Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 13-14/2024
Elias Bejjani/Video and Text: Reading in Sister Maya Ziadeh’s Plea for Prayer for Jihadist Hezbollah Militants Who Glorify Death, Occupy Lebanon, and Seize Church Real Estate Properties
May The Curse Be Upon Political parties & Officials Who betrayed the Cedar Revolution and sold out the March 14 Coalition/Elias Bejjani/
Berri says he masterminded National Moderation bloc's presidential initiative
Berri reveals points of agreement and disagreement over Hochstein proposal
Report: Berri, Bassil 'intersect' on Khoury's nomination
Lebanese official says negotiations over south still ongoing
Lebanon to complain to Security Council about ‘Israeli attacks on civilians’
Bou Habib orders UN complaint over Baalbek strikes
Israeli Strike on Car in South Lebanon Kills Hamas Member, Hamas Source Says
Bekaa Valley: A new 'frontline' in Israel's target list
Israel's internal dispute: Israeli army prepares for battle on northern front with Lebanon amid prisoner deal negotiations
Modernization plans: Will the Beirut Port development initiatives move forward?
Illegal internet networks: Lebanon's Ogero takes action
Addressing the impacts of climate change: Lebanon threatened amid projected rise in temperatures
Lebanese, French officials float plan to rebuild Beirut port
Sayyed Nasrallah to Netanyahu: You Have Lost War on Gaza
Palestine As A Weapon... Inside Lebanon/Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 13-14/2024
Israeli Forces Strike UN Food Center in Gaza, Killing at Least 5 People
More Aid to Be Sent from Cyprus to Gaza as Sea Route Gains Acceptance, Minister Says
Who Is Marwan Issa, the ‘Shadow Man’, Al-Qassam Brigade’s No. 2?
Israel says it plans to direct Palestinians out of Rafah ahead of anticipated offensive
Blinken: Protecting civilians and providing Gaza aid must be a 'priority' for Israel
EU urges Israel to open more crossings so additional aid can reach Gaza
Washington is working to coordinate efforts to set maritime aid corridor into Gaza, says Blinken
Spanish Ship en Route to Gaza with Desperately Needed Aid
Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinians in West Bank Raid After Deadly Night
South Africa's foreign minister says citizens fighting with Israeli forces in Gaza will be arrested
US strikes Yemen’s Hodeidah airport after Houthi Red Sea attacks
Yemen’s Houthis Fired Ballistic Missile Toward USS Laboon in the Red Sea, US Says
Putin Warns the West: Russia Is Ready for Nuclear War
House Passes a Bill That Could Lead to a TikTok Ban If Chinese Owner Refuses to Sell
Türkiye, Iraq to Hold High-Level Talks on Security, Energy in Baghdad, Ankara Says
Russia says it is alarmed by 'insulting rhetoric' and ultimatums from Armenian leadership
Copts Beaten, Stabbed for Playing Christian Music in Cairo Suburb
Arrest after Coptic monks stabbed to death in South Africa
US religious freedom delegation cuts short Saudi Arabia visit after rabbi is asked to remove his kippah
Major Russian Oil Refinery on Fire After Drone Strike

