Another security official confirmed the strikes. The city of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley is a Hezbollah bastion bordering Syria. On February 26, Israeli strikes targeted Baalbek, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the border, killing two Hezbollah members in the deepest such raid into Lebanese territory since the hostilities began. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October at least 316 people, mainly Hezbollah fighters, and 53 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally. In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed.

Hezbollah says it stages drone strike on Israeli outpost in Golan Heights
AMMAN (Reuters)/March 11, 2024
Lebanon's Hezbollah group said it carried out a drone attack on Monday against an Israeli air defence outpost across the border in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It said the rare attack, in which it deployed four drones, hit their target with "accuracy" in what it said was another operation in support of Palestinian militant groups in Gaza. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. The Iran-aligned Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire along Lebanon's southern border since October, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, which is at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes had been mostly limited to the southern border region of Lebanon, although they have edged further north
in recent weeks.
Hezbollah last month said it fired rockets against the same target in the Golan Heights. The armed group has used surface-to-air missiles on several occasions since Oct. 7 to target Israeli aircraft. It has also launched its own surveillance drones into northern Israel. The Israeli military said two hostile aerial targets crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory in the northern Golan area "fell in open areas". It also said Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah military site in the border area of Jibbain and overnight hit another Hezbollah outpost in the Taybeh area. Three fighters of the Lebanese Islamist militant group Jamaa Islamiya, an ally of Hezbollah, who were killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Sunday, were buried on Monday, the group said. More than 60 civilians have been killed in Israeli shelling on Lebanon, along with more than 200 Hezbollah fighters, according to medical and security sources.

Netanyahu says Israel to return residents to north through diplomacy or war
Naharnet/March 11/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has left open the prospect of a military operation in Lebanon to facilitate the return of Israelis displaced from northern Israel. "They've left their homes because of fear that Hezbollah would perpetrate the massacres in the northern border with Lebanon that Hamas perpetrated in the border with Gaza,” Netanyahu said in an interview with U.S. news website Politico. “So we'll do whatever we can to restore security for them and bring them home. ... If we have to do it with military means, we'll do so. If there's a diplomatic way to achieve it, fine. But ultimately, we'll do it," Netanyahu added. At least 313 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah on October 8 -- most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 53 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed, according to the latest official figures. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting on both sides of the border. Strikes have largely remained confined to border regions for the moment, but several have hit Hezbollah positions further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict. The group has repeatedly said that it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hezbollah attacks Israeli air defense center in Golan
Naharnet/March 11/2024
Hezbollah attacked Monday a military base in the Golan Heights with suicide drones. The group said it had successfully attacked "an air and missile defense base" in a barracks in the Golan Heights with four suicide drones. Hezbollah also targeted the Jal al-Alam post in northern Israel and a group of soldiers on the Tayhat Hill. Earlier on Monday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets on south Lebanon for the second time since the Israel-Hamas war began, warning residents that Hezbollah is endangering their lives. Since October 8, the day after the Israel-Hamas war started, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen deadly exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which says it is acting in support of Palestine. A drone dropped the Leaflets Monday over al-Wazzani, a small Lebanese village in the Hasbaya District. "To the residents of south Lebanon, Hezbollah is putting your lives and the lives of your families at risk," read the leaflet. "Hezbollah's weapons and members are entering your residential areas. From the yard of your homes at the expense of your families," the text added. On Sunday, Hezbollah carried out 12 attacks on northern Israel and the occupied Shebaa Farms after an Israeli strike Saturday on a house in Kherbet Selem left five dead. At least 312 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of cross-border violence on October 8, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 53 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed, according to the latest official figures. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting on both sides of the border. Strikes have largely remained confined to border regions for the moment, but several have hit Hezbollah positions further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict. The group has repeatedly said that it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in Gaza. But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said recently that any truce in Gaza would not change Israel's goal of pushing Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, by force or diplomacy.

Berri says would head dialogue initiated by National Moderation bloc
Naharnet/March 11/2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri would head a meeting that would follow the National Moderation bloc's initiative aimed at breaking Lebanon's presidential vote deadlock. The initiative, launched in February, calls for consultations in Parliament followed by open electoral sessions. "The Parliament's General Secretariat would call for the dialogue and I would head it without preconditions," Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Monday. The Speaker said he hopes a meeting at a round table would lead to an agreement on a presidential candidate. Crisis-hit Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with neither of the two main blocs -- Hezbollah and its opponents -- having the majority required to elect one. The National Moderation bloc has met with Berri and with other parliamentary blocs, including Hezbollah.

Mikati says 'God willing,' south won't see further escalation
Naharnet/March 11/2024
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday said Lebanese officials are “continuing contacts with all the relevant local and international parties in order to spare Lebanon war.”Saluting “the souls of the martyrs,” Mikati said that “God willing, things will not further escalate.”At least 313 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah on October 8 -- most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 53 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed, according to the latest official figures. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting on both sides of the border. Strikes have largely remained confined to border regions for the moment, but several have hit Hezbollah positions further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict. The group has repeatedly said that it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in Gaza. But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said recently that any truce in Gaza would not change Israel's goal of pushing Hezbollah away from the border, by force or diplomacy.

Israeli army stages supply drill to prepare for potential Lebanon offensive
Naharnet/March 11/2024
The Israeli army has carried out a logistics supply drill as part of its preparations for a potential ground offensive in Lebanon. In the exercise, forces practiced delivering equipment, water, fuel, and ammunition to simulated “maneuvering forces” in Lebanon amid fighting, the Israeli army said.
It added that the drill included “loading and unloading equipment from Air Force aircraft and transporting equipment using vehicles on the ground” to the front lines. So far, as part of the war in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Air Force has carried out airdrops of some 110 tons of equipment to troops in the Palestinian enclave, according to the Israeli army. Thousands more logistical supply operations were carried out using convoys of trucks. “The IDF (Israeli army) is prepared to carry out identical operations in the northern sector (Lebanon’s front) as well, with high intensity and under fire if required,” the Israeli military said. The drill comes amid repeated cross-border attacks by Hezbollah and allied Palestinian groups from Lebanon at northern Israel, with fears of a wider conflict. Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its northern border following Hamas’ October 7 attacks in south Israel, and has warned that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward. At least 312 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of cross-border violence on October 8, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 53 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed, according to the latest official Israeli figures.Tens of thousands of people have also been displaced by the fighting on both sides of the border.

SchoolTec Exhibition and Conference wraps up in Beirut amid challenging circumstances
Naharnet/March 11/2024
Against the backdrop of the country's ongoing political instability and the conflict in southern Lebanon, a remarkable educational event unfolded, bringing a ray of hope to educational suppliers and institutions. The past week saw the conclusion of the second edition of the SchoolTec Exhibition and Conference, specializing in the educational and technological supplies sector. This annual event in Lebanon underscores the critical role of the education sector as a foundational pillar of the nation's cultural identity and its regional educational prominence. The exhibition and conference, held on March 7 and 8, drew the participation of a diverse group, including administrators, educators, teachers, and specialists, all seeking sustainable solutions for their educational institutions. The primary goal was to provide them with the necessary resources for development, ensuring that education remains in step with rapid technological advancements. This encompasses cutting-edge technologies, informative programs, robotics, educational and stationery supplies, along with enhancing individuals' capabilities through specialized training courses and educational consultations. Running concurrently with the exhibition, the event also featured an accompanying conference, hosting numerous dialogue sessions. The first day included a panel discussion on the future of education in Lebanon, featuring leaders from two educational associations – Mohammad Samaha, General Manager of Al-Mustafa Schools, and Bilal Zein El-Dine, General Manager of Amal Educational Institutions. The session also welcomed Naameh Mahfoud, President of the Private School Teachers' Syndicate, and Hana Joujou, President of the Nursery Owners' Syndicate in Lebanon.
Subsequently, a session on supporting innovation through education took place, featuring speakers such as Omar Christidis, founder of ArabNet, Radwan Chouaib, founder of Mubarat al Ouloum, Rabih Baalbaki, President of the Edtech Syndicate, and Patrick Abou Chacra, founder of the Digital Media Syndicate. On the second day, two panels, a talk, and a graduation ceremony unfolded. The first panel delved into artificial intelligence, presented by Krystel Yaacoub and Rania Saad from Saint Mary’s Orthodox College, discussing how to leverage AI to benefit teachers. The second panel explored the use of technology in schools and its impact on students, featuring technology heads Ahmed Shbaro from Makassed Association, Tarek Ibrahim, Technology Department Head at Al-Mustafa Schools, and the directors of two educational institutions – Bisan Shamma, Principal of Saint Mary’s Orthodox College, and Hassan Tajideen, President of Stars College. This session also included digital transformation expert Mario Akl. The event continued with a talk on making the school environment more dynamic and positive, led by expert Dr. Nabil Khoury, and concluded with a graduation ceremony for educational technologists. “The second edition of SchoolTec presented notable challenges for all involved – organizers, exhibitors, speakers, and visitors. However, it stood as a testament to economic and educational resilience in times of crisis, sending a message of defiance in the face of adversity,” the organizers said.
“Despite the circumstances, exhibitors aimed to light the path for future education by showcasing exceptional educational supplies and solutions. Speakers shared their experiences, and visitors arrived with hopes for a better future for themselves, their institutions, and their students, aspiring to uplift the overall educational landscape,” the organizers added.