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on March 13-14/2024
When the Moon Turns Red: China's Plan to Annex Space/Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/March 13, 2024
Ramadan and Selling Illusions/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
Trump Is Stronger Than He’s Ever Been/Ross Douthat/The New York Times/March 13/2024
The Resounding Foundational Tragedy Shrouded in Neglect/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
US’ Gaza floating port proposal highlights its failures/Mohamed Chebaro//Arab News/March 13, 2024
Financial challenges will hamper Trump’s election campaign/Maria Maalouf/Arab News/March 13, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 12-13/2024
May The Curse Be Upon Political parties & Officials Who betrayed the Cedar Revolution and sold out the March 14 Coalition
Elias Bejjani/March 14/2023 (From 2023 archives)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=116550&preview=true&_thumbnail_id=53330
On the 18 anniversary of the March 14 uprising, we pray reverently for the souls of all the righteous, sovereign and patriotic heroic martyrs.
Definitely, it was a deadly sin committed by the all the mercenary Lebanese leaders, officials and politicians who betrayed the Cedar’s Revolution, and sold out the March 14 Coalition.
These mercenaries belittled the martyrs sacrifices by their low and despicable entry into the Trojan presidential deal with the occupier, the terrorist Iranian Hezbollah Armed Militia.
History will not remember those dwarfs who sold the Cedar’s Revolution, and the March 14 coalition, without humiliation, contempt, if it mentions them. They we be remembered with shame, they surely will rest for ever in history’s dustbin.
These foolish traitors fell into the traps and instinctive Satan’s temptations and drowned themselves in greed. They sold the March 14 Sovereign-patriotic Coalition with national myopia and blindness of insight.
They exchanged the people’s revolution, sovereignty, and the blood of martyrs, with authority and personal benefits. They ungratefully stepped over the sacrifices and blood of Lebanon’s righteous martyrs.
As a result of their greed, shortsightedness, narcissism, and worshipping of authority, the terrorist Iranian Hezbollah armed militia managed to entirely control and occupy Lebanon.
Because of this patriotic deviation and sin, Lebanon has lost its role and message, and fell under the Hezbollah hegemony and occupation.
Meanwhile, we affirm with peace of conscience that the sovereign and patriotic spirit of March 14 coalition is alive and active in the souls, hearts and consciences of our free sovereign Lebanese people, while it is completely dead in the hearts and minds of all political parties, politicians and puppet officials who betrayed it and traded sovereignty with personal benefits and authority.
Hence, in times of misery and unhappiness, the people of March 14 Coalition are a national necessity.
In times of servility and surrender, the popular spirit of March 14 Coalition is the answer.
And in a time of deceit, heresy, outrageous, and the lie of what was falsely and cowardly called “political realism,” the people of March 14 Coalition have knocked down the Trojans’ masks and exposed them.
At a time when personal interests prevail over public and national ones, people’s support to the culture and values of March 14 Coalition continues to prevail.
And at a time when belittling the blood of the martyrs and forgetting their sacrifices, the March 14th Coalition of consciences will not forget the sacrifices of its heroes, and will not trade in their blood.
And in a miserable and betrayal time where the Trojans, scribes and Pharisees dominate our Lebanon’s official Decision Making process, and dragging the country and its people into astray and alien paths, the people of March 14 Coalition is a must.
And at a time when politicians have lost the compass of freedom, dignity and self respect, the goals and struggles, of March 14 Coalition remain the solution, the foundation and the cornerstone.
In conclusion, the spirit of March 14, remains an urgent need for the continuation of struggle and strengthening the ranks of the liberals.

Elias Bejjani/Video and Text: Reading in Sister Maya Ziadeh’s Plea for Prayer for Jihadist Hezbollah Militants Who Glorify Death, Occupy Lebanon, and Seize Church Real Estate Properties
Elias Bejjani/March 12, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127823/127823/
A recent incident has sparked widespread debate across social media platforms following Sister (Nun) Maya Ziadeh’s call for her students at "Immaculate Conception School in Ghabala town- Kesrouan" to pray for what she termed as "resistance fighters" in southern Lebanon. The Hezbollah  Terrorists. This incident underscores a disturbing ignorance or deliberate disregard for Christian principles.
Prayer holds significant importance within Christianity, with Christ himself teaching us the Lord’s Prayer, emphasizing repentance and forgiveness. However, (The Nun), Sister Maya Ziadeh's request to pray for individuals, the Hezbollah Jihadist, who glorify death, occupy Lebanon, and engage in acts of terrorism is a distortion of this principle. Prayers are not  intended to bless sinful acts but rather for repentance and redemption.
Sister Maya's call for prayers extends to individuals (Hezbollah Iran Terrorist proxy) involved in criminal activities, including the unlawful seizure of church property and the persecution of Christians. Moreover, her support for those seeking to transform Lebanon into Jihadist a puppet state under Iranian influence is deeply troubling.
In response, there have been numerous comments both in support and opposition, with some, like Gebran Bassil, attempting to justify her actions. However, Bassil and others fails to acknowledge Hezbollah's own admission that their members are jihadist, undermining claims of martyrdom in defense of Lebanon.
The real issue here lies not in praying for the people of the South, but in the dangerous rhetoric perpetuated by individuals like Sister Maya Ziadeh. Their support for groups like Hezbollah, a terrorist organization backed by the Iranian regime, only serves to perpetuate violence and instability in Lebanon.
In conclusion, it's imperative to distinguish between genuine resistance and terrorist activities. Sister Maya Ziadeh's call for prayers for Hezbollah Jihadist fighters only contributes to the culture of violence and undermines the true principles of Christianity.

Berri says he masterminded National Moderation bloc's presidential initiative
Naharnet/March 13, 2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is the mastermind behind the National Moderation bloc's presidential initiative. "I was behind this initiative," Berri told ad-Diyar newspaper. "How was I accused of obstructing it?"Berri said, in remarks published Wednesday, that he had asked the bloc not to mention his name and to use the word "consultations" instead of "dialogue", to make sure the initiative wouldn't fail. When some misinterpreted the initiative, Berri said, he decided to publicly offer to head the meeting and call for the consultations through the Parliament's General Secretariat. The initiative, launched in February by the National Moderation bloc, calls for consultations in Parliament followed by open electoral sessions. Berri said he is ready to call for successive sessions, even if these sessions would take a week. 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 had met with Berri and with other parliamentary blocs, including Hezbollah. The group did not give the bloc a positive answer regarding the consultations.

Berri reveals points of agreement and disagreement over Hochstein proposal
Naharnet/March 13, 2024
The Lebanese and the American mediators agree on many common points regarding the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said. Berri told ad-Diyar, in remarks published Wednesday, that there are 13 or 14 articles suggested by the U.S. that Lebanon agrees on. Yet, there are points of disagreements. U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein who visited the country earlier this month in an attempt to tamp down tensions on the Lebanese-Israeli border had verbally proposed a mechanism to implement U.N. Resolution 1701. "Among the points of disagreement is the American demand to gradually implement Res. 1701 , while Lebanon insists on a comprehensive implementation," ad-Diyar said. The proposal did not include Hezbollah's withdrawal to north of the Litani River, Berri said, although Israel has been pushing for this. The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, since the Israeli war on Gaza began in October. Sources from Amal and Hezbollah told al Jadeed that the Israeli escalation will not force Lebanon to accept any modifications to Res. 1701 in favor of Israel.
Since the war in Gaza started, more than 220 Hezbollah fighters and nearly 40 Lebanese civilians have been killed while in Israel, nine soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed, as international mediators scrambled to prevent an all-out war in tiny Lebanon.

Report: Berri, Bassil 'intersect' on Khoury's nomination
Naharnet/March 13, 2024 
Speaker Nabih Berri has inched closer to “intersecting” with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over the presidential nomination of retired army brigadier general Georges Khoury, a media report said. Khoury would be considered a so-called “third candidate” and would replace Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Wednesday. “This intersection came after Berri became convinced that Franjieh is no longer the candidate who can be endorsed in defiance of the Christian decision. He has also become convinced that Khoury has good chances, seeing as he was formerly Lebanon’s ambassador to the Vatican and had good ties with the Syrian tutelage regime -- when he was an intelligence chief during president Emile Lahoud’s tenure (1998-2007) -- and also with the ‘defiance camp’ after the Syrian army’s withdrawal in 2005,” the daily said. “Moreover, Khoury, whose election might not be opposed by Bkirki, also enjoys Bassil’s support,” Nidaa al-Watan added.

Lebanese official says negotiations over south still ongoing
Naharnet/March 13, 2024  
The negotiations over a solution in Gaza and south Lebanon are still ongoing and it is not true that they have collapsed, a prominent Lebanese political source has said. “The big key is still in Gaza and we in Lebanon are only a connected front. We are working on preparations for the solutions,” the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. “The file of the south is on the table and there are efforts regarding the new formulations that were brought by U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein in connection with the two meetings that he held during his first and second visits,” the source added. Describing Hochstein’s latest proposals as “more consistent” and “can be considered a serious prelude to the implementation of Resolution 1701,” the source said “this is all hinging on finalizing a deal in Gaza.”“Everyone knows that the situation in Gaza must change so that there can be a start for the implementation of what gets agreed on regarding the south,” the source added.