Muslims in Lebanon welcome Ramadan with mix of joy and deep concern
Associated Press/March 11/2024
Muslims around the world are welcoming the arrival of Ramadan, a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting, intense prayer, charity and feasts that begins for many Sunday night. In Lebanon, Sunnis began fasting Monday after officials in Saudi Arabia saw the crescent moon on Sunday night, while some Lebanese Shiites began fasting Monday and others Tuesday. But as they savor the traditions of their own diverse communities — from holiday treats to evening diversions — the tribulations faced by fellow Muslims are never far from anyone's mind. This year, war and starvation in the Gaza Strip casts an especially dark shadow on the festivities. Still, even Muslims who are struggling economically or otherwise look forward to what are widely seen as the true blessings of the holy month — prayer and reflection, nurtured by the daylong fast, and time spent with loved ones. Muslims liven up their iftar spreads with their own local delicacies. In Lebanon, sidewalk vendors make qatayef — tiny pancakes stuffed with cream and nuts and drizzled with syrup.This year, it will be harder to come by, as the country grapples with soaring food prices and many are struggling to buy food as inflation remains high.
Egypt
In Cairo, the streets are decked with colorful Ramadan lanterns, bakeries are hawking holiday sweets and television networks are promoting prime-time soap operas, hoping to capitalize on nightly food comas. "Ramadan is a month of prayer, but also of desserts," one man quipped as he waited in line outside a bakery displaying trays of holiday sweets, including baclava, qatayef and kunafa — a syrupy delight made with shredded pastry and topped with crumbled pistachios. But here too, beneath the normal holiday veneer, many are struggling. The government floated its currency last week as part of an emergency bailout from the International Monetary Fund, causing prices to skyrocket. One out of every three people in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, was already living in poverty, and in recent years even the middle class have struggled to make ends meet. "The situation has been very difficult," said Abdel-Kareem Salah, a civil servant and father of four, as he shopped for groceries ahead of Ramadan in the working class neighborhood around the famed Sayeda Zaynab mosque, where the alleys are strung with lights and lanterns. "We just purchase the necessities," he said. "For us, and many like us, meat has become a luxury."
Sense of guilt
Sonia Uddin, a second-generation Pakistani-American living in Orange County, California, said that her family sometimes enjoys hamburgers for iftar and coffee and donuts for suhoor, the pre-dawn meal right before the daily fast begins. She strives to maintain the traditions of her immigrant parents, but said that her 14-year-old son "is really more Western than Eastern," and insists on American-style food as they observe the holy month half a world away from the cradle of their faith. She looks forward to attending nightly prayers, drinking tea with friends and catching up with people she hasn't seen for the past year. But for her and many other Muslim Americans, those joyful moments will be shadowed by concern for Gaza, where a five-month Israeli offensive has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, driven most of the population from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine. "Ramadan has typically been a time when I've turned away from the outside world and focused on my connection with God," Uddin said. "But this year, turning off is not an option for me. I need to continue my activism so those who have no voice can be heard."

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 11-12/2024
Israel urges UN Security Council to pressure Hamas on hostages
REUTERS/March 12, 2024
UNITED NATIONS: Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Monday demanded the United Nations Security Council “put as much pressure as possible” on Palestinian militants Hamas to release the people it took hostage during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Katz addressed the 15-member council, which met to discuss a UN report that found there were “reasonable grounds to believe” sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred at several locations during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.“We are asking you to condemn the sexual violence crimes these barbarians committed in the name of the religion,” Katz told the Security Council, also urging the body “to put as much pressure as possible on the Hamas organization to release immediately and unconditionally all the kidnapped hostages.”He called for sanctions to be imposed on Hamas, accusing the group of crimes “worse then the terror actions carried out by Al-Qaeda, Daesh and other terror organizations” who had been targeted by the Security Council. The Security Council has called for the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages in resolutions adopted in November and December. It is currently considering a US-drafted resolution that includes a condemnation of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas “as well as its taking and killing of hostages, murder of civilians, and sexual violence including rape.” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged council members to condemn Hamas. “There can be no doubt about what happened on October 7th. The evidence before us is damning and devastating. Now, the only question is: How will we respond? Will this council finally, finally, finally condemn Hamas’ sexual violence? Or will we continue to stay silent?” she asked the Security Council. Hamas killed 1,200 people and seized 253 hostages on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies. Israel has retaliated by launching an air and ground assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 31,000 people, health authorities in Gaza say. Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour accused Israel in the Security Council of pursuing the “forcible displacement of our people by making Gaza unlivable.”

Israeli military: Troops killed Palestinian on way to carry out suicide attack
REUTERS/March 12, 2024
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said on Monday its forces killed a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank who was on his way to carry out a suicide attack in Israel. “Muhammad Jabar, a resident of Jenin, was eliminated in the town of Zeita while on his way to Israel in order to carry out a suicide attack in the immediate future. Jabar was armed with a weapon and a ready-to-use explosive device,” the military said. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials on the Israeli operation. Violence in the West Bank, already at a high over the past year, has surged further during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

An effort to get aid to Gaza by sea is moving ahead. But the first ship is still waiting in Cyprus
Associated Press/March 11/2024
A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment to build a temporary pier in Gaza was heading to the Mediterranean on Sunday, after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to increase aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are going hungry.
The new push for aid came as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was set to begin Monday in much of the world after officials in Saudi Arabia saw the crescent moon. Hopes for a new cease-fire by Ramadan faded days ago with negotiations apparently stalled. The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the U.S., Jordan and others, reflected growing alarm over Gaza's deadly humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to bypass Israeli control over land shipments. But aid officials say that air and sea deliveries can't make up for a shortage of land routes. Aid trucks entering Gaza daily are far below the 500 entering before the war. A ship belonging to Spanish aid group Open Arms and carrying 200 tons of food aid was expected to make a pilot voyage to Gaza from nearby Cyprus "as soon as possible," but not Sunday, said Linda Roth, a spokesperson for partner organization World Central Kitchen. There was no explanation after Cyprus' president had said it would leave then. Israel says it welcomes the sea deliveries and would inspect Gaza-bound cargo before it leaves Cyprus. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reviewed preparatory work off Gaza's coast on Sunday.Biden has stepped up public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he believes that Netanyahu is "hurting Israel more than helping Israel" in his approach to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, now in its sixth month.
Speaking on Saturday to MSNBC, the U.S. president expressed support for Israel's right to pursue Hamas after the militants' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. But Biden said that Netanyahu "must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost." He added that "you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead."
The Health Ministry in Gaza said that at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of U.N. and independent experts.
Palestinian casualties continued to rise. The Civil Defense Department said 10 people were killed Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a house of the Ashour family in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City. Dust-covered bodies were placed onto blankets.
Elsewhere, the bodies of 15 people, including women and children, were taken to the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, according to an Associated Press journalist. Relatives said they were killed by Israeli artillery fire toward a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the coastal area near the southern city of Khan Younis. Israel rarely comments on specific incidents during the war. It maintains that Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties, because the militant group operates from within civilian areas. Meanwhile, U.S. efforts began to set up the temporary pier in Gaza for sea deliveries. U.S. Central Command said that a first U.S. Army vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, left a base in Virginia on Saturday and was on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean with equipment for construction.
U.S. officials said that it would likely be weeks before the pier is operational.
The sea corridor is backed by the European Union together with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The European Commission has said that U.N. agencies and the Red Cross will play a role. The ship in Cyprus is expected to take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza. The World Central Kitchen spokesperson said that construction work began Sunday on the jetty for it. A member of the charity said on X, formerly Twitter, that once the ship's barge reaches Gaza, aid would be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks and driven to northern Gaza, which has been largely cut off from aid shipments and was the first focus of Israel's military offensive. Israel declared war on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants allegedly killed about 1,200 Israelis and took 250 hostages. Israel's air and ground offensive has devastated large parts of Gaza and displaced about 80% of the population of 2.3 million. The U.S. and regional mediators Egypt and Qatar had hoped to have a six-week cease-fire in place by Ramadan. A deal would have seen Hamas release some Israeli hostages, Israel release some Palestinian prisoners and aid groups be given access for a major influx of aid. In a speech broadcast Sunday, Hamas' top leader Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for the failure to reach a deal before Ramadan and said that the militant group is keen to resume negotiations in any framework as long as it guarantees a permanent cease-fire.

Biden cajoles Netanyahu with tough talk, humanitarian concerns but Israeli PM remains dug in
Associated Press/March 11/2024
U.S. President Joe Biden has stepped up public pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, warning he's "hurting Israel" and speaking candidly about "come to Jesus" conversations with the leader over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Despite Biden's increased displays of frustration, Israeli officials and Middle East analysts say no signs are emerging that Biden can push Israel, at least in the short term, to fundamentally alter how it's prosecuting the conflict that is entering a new dangerous phase. "He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas," Biden said of Netanyahu in an MSNBC interview. "But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. He's hurting...in my view, he's hurting Israel more than helping Israel."The president had hoped to have an extended cease-fire in place by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is set to begin Monday. Biden administration officials see a deal on a temporary truce in exchange for dozens of hostages as a crucial step toward finding an eventual permanent end to the conflict. But with no deal emerging, Biden acknowledged last week that he has become more concerned about the prospect of violence in east Jerusalem. Clashes have erupted during Ramadan in recent years between Palestinians and Israeli security forces around Jerusalem's Old City, home to major religious sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims and the emotional epicenter of the Middle East conflict. Biden this weekend warned Netanyahu that an attack on Rafah—where hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have congregated—would be a "red line" and that Israel "cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead." At the same time, he said that his commitment to Israel's defense is sacrosanct. The president's blunt comments came after he was caught on a hot mic following his State of Union address on Thursday telling a Democratic ally that he's told Netanyahu they will have a "come to Jesus" talk about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The U.S. this month began airdrops and announced it will establish a temporary pier to get badly needed aid into Gaza via sea. U.N. officials have warned at least one quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people are one step away from famine. The extraordinary measures to get aid into Gaza have come as Israel has resisted U.S. calls to allow more in via land routes. And in a move that irritated Netanyahu, Vice President Kamala Harris last week hosted a member of Israel's wartime Cabinet, Benny Gantz, who came to Washington in defiance of the prime minister. U.S. officials said that Harris, and other senior advisers to Biden, were blunt with Gantz about their concerns about an expected Rafah operation. Netanyahu on Sunday pushed back against Biden's latest comments.
"Well, I don't know exactly what the president meant, but if he meant...that I'm pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he's wrong on both counts," Netanyahu said in a clip of an interview with Politico, released by the prime minister's office on Sunday. Biden's stepped up criticism of the prime minister's handling of the war has been an intentional effort to signal to Netanyahu that the U.S. president is running out of patience with the mounting death toll and lack of aid flow into Gaza, according to a U.S. official familiar with the president's thinking. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. Elsewhere in Israel, the reaction to Biden's public venting of frustration was mixed. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said he wasn't surprised by Biden's remarks. Lapid on Sunday accused Netanyahu of pandering to his base and said the prime minister had narrow political interests in mind, like placating the far-right members of his Cabinet.
The U.S. "lost faith in Netanyahu and it's not surprising. Half of his Cabinet has lost faith in him as has the majority of Israel's citizens," Lapid, who briefly served as prime minister in 2022, told Israeli Army Radio. "Netanyahu must go."
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz downplayed Biden's comments, saying the U.S. backed Israel's war aims and that was what mattered. "We must distinguish rhetoric from the essence," he told Israeli Army Radio.Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations and professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, said Biden's decision to scale up aid to Gaza and warn Israel about an incursion into Rafah undermined support for Israel's aims of dismantling Hamas' military and governing capabilities and freeing the hostages. He said it relieved Hamas of pressure to agree to a temporary cease-fire deal. He said Biden's harsher comments of late came out of a frustration with Netanyahu over his reluctance to accept the U.S. vision for a postwar Gaza. Biden has called for Middle East stakeholders to reinvigorate efforts to find a two-state solution, one in which Israel would co-exist with an independent Palestinian state, once the current war ends. Netanyahu, however, has consistently opposed establishing a Palestinian state throughout his political career. Gilboa said Biden's remarks were made with an eye on his reelection and were aimed at appeasing progressive Democrats. The president is facing growing pressure from the left-wing of his party to use the United States' considerable leverage as Israel's chief patron to force Netanyahu toward a permanent cease-fire.
More than 100,00 Michigan Democrats cast "uncommitted" ballots in the state's primary last month, part of a coordinated effort in the battleground state intended to show Biden that he could lose much-needed support over frustration with his administration's approach to the Israel-Hamas war. "Netanyahu earned that criticism, but on the other hand when (Biden) criticizes Netanyahu personally, he thinks he improves his standing among progressives," Gilboa said. But Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that pointed criticism of the Netanyahu government has limited value for Biden politically. "Words without deeds are not going to bring those voters back," Miller said. "The hemorrhaging is going to continue as long as the pictures in Gaza don't change." Gilboa said that even if a different government were running Israel, such as a more moderate figure like Gantz, Biden would still find a leadership intent on entering Rafah and defeating Hamas. "They wouldn't do things significantly different," he said. "Is there anyone of sound mind here who is willing to leave Hamas in Gaza? That won't happen."Biden administration officials pushed back against the idea that the president has become more outspoken in his criticism of Netanyahu with an eye on his 2024 prospects. It's not lost on Biden that Israelis across the political spectrum remain as hawkish as Netanyahu about eliminating Hamas. Still, Biden believes that by speaking out more forcefully he can sway the Israelis to do more to reduce the death toll and alleviate suffering of innocent Palestinians as Israel carries out its operations, according to the U.S. official. Biden, who last traveled to Israel soon after Hamas' launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, said in the MSNBC interview that he was open to travelling to Israel again to speak directly to the Knesset. Privately, Biden has expressed a desire to aides to make another trip to Israel to try to circumvent Netanyahu and take his message directly to the people. One possibility discussed internally for a presidential trip is if a temporary cease-fire agreement is reached. Biden could use the moment to press the case directly to Israelis for humanitarian assistance in Gaza and begin outlining a path toward a permanent end to the fighting, officials said.

Flag of Sweden, NATO's 32nd member, raised at NATO headquarters
Associated Press/March 11/2024
Sweden's national flag was raised at NATO headquarters on Monday, cementing the Nordic country's place as the 32nd member of the alliance two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine persuaded its reluctant public to seek safety under NATO's security umbrella. Under a steady rain, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg looked on as two soldiers raised the blue banner emblazoned with a yellow cross among the official circle of national flags at the headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. "We are humble, but we are also proud. We know the expectations for Sweden are high, but we also have high expectations for ourselves," Kristersson told reporters minutes before the ceremony. "We will share burdens, responsibilities and risks with our allies." Sweden set aside decades of post-World War II neutrality when it formally joined NATO last Thursday. Its neighbor Finland had already joined in April 2023 in another historic move ending years of military nonalignment. Finland's defense ministry welcomed "our brothers and sisters in arms" on X, formerly Twitter, saying "now we stand at the beginning of a new era. Together and with other allies in peace, in crisis and beyond."
President Vladimir Putin's decision to order Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 triggered an about-face in public opinion in both countries, and within three months they had applied to join the world's biggest security organization. Putin claimed to have launched the war, at least in part, over NATO's eastward expansion toward Russia but it has swollen the alliance's ranks. NATO leaders have promised that Ukraine itself will join one day, although almost certainly not while the conflict rages on. "When President Putin launched his full-scale invasion two years ago, he wanted less NATO, and more control over his neighbors. He wanted to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state, but he failed," Stoltenberg said. "NATO is now bigger and stronger. Ukraine is closer to NATO than ever before, and as the brave Ukrainians continue to fight for their freedom, we stand by their side," he said. Sweden's membership completes a strategic ring of NATO territory around the Baltic Sea. The country now benefits from the alliance's collective security guarantee -– Article 5 of its treaty -– a vow that an attack on one of them will be met by a response from them all. The flag-raising ceremony came as 20,000 troops from 13 countries began NATO drills in the high north of new member Sweden as well as its neighbors Finland and Norway. The Nordic drill is part of wider exercises called Steadfast Defender 24, NATO's largest in decades, with up to 90,000 troops taking part over several months to show any adversary that the alliance can defend all of its territory from North America up to its borders with Russia.

Biden, Netanyahu clash over Rafah 'red line,' planned Israeli operation
SHANNON K. CRAWFORD/ABC/March 11, 2024
As the relationship between President Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown increasingly fraught and tense, a looming ground incursion into Gaza's southernmost city has emerged as a new flashpoint -- threatening to turn the allies even further against each other. Biden said Monday he has not had what he called a "come to Jesus meeting" with Netanyahu that he was heard speaking about on a hot mic as he spoke with lawmakers after his State of the Union address on Thursday. But he is leaving that option on the table. "We'll see what happens," Biden said when asked if he still planned to have that conversation. In an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, Biden said an Israeli invasion of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are currently sheltering, would be a "red line" before immediately appearing to walk back his comments. Exactly what the consequences would be were unclear because at the same time he said, "I'm never gonna leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical."Nevertheless, a defiant Netanyahu shot back at Biden in a separate interview, vowing to charge ahead. "We'll go there," the prime minister said. "You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn't happen again. Never happens again." On Monday, Washington officials attempted to clean up the president's comments -- explaining that the administration would support an incursion into Rafah if Israel presented a plan to prevent civilian suffering first, but that it had yet to review any proposal. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller declined to say whether Israel would face any consequences if it proceeded into Rafah without satisfying that requirement or share details on what commitments the U.S. was hoping to extract ahead of an incursion. "Let's wait and see what it is that they come up with," Miller said. The administration attempting to position itself as an authority that can either approve or reject plans for Israeli military operations is a significant pivot in its approach to conflict. U.S. officials previously encouraged a degree of separation between the countries -- concerned they would be seen as directly culpable for collateral damage in Gaza if they played a hand in devising war plans. Ironically, the Biden administration's newfound desire to be intertwined in Israeli military schemes comes as the rift between the countries' leaders seems to be growing. According to White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton, Biden hasn't spoken to Netanyahu in nearly a month. And although Secretary of State Antony Blinken has journeyed to Israel five times since Oct. 7 -- making an appearance in the country roughly every four weeks -- he has not paid a visit since early February and has no immediate plans to do so. As private conversations between leaders have become scarce, Biden and Netanyahu have become increasingly outspoken in public, signaling opposing positions through the press. "This exchange of different views via the media highlights gaps that have been emerging for several months now," said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Middle East Institute and a former National Security Council official. He argues the divide has been exacerbated by domestic politics inside both countries, and that it is likely to continue unless Biden and Netanyahu can find common ground on short-term issues, like humanitarian aid delivery, as well as the U.S.' long-term ambition to establish a Palestinian state. Steven A. Cook, a senior fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues Biden and Netanyahu are poised to move further away from each other on both fronts. "Israel's planned assault on the city of Rafah promises to make the humanitarian situation worse," he said. "Palestinians in Gaza are confronted with the fact that there is no place left for them to seek safety." And Cook said that even though Biden has now "put his administration squarely behind the idea of two states—Israel and Palestine," the odds of reaching the diplomatic goal are extremely low. "Opposition to a two-state solution has only increased among the Israeli public since the war with Hamas began," he said.
ABC News' Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

Palestinians in Gaza begin Ramadan amid hunger and war
Associated Press/March 11/2024
Palestinians began fasting for Ramadan on Monday as the Muslim holy month arrived with cease-fire talks at a standstill, hunger worsening across the Gaza Strip and no end in sight to the five-month-old war between Israel and Hamas. Prayers were held outside amid the rubble of demolished buildings late Sunday. Some people hung fairy lights and decorations in packed tent camps, and a video from a U.N.-school-turned-shelter showed children dancing and spraying foam as a man sang into a loudspeaker. But there was little to celebrate after five months of war that has killed over 30,000 Palestinians and left much of Gaza in ruins. Families would ordinarily break the daily fast with holiday feasts, but even where food is available, there is little beyond canned goods and the prices are too high for many. "You don't see anyone with joy in their eyes," said Sabah al-Hendi, who was shopping for food on Sunday in the southernmost city of Rafah. "Every family is sad. Every family has a martyr."The United States, Qatar and Egypt had hoped to broker a cease-fire ahead of the normally joyous month of dawn-to-dusk fasting that would include the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of a large amount of humanitarian aid, but the talks stalled last week.
Hamas is demanding guarantees that any such agreement will lead to an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until "total victory" against the militant group and the release of all the remaining hostages. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Hamas is still believed to be holding around 100 captives and the remains of 30 others following an exchange last year. The war has driven around 80% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine. Health officials say at least 20 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza. Israeli forces have largely sealed off the north since October, and aid groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of law and order have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver desperately needed food in much of the territory. Israel has meanwhile vowed to expand its offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where half of Gaza's population has sought refuge, without saying where civilians would go to escape the onslaught. President Joe Biden has said an attack on Rafah would be a "red line" for him, but that the United States would continue to provide military aid to Israel. Biden acknowledged in his annual Ramadan message that the holy month comes "at a moment of intense pain.""As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many. It is front of mind for me," he said.
The United States and other countries have begun airdropping aid in recent days, but humanitarian groups say such efforts are costly and insufficient. The U.S. military has also begun transporting equipment to build a sea bridge to deliver aid, but it will likely be several weeks before it is operational. A ship belonging to Spanish aid group Open Arms carrying 200 tons of food aid was expected to make a pilot voyage to Gaza from nearby Cyprus, though it was not clear when it would depart. Israel says it welcomes the sea deliveries and will inspect Gaza-bound cargo before it leaves Cyprus. The ship in Cyprus is expected to take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza. The food is being supplied by the World Central Kitchen, a U.S. charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, which said construction work on a jetty in Gaza began Sunday. Once the ship reaches Gaza, aid will be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks and driven north. The United States has provided crucial military support to Israel and shielded it from international calls for a cease-fire while urging it to do more to avoid harming civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid.The Health Ministry in Gaza said that at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. Israel blames the civilian death toll on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, residential areas and position fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers near homes, schools and mosques. The military says it has killed 13,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence. Speaking on Saturday to MSNBC, Biden said Israel had the right to respond to the Oct. 7 attack but that Netanyahu "must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost." He added that "you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead."