Lebanon to complain to Security Council about ‘Israeli attacks on civilians’
NAJIA HOUSSARI/March 13, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon will file a complaint with the UN Security Council to protest about a series of Israeli attacks that have led to civilian casualties in residential areas, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. “The series of Israeli attacks considered the most violent on March 11 and 12 targeted civilians in residential areas around the city of Baalbek and nearby towns, which led to casualties and injuries among civilians,” a ministry statement said. Abdullah Bou Habib, Lebanon’s caretaker foreign minister, said: “The concerning thing is that this escalation occurred in areas far from the southern Lebanese borders, indicating Israel’s desire to expand the conflict and drag the entire region into a war that may start with such aggressive acts and turn into a regional war sought by the Israeli government as a lifeline to escape its internal predicament.” The ministry called on “the international community to pressure Israel to stop its escalating attacks.” It also demanded that members of the Security Council “condemn Israeli attacks against Lebanon and fully implement Resolution 1701 (2006) for permanent stability and peace along Lebanon’s southern borders.” On Wednesday, Israel violated conflict rules for the third consecutive day, in place since Oct. 8, by conducting hostile operations in the area from south of the Litani River to the north. This is part of Israel’s new approach to pursue and assassinate Hezbollah and Hamas leaders and members in Lebanon through targeted drone strikes. In the morning, an Israeli missile fired from a drone targeted a car near the northern entrance of the city of Tyre, close to the Rashidiya Palestinian refugee camp. It killed Hadi Mustafa, the logistics support officer of Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas in Lebanon, and a Syrian man on a motorcycle near Mustafa’s car. Two other individuals were also wounded.
Hamas said in a statement that Mustafa’s mission was to “coordinate with the resistance forces in Lebanon.”This is the fourth time that Israel has targeted Hamas personnel in Lebanon. It is also the first time that the entrance of the city of Tyre, where thousands of displaced people from the southern border area have sought refuge, was targeted. The city is a meeting point for UNIFIL soldiers. The Israeli army confirmed that it killed “Hamas official Hadi Ali Mustafa by bombing a car that was transporting him in Lebanon.”A security source told Arab News: “The Israeli escalation that moved from southern Lebanon to Baalbek and the surrounding towns, then targeting the entrance to the city of Tyre, aims to break the equations to pursue members of Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad wherever they are.” Israeli warplanes flew at a low altitude for the first time on Tuesday night over cities and villages in the south, breaking the sound barrier and causing a loud noise that terrified residents and resulted in broken windows in homes. Israeli media reported that several rockets were launched from Lebanon toward the Golan Heights. Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for the rockets. The Israeli army continued its airstrikes and artillery fire on Lebanese border areas from Marjayoun Plain to the Labbouneh area in Naqoura, often striking houses. The bombardment included the outskirts of Alama Al-Shaab, Al-Qantara, Kafraya, Al-Dahyra, Yarin and Yater, where a residential house was targeted and several people were slightly injured.

Bou Habib orders UN complaint over Baalbek strikes
Naharnet/March 13/2024
Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Wednesday ordered the Ministry’s competent department to file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council over the latest Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon’s eastern Baalbek region. “The fiercest Israeli attacks yet, on March 11 and 12, targeted civilians in residential areas in the vicinity of the city of Baalbek and neighboring villages, which resulted in deaths and injuries among civilians and unarmed innocents,” the Ministry said in a statement.“What’s more concerning, is that this escalation came in areas that are distant from the southern Lebanese border, which points to Israel’s desire to expand the conflict and drag the entire region into a war that might be triggered by such hostile acts,” the Ministry added. Accordingly, it urged the international community to “press Israel to halt its escalating attacks,” calling on the Security Council member states to “unanimously condemn the Israeli attacks against Lebanon and work on fully implementing Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006) in order to reach permanent stability and tranquility on Lebanon’s southern border.” Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon killed two people Tuesday and one person on Monday, in escalating tit-for-tat fire with Hezbollah that has raised fears of spiraling violence. Since the Gaza war erupted in October, Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire across their shared border, including several recent Israeli strikes on Hezbollah further north. Tuesday’s raids destroyed a building in Sarain, less than 20 kilometers from Baalbek, a key Hezbollah bastion near Lebanon's border with Syria, while another hit a building in the nearby town of Nabi Sheet. Hezbollah announced later that two of its fighters who hailed from the Bekaa were "martyred on the road to Jerusalem," the phrase it uses to refer to members killed by Israeli fire.