Italian police arrest three Palestinians on terrorism charges
ROME (Reuters)/ March 11, 2024
Italian police have arrested three Palestinians based in central Italy who they said were planning attacks in an unspecified country, a police statement said on Monday. The three men living in l'Aquila, about 120 km (75 miles)northeast of Rome, had set up a cell linked to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, it said.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is an armed group that is linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the European Union and the United States. Police said the three Palestinians had been charged with criminal conspiracy for terrorism purposes or subversion of the democratic order, which carries jail terms of up to 15 years. "The suspects engaged in proselytism and propaganda (...) and planned attacks, including suicide attacks, against civilian and military targets on foreign territory," police said. One of the three men is wanted by Israel, which is at war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and an Italian court is examining an extradition request for him, the statement added. In a separate statement, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi hailed the arrest of "three dangerous terrorists" and said Italy was always on high alert against extremism and radicalisation. There was no immediate comment by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

FM Mélanie Joly says Canada is pledging $1 million to support victims of sexual violence by Hamas
OTTAWA/The Canadian Press/March 11, 2024
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada is pledging $1 million to support victims of sexual violence by Hamas in Israel during last October's attacks. The funding comes with an offer of RCMP support for investigations three months after a group of women who hold political office in Canada called on Ottawa to provide this type of support. Last week, a UN envoy said there are "reasonable grounds" to believe Hamas committed rape and "sexualized torture" during the attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israeli women's organizations have criticized their global peers for being slow to acknowledge sexual violence by Hamas, and Canada's envoy for combating antisemitism chalked that delay up to anti-Jewish attitudes. However, Israeli police say forensic evidence was not preserved in the chaos of the attack, and Hamas killed many of the people who were believed to be victims of sexual assault. Joly is in Israel as part of a tour of the Middle East to advocate for humanitarian relief for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held by Hamas. This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2024.

Qaida's Yemen branch leader dead in unclear circumstances
Associated Press/March 11/2024
The leader of Yemen's branch of al-Qaida is dead, the militant group announced late Sunday, without giving details. Khalid al-Batarfi had a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S. government over leading the group, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, through years that saw him imprisoned, freed in a jailbreak, and governing forces in Yemen amid that country's grinding war. Though believed to be weakened in recent years due to infighting and suspected U.S. drone strikes killing its leaders, the group known by the acronym AQAP has long been considered the most dangerous branch of the extremist group still operating after the killing of founder Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaida released a video showing al-Batarfi wrapped in a white funeral shroud and al-Qaida's black-and-white flag. Militants offered no details on the cause of his death and there was no clear sign of trauma visible on his face. Al-Batarfi was believed to be in his early 40s. "Allah took his soul while he patiently sought his reward and stood firm, immigrated, garrisoned, and waged jihad for His sake," the militants said in the video, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The group made the announcement on the eve of Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month that Yemen will begin Monday. In the announcement, the group said Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki would take over as its leader. The U.S. has a $6 million bounty on him, saying al-Awlaki "has publicly called for attacks against the United States and its allies." The Yemen branch of al-Qaida has been seen by Washington as the terror network's most dangerous branch ever since its attempt in 2009 to bomb a commercial airliner over the United States. It claimed responsibility for the 2015 deadly attack in Paris on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. But their overseas operations have waned in recent years. "Although in decline, AQAP remains the most effective terrorist group in Yemen with intent to conduct operations in the region and beyond," a recent United Nations report on al-Qaida said. Estimates provided to the U.N. put AQAP's total forces as numbering between 3,000 and 4,000 active fighters and passive members. The group raises money by robbing banks and money exchange shops, as well as smuggling weapons, counterfeiting currencies and ransom operations, according to the U.N. Al-Batarfi took over as the head of the branch in February 2020. He succeeded leader Qassim al-Rimi, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike ordered by then-President Donald Trump. Al-Rimi had claimed responsibility for the 2019 attack at the U.S. Naval Air Station Pensacola in which a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors. Under al-Batarfi, AQAP fell further under the influence of al-Qaida fighter Saif al-Adl, now believed to have led the militant group after the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri in a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan in 2022. That came as Yemen has been locked in a war between the Houthi rebels, who hold the capital, Sanaa, and a Saudi-led coalition backing the country's exiled government based in Aden.
"Since 2020, Saif al-Adel has been able to convince al-Batarfi of his strategic approach, focused on confronting Western states and their allies in Yemen — the Saudi-led coalition, the Aden-based government, the United Arab Emirates and its allies — rather than confronting the Iranian-backed Houthi movement," a 2023 report by the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies said. Al-Adl is believed to be in Iran, part of a longtime al-Qaida presence in the Islamic Republic. That's long been denied by Tehran but backed up by documents seized in the 2011 U.S. raid in Pakistan that killed bin Laden, who orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. Al-Batarfi's ties to al-Adl had strained relations in AQAP, experts say. However, it has seen the militants become armed with bomb-carrying drones — something the Houthis now use to target shipping in the Red Sea amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. AQAP "developed unmanned aerial systems capabilities, establishing a specialized drone unit, with operational training from the Houthis," a U.N. report from January says. "It prioritizes liberating its prisoners to replenish ranks; in September, the Houthis released several AQAP members and explosives experts." The Shiite Zaydi Houthis have previously denied working with AQAP, a Sunni extremist group. However, AQAP targeting of the Houthis has dropped in recent years while the militants continue to attack Saudi-led coalition forces. Yemen's history and tribal structure long has seen alliances rapidly shift, something its late strongman President Ali Abdullah Saleh referred to as "dancing on the heads of snakes."Al-Batarfi, born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 and fought alongside the Taliban during the U.S.-led invasion. He joined AQAP in 2010 and led forces in taking over Yemen's Abyan province, according to the U.S. In 2015, he was freed after an AQAP raid that saw the militants capture Mukalla, the capital of Yemen's largest province, Hadramawt, amid the chaos of the war. A photo at the time showed al-Awlaki with a Kalashnikov rifle, posing inside a government palace there. AQAP was later pushed out of Mukalla but has continued attacks and been the target of a U.S. drone strike campaign since the administration of then-President George W. Bush. In 2020, there had been claims that al-Bartafi had been detained, which later were denied. In 2021, he appeared in a militant video and referred to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as "only the tip of the iceberg of what will come to them, God willing."

US military confirms Yemen’s Houthis targeting of vessel Pinocchio
REUTERS/March 12, 2024
CAIRO: The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said early on Tuesday that Yemen’s Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas into the Red Sea toward merchant vessel Pinocchio, adding that there was no injuries or damage reported.

Suspected attack by Yemen's rebels sees explosion near ship in Red Sea
Associated Press/March 11/2024
An explosion that took place near a ship in the Red Sea on Monday is suspected to have been an attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels, though the blast caused no damage, authorities said. The master of the vessel reported the explosion and said no one was hurt, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The private security firm Ambrey say the incident may have involved a missile, but information remained scarce. The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, though it typically takes the rebels several hours to acknowledge their strikes. The blast comes after a Houthi missile struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden last week, killing three of its crew members and forcing survivors to abandon the vessel. It was the first fatal strike in a campaign of assaults by the Iranian-backed group over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis say the attacks are intended to pressure Israel into stopping the war, but their targets increasingly have little or nothing to do with the conflict. Other recent Houthi actions include an attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which later sank after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.

On Russian TV ahead of the election, there's only one program: Putin's
Associated Press/March 11/2024
Thousands of Russians braved the cold for hours earlier this month to honor the opposition politician Alexei Navalny after his funeral. They chanted anti-war slogans and covered his gravesite with so many flowers that it disappeared from view. It was one of the largest displays of defiance against President Vladimir Putin since he invaded Ukraine, and happened just weeks before an election he is all but assured to win. But Russians watching television saw none of it. A leading state television channel opened with its host railing against the West and NATO. Another channel led with a segment extolling the virtues of domestically built streetcars. And there was the usual deferential coverage of Putin. Since coming to power almost 25 years ago, Putin has eliminated nearly all independent media and opposition voices in Russia — a process he ramped up after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin's control over media is now absolute. State television channels cheer every battlefield victory, twist the pain of economic sanctions into positive stories, and ignore that tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine. Some Russians seek news from abroad or on social media using tools to circumvent state restrictions. But most still rely on state television, which floods them with the Kremlin's view of the world. Over time, the effect is to whittle away their desire to question it. "Propaganda is a kind of drug and I don't mind taking it," said Victoria, 50, from Russian-occupied Crimea. She refused to give her last name because of concerns about her safety. "If I get up in the morning and hear that things are going badly in our country, how will I feel? How will millions of people feel? … Propaganda is needed to sustain people's spirit," she said.
PUTIN'S BROKEN PROMISES
When Putin first addressed Russians as their new president on the last day of 1999, he promised a bright path after the chaotic years that followed the Soviet Union's collapse. "The state will stand firm to protect freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of mass media," he said. Yet just over a year later, he broke that promise: The Kremlin neutered its main media critic, the independent TV channel NTV, and went after the media tycoons who controlled it. In the following decades, multiple Russian journalists, including investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, were killed or jailed, and the Russian parliament passed laws curbing press freedoms. The crackdown intensified two years ago after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. New laws made it a crime to discredit the Russian military, and anyone spreading "false information" about the war faced up to 15 years in prison. Almost overnight, nearly all independent media outlets suspended operations or left the country. The Kremlin blocked access to independent media and some social media sites, and Russian courts jailed two journalists with U.S. citizenship, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva. "The Putin regime is based on propaganda and fear. And propaganda plays the most important role because people live in an information bubble," said Marina Ovsyannikova, a former state television journalist who quit her job at a leading Russian state television channel in an on-air protest against the war.
THE KREMLIN MEDIA DIET
The Kremlin regularly meets with the heads of TV stations to give "special instructions on what can be said on air," said Ovsyannikova. Every day, TV stations serve up a mix of bluster, threats and half-truths — telling viewers the West wants to destroy their country, that sanctions make them stronger and that Russia is winning the war. The Kremlin's goal is to squeeze out any opposition so that citizens "remain inert and compliant," said Sam Greene, a director at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. The strength of the Kremlin's grip on the media means that while Navalny's death in an Arctic penal colony was major news in the West, many Russians didn't know about it. One out of five Russians said they had not heard about his death, according to the independent Russian pollster Levada Center. Half said they only had vague knowledge of it. The most memorable event for Russians in February, the polling found, was the Russian military's capture of the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka. By trumpeting military victories, the Kremlin is focused on creating a "happy feeling," ahead of the elections, said Jade McGlynn, an expert on Russian propaganda at King's College London. Anti-war candidates are banned from the ballot, and there is no significant challenger to Putin. State television broadcasts dull debates between representatives of Putin's opponents. Putin is not openly campaigning but is frequently shown touring the country — admiring remote tomato farms or visiting weapons factories. The idea that Russia is thriving under Putin is a potent message for people who have seen their living standards fall since the war — and sanctions — began, driving up prices for food and other staples. The war has also pushed Russia's defense industry into overdrive, and people like Victoria from Crimea have noticed. "If they tell me that new jobs have appeared, should I be happy or sad? Is this propaganda or truth?" she asked.
GRANULES OF TRUTH
Russian propaganda is "sophisticated and multifaceted," said Francis Scarr, a journalist who analyzes Russian television for BBC Monitoring. There is some "outright lying," he said, but often Russian state media "takes a granule of truth and massively over-amplifies it." For example, while unemployment in Russia is at a record low, news reports don't explain it's partly because tens of thousands of Russians have been sent to fight in Ukraine or have fled the country. Many Russians know this, yet the idea that Russia is prospering – even if it contradicts what they see with their own eyes – is still attractive. "The greatness of Russia tends to be measured throughout history in the greatness of the state and not in the greatness of the quality of life for its people," said McGlynn of King's College London. Ahead of the election, state TV is ramping up that nationalistic theme, telling viewers it is their patriotic duty to vote. The Kremlin, experts say, is worried Russians may not come out in large numbers. Videos released on social media – but not directly linked to the Kremlin – are aimed at combating apathy, especially among younger voters. In one, a woman berates her husband for not voting. "What difference does it make? Will he not get elected without us," the husband asks, indirectly referring to Putin. To which his wife warns him: inaction could leave their child without maternity payments. The Kremlin wants high voter turnout, experts say, to lend an aura of legitimacy to Putin, whose reelection would keep him in power through at least 2030.
INDEPENDENT RUSSIAN MEDIA
People can bypass government restrictions by using special links to foreign websites or accessing the Internet over private networks. But it's questionable whether many Russians — especially those living in Putin's conservative heartland — even want to hear news conveyed in the language of the liberal West. To "break through to the people who are not putting flowers on Navalny's grave, they're going to have to meet those viewers where they are and speak to them in a language that they understand," said Greene. That means striking a balance between criticism of Putin's regime and pride in the nation. Even those soothed by the Kremlin's propaganda also could long for a real choice at the polls. "I don't see any opposition in modern Russia," said Victoria, pointing out that the candidates running alongside Putin all have the Kremlin's approval. "I don't plan to vote in the elections," she added.

Japan remembers the dead, 13 years after Fukushima nuclear disaster
Associated Press/March 11/2024
Japan marked the 13th anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear meltdown and left large parts of Fukushima prefecture uninhabitable on Monday with a minute of silence and memorial events, where officials pledged continued support for rebuilding. A 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami ravaged parts of Japan's northeastern coast on March 11, 2011, killing about 20,000 people. At 2:46 p.m. — the time when the earthquake struck — people across Japan stopped to observe a minute of silence. In Tokyo's central Ginza shopping district, people stopped to pray on the sidewalk as a bell rang out, marking the moment. Thirteen years ago, a tsunami over 15 meters (50 feet) tall slammed into the coastal Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, destroying its power supply and cooling systems, triggering meltdowns in three of its six reactors, and spewing radiation across the surrounding areas. The disaster initially forced more than 160,000 people to leave their homes; some 20,000 are still unable to return due to radiation. Work to remove highly radioactive melted fuel debris has still not begun at the plant, were decommissioning work is expected to last decades. At a ceremony in Fukushima prefecture, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida renewed a pledge that the government will help secure jobs, livelihoods and the safe decommissioning of the plant so the former residents can return home. "We will continue to do utmost for the full-fledged recovery and rebirth, as well as the recovery of the northeastern region," he said. Memorial events were also held in Miyagi and Iwate, prefectures north of Fukushima where most deaths from the earthquake and tsuanami took place. In Ishinomaki City in Iwate prefecture, residents gathered at a hilltop park where many of them took shelter 13 years ago, mourning as they stood facing the sea. In another Iwate town, Rikuzentakata, about 100 people prayed atop a massive concrete seawall. In Natori, Miyagi prefecture, about 400 people prayed and released balloons carrying messages of grief. This year's memorial events remembers victims of the devastating quake that struck Japan's north central region of Noto on Jan. 1, which triggered renewed calls for a review of evacuation plans nationwide, including around nuclear plants. Kishida later told reporters that the government will do its utmost to ensure that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is decommissioned safely and transparently, citing recent mishaps including a contaminated water leak within the plant complex. In a step the government and TEPCO say is crucial to move forward the decommissioning, the plant started releasing treated radioactive wastewater into the sea last August. The controversial discharges have faced protests by local fishers and neighboring countries — especially China, which has banned Japanese seafood imports. Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori said the region's recovery process has just begun and that he is confident that it will recover. "We will not give up," he said. "I pledge in front of the quake and tsunami victims that we will accomplish recovery at any cost." While reconstruction of roads, seawalls and other infrastructure has been largely completed in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, many former residents have not returned to their hometowns due to the loss of communities. National memorial services have not been held in Tokyo since the 10th anniversary, and municipalities in the disaster-hit areas now host local services each year.