Israeli Strike on Car in South Lebanon Kills Hamas Member, Hamas Source Says
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
An Israeli drone strike on a car outside the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Wednesday killed a member of Hamas from the nearby Palestinian camp of Rashidieh, a source from the faction told Reuters. The source identified the member as Hadi Mustafa but said he was not a senior figure. Two security sources said a Syrian man who was passing by on his motorcycle was also killed in the strike, after earlier saying that the two fatalities had been in Mustafa's car. All three sources said the drone, which they identified as Israeli, hovered in the air above the site of the strike for several minutes after it was carried out. Hamas, the Palestinian faction which carried out a deadly incursion into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, also has a political and military presence in Lebanon, largely based out of camps where Palestinian refugees have lived for decades. Lebanese armed group Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in October in support of Hamas. Since then, Israel has been carrying out strikes in Lebanon, mostly confined to the border region but increasingly spreading further north and east.

Bekaa Valley: A new 'frontline' in Israel's target list
LBCI/March 13/2024
Bekaa Valley has emerged as a new focal point in Israel's strategic considerations, following attempts over two consecutive days to link actions in the region with those in the Golan Heights. This development places the Bekaa squarely on Israel's radar. The main objective of these operations was to undermine what is perceived as the stronghold of resistance forces. A secondary goal revolves around Israel's selection of targets based on its military imperatives, particularly as it claims that the sites in Bekaa are being used to launch drones. Contrastingly, Lebanese sources have indicated that the strikes have exposed some of the Israeli intelligence as being outdated. In Lebanon, the strikes are viewed as a significant escalation. Meanwhile, in Israel, the recent attacks on the Golan Heights are seen as a major setback. Although Hezbollah has previously targeted the Golan Heights, the launch of over a hundred missiles in a single event is considered the most significant confrontation since 2006, as reported by Israeli media outlets. Hezbollah's focus on the Golan Heights is due to its strategic significance. This area, under Israel's Northern Command, hosts espionage operations and artillery capable of reaching the Mediterranean Sea and as far as Turkey. It is also significant to Hezbollah due to its connection with the Lebanese territories, including the occupied Shebaa Farms, suggesting a direct link between Israeli actions in Lebanon and responses targeting the Golan Heights. Hezbollah's strategy in responding to Israeli strikes involves selecting "balanced targets," aiming for equivalence in the choice of locations and the scale of response, without resorting to weapons that could escalate the conflict further. The group aims to support Gaza without becoming the primary focus of the conflict, conscious of the potential for a broader escalation involving multiple resistance fronts. Moreover, Hezbollah is cautious not to exacerbate the already challenging situation in Lebanon, which includes the displacement of people from border villages and an economy under strain amid political fragmentation. This situation has weakened the broad support Hezbollah has enjoyed since the 2006 conflict, adding to the group's reluctance to provide Israel with any pretext for further escalation.

Israel's internal dispute: Israeli army prepares for battle on northern front with Lebanon amid prisoner deal negotiations
LBCI/March 13/2024
As Israel awaits any progress in the resumption of negotiations between Israel and Hamas regarding the prisoner exchange deal, security agencies in Israel are increasingly skeptical about the success of mediation efforts. Consequently, the Israeli army has heightened its state of readiness for an invasion of Rafah. It has begun mobilizing reserve units that had left Gaza, although plans for civilian evacuation have not yet been finalized, with indications suggesting potential action during Ramadan if negotiations fail. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seized the opportunity at the convening of the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) conference, which serves as a pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, to emphasize the necessity of invading Rafah. Netanyahu engaged in a confrontation with US President Joe Biden without explicitly naming him, arguing that denying Israel the right to self-defense, especially in Rafah, contradicts the support provided to Israel. Meanwhile, the army has announced intensified operations in Gaza, particularly in the central region, before reaching Rafah. However, security officials consider the army's lack of readiness and shortage of reserve soldiers as a significant failure in the Gaza war. While political and security entities blame the War Cabinet for the war's failures, the leader of the New Hope Party, Gideon Sa'ar, has withdrawn from the partnership with Benny Gantz in the National Camp and is demanding to join the War Cabinet. This move exacerbates internal disputes within the cabinet, particularly regarding Gantz and the extremist National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who threatened to withdraw from the government if Sa'ar entered the War Cabinet. These internal disputes are likely to hinder decision-making regarding the continuation of the battle in Gaza, as military and security leadership focuses on developments in the northern front with Lebanon, where the army intensifies its preparations for a potential attack. Training exercises have been conducted in Haifa Port in anticipation of Hezbollah rockets, including passenger rescue and firefighting operations. Additionally, the army in the Golan Heights has detonated extensive minefields in preparation for war.