Portugal in suspense after election produces no clear winner, surging populist party
Associated Press/March 11/2024
Portugal's political future is hanging in the balance after a general election Sunday, with two moderate mainstream parties closely contesting the race and set to wait weeks for a decision on the winner after an unprecedented surge in support for a populist party that finished third. The center-right Social Democrat-led Democratic Alliance won 79 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly, Portugal's Parliament, after all votes cast in Portugal were counted. The center-left Socialist Party, in power the past eight years, got 77 seats. The deciding votes will come from voters abroad to distribute the final four parliamentary seats after an election night full of suspense. That count could take more than two weeks. The hard-right Chega (Enough) party came in third with 48 seats, a milestone result that presented an unprecedented challenge to politics-as-usual, underscoring a drift to the right in the European Union.
Smaller parties took the rest of the vote in an election that saw turnout rise to 66%, the highest level in Portugal for years. The moderate Social Democrats and Socialists have alternated in power for decades in Portugal, and the surge in support for a radical right party pointed to a significant shift in Portugal's political landscape and likely heralded a period of political uncertainty. A minority government that has fewer than 116 seats in Parliament is at the mercy of opposition parties when it tries to pass legislation. Chega's support could hold the key to a functioning government for the Social Democrats. Chega, just five years old, tripled its vote from the last election in 2022. The result positioned the party as a kingmaker that potentially could hand the Social Democrats a parliamentary majority. Whatever happens, Chega can no longer be ignored despite attempts to shun it by the mainstream parties.
"One thing is for sure tonight, the two-party system in Portugal is finished," said Chega leader Andre Ventura. He insisted that the Social Democrats should ally with Chega in parliament to create a majority. "We have a mandate to govern," he said.
But Social Democrat leader Luis Montenegro, who likely would become prime minister if his alliance wins, said he would keep his campaign promise to shut out Chega and refuse to negotiate power-sharing with the populists. He said he expected to form a government on his own. Ventura, a former law professor and television soccer pundit, has said he is prepared to drop some of his party's most controversial proposals — such as chemical castration for some sex offenders and the introduction of life prison sentences — if that enables his party's inclusion in a possible governing alliance with other right-of-center parties.
His insistence on national sovereignty instead of closer European Union integration and his plan to grant police the right to strike are other issues that could thwart his ambitions to enter a government coalition, however. Chega ran its campaign largely on an anti-corruption platform. Graft scandals triggered the early election after former Socialist leader António Costa resigned in November after eight years as prime minister amid a corruption investigation involving his chief of staff. Costa hasn't been accused of any crime. That episode appeared to have hurt the Socialists at the ballot box. Public frustration with politics-as-usual had already been percolating before the outcries over graft. Low wages and a high cost of living — worsened last year by surges in inflation and interest rates — coupled with a housing crisis and failings in public health care contributed to the disgruntlement. The discontent has been further stirred up by Chega. Sonia Ferreira, a 55-year-old financial manager voting in Lisbon, said the ballot is "decisive" because the continent needs to halt the growth of hard-right parties. "We are seeing very extremist movements across the European Union and we must all be very careful," she said. The Social Democrats, too, were embarrassed just before the campaign by a graft scandal that brought the resignation of two prominent party officials. Meanwhile, voters have expressed alarm at Portugal's living standards as financial pressures mount. An influx of foreign real estate investors and tourists seeking short-term rentals brought a spike in house prices, especially in big cities such as the capital Lisbon where many locals are being priced out of the market. The economy feels stuck in a low gear. The Portuguese, who have long been among Western Europe's lowest earners, received an average monthly wage before tax last year of around 1,500 euros ($1,640) — barely enough to rent a one-bedroom flat in Lisbon. Close to 3 million Portuguese workers earn less than 1,000 euros ($1,093) a month. The number of people without an assigned family doctor, meantime, rose to 1.7 million last year, the highest number ever and up from 1.4 million in 2022. Ventura, the Chega leader, cannily plugged into the dissatisfaction and has built a following among young people on social media. Ventura has had a colorful career. He has gone from a practicing lawyer and university professor specializing in tax law to a boisterous television soccer pundit, an author of low-brow books and a bombastic orator on the campaign trail.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 11-12/2024
Fani Willis Is Probably Guilty of Perjury: Who Will Prosecute the Prosecutors?
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/March 11, 2024
If Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis were prosecuting citizen Fani Willis and her former boyfriend Nathan Wade for perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, she would have an extremely strong case.
Based on this and other incriminating evidence, the real issue is not whether this pair should be allowed to continue to prosecute the case against Trump, but instead whether this pair should be investigated, indicted and convicted of serious crimes.
The presiding judge in the case has no power to commence a criminal investigation or prosecution. But other law enforcement authorities do. If they fail, they will be damaging the rule of law, the integrity of the US legal system and the waning trust that many Americans already have in equal justice.
If Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis were prosecuting citizen Fani Willis and her former boyfriend Nathan Wade for perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, she would have an extremely strong case. The evidence of perjury is overwhelming; many individuals have been convicted on far less evidence.
Recall that Willis and Wade testified under oath to the material fact that Willis did not hire Wade as special prosecutor while they were having a romantic relationship. They both testified that the romantic relationship began after the hiring decision was made. If that was a deliberate lie, it satisfies all the elements of perjury.Let us look at the evidence. First, there is the testimony of two witnesses, both of whom have provided evidence that the relationship began before Wade's appointment as special prosecutor. As Willis herself reminded us when she was challenged about having no corroboration that she paid Wade back in cash, the testimony of one witness is evidence – meaning her own self-serving testimony – certainly, the testimony of two witnesses is even better evidence. In addition, there is the text by another witness confirming that the relationship began earlier than testified to.
All of this eye and ear testimony is corroborated by indisputable scientific evidence through cell phone records showing that Wade was in the area of Willis' apartment in the middle of the night. The cell phone pings placed Wade traveling from his home in the direction of Willis' home in late evening, then making a phone call to Willis. Then the pinging stops for several hours and resumes early in the morning. This and other cell phone documentation constitutes strong circumstantial evidence proving that Wade was in Willis' apartment before he was hired – at a time of night when sex is more likely than Scrabble.
A client of mine is currently in prison for murder on far less compelling circumstantial evidence; Willis has no doubt successfully prosecuted many defendants on far less compelling evidence.
Then there is their testimony that, although Wade paid for numerous vacations by credit card, Willis paid every penny back in cash. No reasonable jury would believe such testimony about cash payments allegedly made by a lawyer who was under a legal obligation to report any gifts given to her. She knew that she might someday have to prove that she made these cash payments in order to establish that she did not violate the rule. Yet she claimed she kept no records relating to these cash payments – no bank withdrawals or deposits, no photographs of her paying the money, not even a notation in a diary. Her only evidence is testimony that she once paid cash at a California wine-tasting.
All in all, the far more likely scenario is that Willis and Wade began their sexual relationship well before she hired him, that she received thousands of dollars of vacation benefits from Wade which she did not pay back, and that the two of them conspired together to come up with a cock-and-bull story that would allow them to continue to prosecute former President Donald Trump. Her basic defense seems to come right out of a Marx Brothers movie: "Who are you going to believe: me or your own eyes?"
Based on this and other incriminating evidence, the real issue is not whether this pair should be allowed to continue to prosecute the case against Trump, but instead whether this pair should be investigated, indicted and convicted of serious crimes.
Who will guard the guardians? More specifically, who will prosecute the prosecutors? The facts of this case demand criminal investigation. This is especially true since so many Americans were able to see and hear the compelling evidence on television and other media. I doubt that very many viewers believed the self-serving testimony of Willis and Wade.
The presiding judge in the case has no power to commence a criminal investigation or prosecution. But other law enforcement authorities do. If they fail, they will be damaging the rule of law, the integrity of the US legal system and the waning trust that many Americans already have in equal justice.
*Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow" podcast.
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Spain’s Muslim Migrant Crisis through the Lens of History
Raymond Ibrahim/March 11, 2024
Somewhat reminiscent of what is happening at the U.S.’s southern border, seafaring Muslim migrants from Africa are illegally entering and flooding Spanish territory. In just 2020, 23,000 migrants invaded Spain’s Canary Islands, representing a 234 percent increase.That number has only continued to grow. Between just Oct. 20-22, 2023, 1,600 migrants reached the Canary Islands. According to one report,
Of the boats that arrived over the weekend, one on Saturday was carrying 320 migrants. The state news agency EFE said it was the largest number in a single boat since human traffickers began to regularly use the Canary Island route in 1994. The previous record of 280 was recorded earlier this month.
As another report on how 6,000 Muslims invaded Ceuta in 2021 explains, they come “by sea, either swimming or with inflatables, all in a bid to eventually get to mainland Europe.”
Once arriving on Spanish territory, such migrants invariably engage in unsavory and downright criminal behavior, such as gang-rape, and create enclaves, or ribats, where police fear to tread. This is unsurprising since many of these Muslim-laden boats depart from Senegal, which, as part of the Sahel, has a strong jihadist presence. Of note is that these African invaders are following the same strategy that led to the Islamic conquest of Christian Spain in the eighth century.
According to the Chronicle of 754, in 711, hordes of African Muslims (“Moors”) “godlessly invaded Spain to destroy it.” They did not pass “a place without reducing it, and getting possession of its wealth,” boasted al-Hakam, an early Muslim chronicler, “for Allah Almighty had struck with terror the hearts of the infidels.”
Such terrorism was intentionally cultivated, in keeping with the Koran (e.g., 3:151, 8:12). Indeed, very near or even on the Canary Islands, the eighth century invaders slaughtered, cooked, and ate—or rather pretended to eat—their Christian captives, prompting hysteria among the people “that the Muslims feed on human flesh,” and thereby “contributing in no small degree to increase the panic of the infidels,” wrote another Muslim chronicler. Emboldened by their coreligionists’ initial victories, and reminiscent of what is happening today, swarms of Africans “crossed the sea on every vessel or bark they could lay hold of,” the Muslim chronicler continues. They so overwhelmed the peninsula that “the Christians were obliged to shut themselves up in their castles and fortresses, and, quitting the flat country, betake themselves to their mountains.”
By 712, one year after the Islamic invasion, the Muslims had, in the words of the Chronicle of 754, “ruined beautiful cities, burning them with fire; condemned lords and powerful men to the cross; and butchered youths and infants with the sword.” Several other early sources corroborate the devastation and persecution. The oldest account, the Tempore belli, tells of Muslims “sacking Christian temples [churches] and homes, burning the cities of those who resisted, and taking their young women as sexual slaves, all creating an indescribable terror.”
The difference between then and now is that the Christians fought back. With the fall of Spain to Islam, many Christians fled to the inhospitable northwestern quadrant of that Peninsula. Although the Muslims tried to conquer this mountainous region several times, they failed, and from it the Reconquista—the Reconquest of Spain—was born.
In the words of the first Christian king to emerge following the Muslim conquest of Spain, Pelagius (or Pelayo, 685-737), “I will not associate with the Arabs in friendship nor will I submit to their authority…. Christ is our hope that through this little mountain”—which he likened to the “mustard seed” of the famous parable that eventually grows into something great (Mark 4:30-32) —the “well-being of Spain … will be restored.”
And so it was. Century after century, the Christians militarily expanded from their northern strongholds into central and eventually southern Spain, until 1492, when virtually the whole of Spain had been brought back under indigenous rule.
In short, following the eighth century Muslim conquest of Spain—which began with seafaring Africans reaching Spain’s shores—nearly eight centuries of brutal warfare were needed for the Christians to finally expel the Muslim invaders.
Meanwhile, rather than learn something from its own history, when it comes to taking in illegal migrants from Africa, today’s Spanish government is, in the name of “humanitarianism,” among the most welcoming in Europe.

The Big Problem With Iran’s Strategy in the Middle East: It Works
James A. Warren/The Daily Beast/March 11, 2024
No doubt about it: The Israel-Hamas War has radically altered the trajectory of the Middle East’s politics and injected a level of volatility into developments not seen in decades. The conflict marks not only a new phase in a century-long conflict between Jews and Palestinians, but one more chapter in Iran’s 45-year shadow war against the United States, Israel, and their allies in the region. Over the long course of the shadow war Tehran’s objectives and its strategy for reaching them have been remarkably consistent. Its chief foreign policy goals since the formation of the Islamic Republic in 1979 have been forcing the United States out of the region and preventing Israel from normalizing relations with its neighbors by inciting chaos, violence, and deep-seated resentments. A leading scholar of the U.S.-Iran conflict, Suzanne Moloney of the Brookings Institution, points out that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in power since 1989, “has never wavered in his feverish antagonism toward Israel and the United States. He and those around him are profoundly convinced of American immorality, greed, and wickedness; they revile Israel and clamor for its destruction, as part of the ultimate triumph of Islamic world over what they see as a declining West and an illegitimate ‘Zionist entity.’”Tehran’s primary method for pursuing these ends is a unique protracted war strategy that combines political mobilization, coercive diplomacy, and information warfare with offensive military operations conducted by a formidable array of proxy forces—most of them composed of Shia militia groups—which Iran calls the Axis of Resistance.
More than a dozen armed groups in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon form a loose network of more than 150,000 proxy warriors who have their own interests but share a commitment to challenging American hegemony in the region. Their tactics are hardly unique. They employ the usual grab bag of irregular warfare tactics including traditional terrorism, assassination, suicide bombing and rocket attacks. Hamas in the Gaza Strip is a core member of a network that began in Lebanon in the early 1980s with Hezbollah and expanded to include Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen, among others.
The first thing that must to be said about Iran’s strategy is that it has been remarkably effective, especially since the beginning of America’s War on Terror. Since that time, Tehran has shown itself to be far more strategically dexterous than Washington. Nowhere is that success more palpable than in Iraq, where Iran-backed militias of varying size and skill helped to force the United States to withdraw virtually all its forces by 2011. Today, Iraqi politics are far more heavily influenced by pro-Iranian political factions and personalities. Without question, Iran was the major strategic beneficiary of the Iraq War.
Although the U.S. government has placed dozens and dozens of sanctions on Iran’s proxy forces throughout the region beginning as far back as 1995, the network today is better funded and far more militarily capable than it was back in the early years of the Iraq War. The spectacular success of Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack demonstrates this reality dramatically. And of course, as Suzanne Maloney observes, “it is inconceivable that Hamas undertook an attack of this magnitude without some foreknowledge and affirmative support from Iran’s leadership. And now Iranian officials and media are exulting in the brutality unleashed on Israeli civilians and embracing the expectation that the Hamas offensive will bring about Israel’s demise.”
Thus far, the Israel-Hamas War has only enhanced Iran’s geopolitical position, for the conflict has brought immense international pressure on Israel to accept a demilitarized Palestinian state as the only viable solution to the current travails. The advent of the war brought an abrupt end to the U.S-led effort to secure a long sought-after formal alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia—a powerful adversary of Iran. The war constitutes a strategic setback for Washington in that it must now divert military and diplomatic resources it has hoped to use to counter a rising China in the Indo- Pacific to the Middle East.
The public line from Tehran is that its proxy network has been conducting attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria and the Red Sea with a view to pressuring Israel and America into a ceasefire in Gaza, at which point they will cease.
This is nothing short of dissembling on the part of the Islamic Republic. The Palestinians’ fate is of little strategic concern to Ayatollah Khamenei and his minions. Tehran continues to focus on its overarching objective of stirring up trouble and chaos to frustrate America’s effort to shape the region’s geopolitical affairs. Afshon Ostovar, associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and one of America’s leading experts on Iranian foreign policy, puts it this way: “For Iran, this is a long war not a short war, and this has nothing to do with Gaza.” It is “about Iran’s steady, long march across the Middle East to push out U.S. forces and weaken U.S. allies.” There is no question that Iran does not exercise formal command and control over this impressive array of irregular fighters. Rather, Iran’s elite Quds force—in essence the special forces of the Revolutionary Guard Corps—establishes close cooperative relations with each group’s leadership, offering them the same sort of incentives and resources that U.S. Special Forces offered irregular forces in Iraq and Afghanistan: funding, tactical and operational advice, advanced weaponry, and access to excellent intelligence. Tehran has been able to use these forces repeatedly and escape serious retribution on the grounds that the groups make their own operational decisions.
A joint U.S.-Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) patrol in the countryside of Qamishli, in northeastern Syria on Feb. 8, 2024.

‘Islamic resistance’ weaponizes Arab states against their people
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/March 11/ 2024
US Central Command’s leader Gen. Michael Kurilla warned senators last week that Tehran had “every proxy operationalized” across the region, creating “a convergence of crises” and “the most volatile situation in 50 years,” with US forces and global shipping among the primary targets of these “resistance” factions. When figures such as Hassan Nasrallah, Qais Al-Khazali and Abdulmalik Al-Houthi hold forth about the “Islamic resistance,” who are they resisting? Certainly, Iraq’s paramilitary Al-Hashd Al-Sha’abi and the Houthis have scarcely ever encountered a real Israeli, far less fought one, so bragging about resisting “Zionist occupation” is nonsense. Despite the rhetoric and saber-rattling, nothing these militias have done has helped the people of Gaza one iota — but do they even care?
Entities such as Hezbollah, which once pretended to put national priorities first, have shed their redundant former identities and restyled themselves as part of a pan-regional “Islamic resistance” movement. Whether they escalate or scale back their military activities has become wholly a matter for hostile foreign power brokers, who would happily see Lebanon or Iraq burnt to a crisp for the greater glory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This vision was spelt out in an enlightening 2015 speech by prominent Hashd figure Al-Khazali, who described the 2014 establishment of the Hashd as an existential moment for Iraq, which he claimed had witnessed a transition from “resistance factions to a resistance state.” He outlined his vision for how “resistance” would be consolidated at the state level. To a large degree, this has come to pass, as Hashd factions have entrenched themselves throughout Iraq’s political system. These paramilitary forces have lobbied strenuously against any investments or diplomatic engagement from Gulf and Arab states
Inna Rudolf from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation has spoken insightfully about how Hashd factions labored to consolidate this vision for Iraq as a “resistance state,” along the lines of my own book on the subject, “Militia State.” Rudolf argued that “the architects of the resistance state in Iraq opt for an all-inclusive formula,” pursuing domination of the social, political, military and economic domains.
This consolidation of a bloc of resistance states that trade with one another and align their higher interests with Tehran is a component of Iran’s strategy for shielding itself from Western sanctions in perpetuity, while seeking to be the preeminent force in the region. Lebanese and Iraqi financial institutions in this transnational “resistance economy” can be cannibalized for laundering funds from narcotics, terrorism and sanctions evasion, without meaningful repercussions. Meanwhile, these satellite states become ever more isolated from the surrounding Arab world, as these paramilitary forces have lobbied strenuously against any investments or diplomatic engagement from Gulf and Arab states that could ease the financially and morally bankrupt status of these “resistance states.” After Oct. 7, the Western world behaved as if the existence of these transnational proxies was a total surprise. But these Iraqi and Syrian paramilitaries came together under the noses of Western diplomats, with their tacit agreement: notably after 2014, when the Hashd was perceived as a force that could be used to defeat Daesh, without the trouble and expense of putting Western forces on the ground. This deeply flawed strategic thinking has come back to bite the world.
These Iraqi forces have subsequently doubled in size, exploiting their political muscle to double their share of the state budget to nearly $3 billion. The Hashd also reaps about $10 billion a year from its monopolization of illegal taxation alone. When added to the billions from oil smuggling, extortion and control of various economic sectors, the group’s warlord leaders are probably some of the region’s wealthiest figures. The Hashd’s hijacking of the state constitutes a fundamental threat to national security. In mid-2022, clashes between Muqtada Al-Sadr’s supporters and Hashd factions pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war. As a proud Lebanese citizen, I witnessed this process first-hand, as Hezbollah trampled all over my country’s inherent diversity, parasitically devouring the nation state and seeking to replace it with a weaponized theological tyranny. Lebanon has gone from being prosperous, diverse and rich in cultural and educational achievements to an economic basket case, from which those who can have already fled — and a hair trigger away from all-out war with Israel due to Hezbollah’s clumsy and opportunistic exploitation of the Palestinian cause. How are Christians, Sunnis, Druze and other denominations supposed to freely exercise their religious and cultural freedoms under such a “wilayat al-faqih” theocracy?
The genuine resistance are grassroots mass movements that relentlessly take to the streets in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran itself
Likewise, in Sanaa, leaders of the Houthi minority sect have used Iranian weapons and support to dominate a shattered, nonfunctioning country. Gratuitous attacks against global shipping provoked a US-led bombing campaign, leaving Yemen more marginalized and friendless than ever.
This ambition to straitjacket these nations within an axis of resistance, in this morbid culture of death, is actively opposed by substantial majorities of the population. The killing of entire Lebanese families in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes has not saved the lives of one woman or child in Gaza. Farmers want to be able to safely tend their land unmolested by unexploded cluster munitions or the debris of phosphorus bombs. Mothers do not want their children growing up in a war zone. Israel’s occupation is illegal and inhuman, but the Arab territories that Iran has tried to forcibly monopolize are more than 100 times larger than anything the most deranged Zionist extremists have ever sought to annex from Palestinians.
These self-styled Islamic resistance factions neither represent the humanist aspirations of the Islamic faith nor serve any cause of nationalist resistance. The only things these mafioso militants are resisting is their citizens’ freedom, security and prosperity, while hijacking and weaponizing political institutions against their own citizens. The genuine resistance are grassroots mass movements that relentlessly take to the streets in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran itself, courageously seeking liberation from paramilitary brutality, theocratic tyranny and hostile foreign agendas. Only about 12 percent of Tehran residents voted in elections on March 1. So many people submitted blank or spoiled ballots that officials joked that numerous seats in parliament should be left vacant. If the ayatollahs are so despised in their own capital, why should we tolerate their preeminence elsewhere? This resistance to theological oppression is a resistance agenda we can all get behind. And given the absence of support for the ayatollahs and their agents anywhere in the region, it is one resistance campaign that is ultimately destined to prevail.
**Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