Modernization plans: Will the Beirut Port development initiatives move forward?
LBCI/March 13, 2024
Beirut port's revenues reached $150 million in 2023, with the container terminal receiving 800,000 containers during the same period. The port's activity is prepared for development pending action from the Lebanese government and port management to implement a study conducted by Expertise France in collaboration with French engineering companies. The study aims to modernize Beirut port to meet global standards in cargo handling, port security, and regulatory frameworks. Proposed measures include rebuilding damaged quays, removing debris, establishing new port stations such as a passenger terminal, updating legal and regulatory frameworks, enhancing navigation safety, optimizing cargo monitoring, facilitating cargo exit procedures, supporting customs reform and digitization, adopting a policy for dangerous goods, accelerating the digitization process, and installing a solar power station to produce 15 megawatts of electricity for the port. The study's implementation awaits action from port management, especially since the companies involved have drafted tender documents for the projects outlined. The government is being called on to allocate over 20% of port revenues to fund these projects. France's success with the container terminal through CMA CGM has encouraged ongoing efforts to develop Beirut port. Notably, the French have not mandated French companies for execution but rather advocate for Lebanese companies to take the lead.

Illegal internet networks: Lebanon's Ogero takes action
LBCI/March 13, 2024
In Lebanon, the state-run Ogero authority is selling internet services to around 100 legitimate and licensed distribution companies. These licensed companies legally distribute internet services to subscribers through state networks or private carriers, paying fees for their operations. However, they are simultaneously selling part of their internet share to illegal networks, known as "neighborhood roosters." The illegal networks sell internet services to hundreds of thousands of subscribers without charging the Lebanese government any fees. This practice significantly drains the state treasury, prompting the Telecommunications Ministry to escalate efforts towards combating these illegal networks, potentially resorting to legal action to secure government funds. The ministry has requested legitimate distribution companies to provide information about the illegal networks they supply with internet services to control these unauthorized networks. Consequently, the ministry will charge LBP 550,000 for each unauthorized subscription, with maintenance operations handled by the "neighborhood roosters" in exchange for a portion of the revenue. So far, not all legitimate distribution companies have disclosed information about the unauthorized "neighborhood roosters" they supply with internet services. Only a few of these illegal networks have applied for authorization from the ministry. Sources indicate that the Telecommunications Ministry will ultimately resort to legal action, tasking security forces to control these illegal networks and channel funds into the state treasury. Will the state be able to control all illegal networks, some of which enjoy political and security protection, through the Telecommunications Ministry or the judiciary?

Addressing the impacts of climate change: Lebanon threatened amid projected rise in temperatures
LBCI/March 13, 2024
Lebanon is among the least prepared Arab countries to confront climate change, second only to Yemen. In Lebanon, it is expected that the average temperature will increase by two degrees by 2040 due to climate change. This means facing more droughts, more wildfires, and a 50 percent decrease in water availability during the spring and summer seasons. Even the number of snow days on higher altitudes will decrease by more than 38 days. This will result in significant losses in vital sectors, especially agriculture (with annual losses of $250 million) and tourism (with annual losses of $75 million), along with increased poverty, unemployment, and economic decline, exacerbating the existing financial difficulties. This reality was highlighted in the World Bank's "Country Climate and Development Report," which focused on four key sectors that Lebanon needs to invest in to reduce emissions and mitigate the economic impact of climate change: energy, water, transport, and solid waste. The report outlines how to address each sector and what the outcomes would be. According to the World Bank report, these four sectors require investments totaling $7.6 billion between 2024 and 2030. Where will Lebanon secure this funding from? Time is not in Lebanon's favor. Will it succeed in attracting these investments that alleviate the impacts of climate chang.