What the world continues to get wrong about Libya
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/March 11/ 2024
In the collective pursuit of stability in Libya, the global community continues to witness the unraveling of well-intentioned summits and initiatives, the latest being next month’s troubled Sirte National Reconciliation Summit. This ambitious gathering is intended to forge a path toward peace and unity in Libya, a nation torn apart by more than a decade of internecine conflict and worsening fragmentation. Much like its predecessor endeavors over the years, the UN-led and African Union-sponsored Sirte summit seeks to — yet again — bring together diverse Libyan factions to agree on mechanisms for national reconciliation in the hope of ending the cycle of violence and to pave the way for democratic governance and stability. Despite these noble objectives, however, its success is far from guaranteed; if the summit is even held at all. Deep-rooted divisions within Libya, compounded by the interests of foreign actors, pose significant challenges, hamstringing consensus-building on key issues, such as the distribution of oil revenues, the integration of militias into a unified national army and the establishment of a single, legitimate government.
Moreover, the summit’s outcomes are likely to be marred by not just the persistent mistrust between factions, but also a pervasive fatigue among average Libyans, who have simply checked out, having lost faith in a quarrelsome political elite. There are additional concerns about a potential boycott by key stakeholders that already feel sidelined by and skeptical of the UN-led initiative, which has largely left warring factions to negotiate the mechanisms for unifying Libya’s fractured political system behind closed doors.
Doomed to fail before it even began, we are seeing a recurrent pattern of failure that betrays a stubborn reality: conventional diplomacy is ill-suited for the complexities of Libyan politics. Influential actors still refuse to confront the uncomfortable truth that repeated interventions have yet to materially shift Libya’s political elites and institutional stakeholders toward the reconciliation that the country so desperately needs.
The fact that the Sirte summit is in jeopardy is symptomatic of a broader pathology affecting international efforts in Libya. We keep seeing the same diplomatic mechanisms and backroom dealings being deployed, each promising to be the panacea for Libya’s political ills. Yet, these methods have served only to entrench vested interests and deepen the chasms between local actors, who are diametrically opposed to Libya’s transition to a stable, democratic state. The persistent reliance on these dated tactics is not just ineffective, it is counterproductive. Rather than fostering genuine dialogue and compromise, they provide a facade of progress while allowing the status quo of division and conflict to fester.
Why, then, do international actors continue to insist on these flawed approaches? The answer lies in a misjudgment of Libya’s internal dynamics and an overestimation of external influence.
There is a misplaced belief that external pressure and incentives can reshape entrenched political landscapes. It is a fallacy that has led to the current impasse. The reality is that Libya’s political elites are adept at navigating the choppy waters of international diplomacy, often playing one actor off against another to preserve their power. The intricate web of militias, tribal alliances and economic interests that define the country’s internal politics cannot be untangled by the same hands that have repeatedly failed (and refuse) to grasp the subtleties of its social fabric.
External actors consistently fail Libya in at least four major ways.
The troubling assumption that a Western-style democracy can simply be parachuted into Libya survives to this day.
First, there has not been any meaningful attempt to resolve Libya’s interminable security dilemma. In the absence of a strong central authority, competing factions fall into a situation in which they obsess over securing themselves, prompting others to do the same, resulting in an arms race and periodic conflict. Over time and unchecked, Libya’s militias have since enmeshed themselves within the state, upgrading a mere arms race into a far-reaching competition to amass political influence to shift priorities away from peacebuilding or reconciliation toward factionalization and the preservation of a debilitating status quo.
Second, insisting on some kind of “consociationalism” to manage post-conflict dynamics in an ethnically or tribally diverse society such as Libya may be theoretically sound. Unfortunately, proposing a power-sharing arrangement among co-equal groups never works when self-interested foreign meddlers back different local actors, upsetting the delicate balance required for consociationalism to work. As a result, the Libyan scenario consistently exhibits a mix between post-invasion Iraq’s sectarian volatility and the endless warlords’ conflicts that rocked Afghanistan before the ill-advised US withdrawal.
Third, given Libya’s oil wealth, proposing a transition to a market democracy as a path to sustainable peace also sounds good on paper. However, implementing such an approach without stable institutions does little to quell the competition for resources and rent-seeking behavior, exacerbating conflicts, as witnessed in Mali. Surprisingly, the troubling assumption that a Western-style democracy can simply be parachuted into Libya survives to this day, with such thinking often governing how some countries structure their policy and alignments vis-a-vis Libya.
Lastly, a near-decade-long misalignment between foreign and local actors with what most Libyans yearn for still persists. Competing foreign interests often prioritize strategic gains over the long-term welfare and democratic aspirations of the Libyan people. Furthermore, the stubborn zeal for top-down interventions that disregard local governance culture have only resulted in deepening distrust for the state, complicating a future unified government’s efforts to restore legitimacy in state institutions.
We are thus long overdue for a paradigm shift in how we approach Libya. We must move away from a strategy that places disproportionate emphasis on the agency of international actors and overpromises the efficacy of external interventions. Instead, we must empower Libyan civil society, support grassroots movements and strengthen the capacity of local institutions to lead the charge toward reconciliation.
This bottom-up approach is the only viable path to building a sustainable and inclusive political order in Libya. It is a path that respects the agency of the Libyan people and acknowledges their right to self-determination without the misaligned, self-serving and heavy-handed diktats of foreign actors.
The Sirte summit’s troubled state is a stark reminder that Libyans must forge Libya’s future themselves. The global community’s role should be one of support, not orchestration. Until we internalize this lesson and adjust our approach accordingly, we will continue to witness the cycle of failed initiatives that have come to define the search for an acceptable Libyan peace.
**Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow and executive director of the North Africa Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. X: @HafedAlGhwell

Syria, too, desperately needs a ceasefire, says UN commission of inquiry
EPHREM KOSSAIFY/Arab News/March 12, 2024
NEW YORK CITY: In the past six months, Syria has experienced the worst surge of violence since 2020, the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic said on Monday.
During that time, it added, various forces have targeted civilians and essential infrastructure across several battlefronts, committing acts that could amount to war crimes.
“Since October, Syria has seen the largest escalation in fighting in four years,” said the chair of the commission, Paulo Pinheiro, as he called for more intensive international efforts to halt the fighting. “Syria, too, desperately needs a ceasefire.”
Syrians cannot endure any further escalation of fighting as they continue to reel from the effects of an unparalleled humanitarian emergency that is pushing them further into despair, he added.
The latest report by the commission, published on Monday, said that more than 90 percent of Syrians now live in poverty, and more than 16.7 million are in need of humanitarian assistance to survive, the most since the conflict in the country began. Meanwhile, it added, the economy continues to be in free fall amid tightening international sanctions, and rising levels of lawlessness are driving armed forces and militias to engage in predatory behavior and extortion.
The surge in violence began on Oct. 5, when several explosions rocked a graduation ceremony at a military academy in the government-controlled city of Homs, killing at least 63 people, including 37 civilians, and injuring dozens.
Syrian government and Russian forces responded with bombardments targeting at least 2,300 sites in opposition-controlled areas in the space of just three weeks, killing or injuring hundreds of civilians. These targets of these “indiscriminate” attacks, which the commission said might amount to war crimes, included hospitals, schools, markets and camps for internally displaced persons. The attacks continue.
“Syrian government forces again used cluster munitions in densely populated areas, continuing devastating and unlawful patterns that we have documented in the past,” said Commissioner Hanny Megally.
The attacks have forced more than 120,000 people to flee, he added, many of whom had already been displaced several times, including by the devastating twin earthquakes in February last year.
“It should be no surprise that the number of Syrians seeking asylum in Europe last October reached the highest level in seven years,” Megally said.
“Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with over 13 million Syrians unable to return to their homes.”
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October last year, the report said, tensions have risen among the six foreign forces involved in Syria, in particular between Israel, Iran and the US, triggering fears of a wider regional conflict.
Israel has launched more than 30 strikes against Iran-affiliated forces and sites in Syria, and targeted Aleppo and Damascus airports, forcing the temporary suspension of crucial UN humanitarian air operations.
Meanwhile, pro-Iranian militias have attacked US bases in northeastern Syria more than 100 times, the report stated, prompting retaliatory airstrikes by American forces.
In addition, the Turkish army has intensified its attacks on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in retaliation for an attack in Ankara in October for which the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as PKK, claimed responsibility.
Several civilians were killed in Turkish airstrikes on power plants that left nearly 1 million people without water or electricity for weeks, in what was denounced as a violation of international humanitarian law.
“Such attacks may amount to war crimes,” the commission said in its report.
Breakdowns of military alliances and intense clashes between the Syrian Democratic Forces and a coalition of tribal fighters in Dayr Al-Zawr additionally have led to numerous incidents of violence that caused civilian casualties. This ongoing conflict stems from longstanding grievances, with the cash-strapped, Kurdish-led administration that controls the area accused of failing to adequately deliver essential services and ensure basic rights.
In Central Syria, intensified assaults by Daesh have targeted military sites and civilians alike in urban areas with “attacks likely amounting to war crimes,” the commission said.
Confrontations between Jordanian forces and drug traffickers have also escalated along the border between Syria and Jordan, with casualties among civilians caught in the crossfire.
The commission’s report also said the Syrian government continues to disappear, torture and ill-treat detainees. It documented further examples of deaths in custody, including at the notorious Sednaya Prison.
“Four months after the International Court of Justice ordered the government to prevent torture and destruction of evidence, Syrian authorities still deliberately obstruct and profit from families’ efforts to ascertain the whereabouts and fate of their detained loved ones, engaging in extortion,” the commissioners said.
In Idlib, they added, Hayat Tahrir El-Sham militants continue to commit acts of torture, violence and unlawful detention, with reports of executions based on summary trials at which the charges have included witchcraft, adultery and murder.
Commissioner Lynn Welchman said: “And as much as the world may wish to forget, five years after the fall of Baghuz when (Daesh) lost its territorial control in Syria, almost 30,000 children are still held in internment camps, prisons or rehabilitation centers in northeast Syria.
“These children were already victimized during (Daesh’s) rule, only to be subjected to years of continued human rights violations and abuses.”
The commission concluded that living conditions in Al-Hawl and Al-Rawj camps amount to “cruel and inhuman treatment and outrages on personal dignity.”
Welchman said: “No child should ever be punished for their parents’ actions or beliefs. We urge all states to immediately allow all children, including Syrian children, to return home from the camps and take measures to ensure their reintegration into society, and accountability for the crimes they have suffered.
“These children were all only 12 years old or younger at the time of (Daesh’s) rule — what crimes could possibly justify their continued detention? End the inertia, now.”
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told Arab News: “I think these (reports) show how important these tools are to the international community, these commissions.
“For our part, I think the Secretariat has been talking about, and condemning very openly since the beginning of this conflict, all attacks against civilians in Syria.”
The Commission will present its latest mandate report to the UN Human Rights Council on March 18.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic was established on Aug. 22, 2011, by the UN Human Rights Council. Its mandate is to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in the country since March 2011.