Lebanese, French officials float plan to rebuild Beirut port
Associated Press/March 13, 2024
Three and a half years after hundreds of tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate ignited at the Beirut port, setting off one of the world's biggest non-nuclear explosions, Lebanese and French officials put forward a plan for reconstruction and reorganization of the port Wednesday. The Aug. 4, 2020, explosion at Beirut's port killed more than 200 people, injured and displaced thousands and devastated entire neighborhoods of the city. Since then, an investigation into the causes of the blast has ground to a halt, and reconstruction of the damaged areas has largely been carried out piecemeal with private funding as international funds promised for rebuilding were largely contingent on political reforms that never materialized. A number of proposals that have been floated for reconstruction and redevelopment of the still-functioning port have floundered, including an ambitious plan suggested in 2021 by a group of German companies to redevelop the port alongside new commercial and residential developments. In 2022, French shipping giant CMA CGM Group won a 10-year contract to run the container terminal at the port. The French government funded the development of the plan presented Wednesday by two French engineering firms, Artelia and Egis. It will focus on rebuilding quays damaged in the explosion, reorganizing the port's layout to streamline traffic, and shifting the facility to solar power. A French public agency, Expertise France, conducted an assessment with recommendations for improving security at the port.
Lebanon will need to come up with an estimated $60- $80 million to complete the reconstruction. It plans on using the port's revenues which have been on the rise — after a slump amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Lebanon's descent into an unprecedented economic crisis — reaching $150 million in 2023, the port's Director General Omar Itani said at a press conference Wednesday. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the French ambassador to Lebanon also were in attendance, along with representatives of the French companies. Mikati told reporters that Lebanon and France have "strong historical relations that we are proud of," referring to ties that go back to when the small nation was a French protectorate after World War I until independence in 1943. "We consider France's support for Lebanon to be particularly important because it represents the heart of the international community," he said.
The French ambassador, Herve Magro, said rebuilding the Beirut port is one of France's "priorities in our support for Lebanon." He added: "The Lebanese economy indeed needs a reconstructed, modernized and secure port of Beirut." However, the plan presented Wednesday did not address the fate of the port's massive grain silos, which had absorbed much of the shock of the explosion, effectively shielding the western part of Beirut from the blast. The Lebanese government at one point planned to demolish the damaged silos but decided against it after families of the blast's victims and survivors protested, demanding their preservation as a memorial and in case they might contain evidence useful for the judicial probe. A large portion of the silos collapsed in 2022, while the remaining section has been left in place.

Sayyed Nasrallah to Netanyahu: You Have Lost War on Gaza
Al-Manar English Websiteـ/March 13, 2024
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah underscored the veracity of the stance made by Hamas Movement’s command which insists on the comprehensive end of the Zionist war on Gaza, stressing that the Movement is engaging in the ceasefire negotiations on behalf of all the Palestinian factions and the Strip’s locals. Addressing Quranic Evening session in Beirut’s Dahiyeh, Sayyed Nasrallah underlined the US hypocrisy regarding the issue of Gaza. “No one can believe that Biden is unable to end the Israeli war on Gaza,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, adding that Biden’s administration has to halt Israeli war on Gaza, away from aids ploys. Sayyed Nasrallah addressed the Zionist enemy’s premier Benjamin Netanyahu, “You have failed to achieve any of Gaza war’s targets, even Rafah operation will not offer you an image of victory.” Sayyed Nasrallah underlined the unprecedented steadfastness of Gaza people despite all the Zionist barbarism and cruelty, adding that even the Americans told the Israelis that eradicating Hamas is impossible. Hezbollah Leader indicated that all Gaza support fronts are playing their role of exerting pressure on the Israeli enemy, affirming that the Lebanese front supports Hamas and its terms pertaining the ceasefire talks. Sayyed Nasrallah shed light again on the Israeli concealment of losses on the northern front, adding that some remarks unveil the truth. In this regard, his eminence quoted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi as saying that their soldiers are fighting in Gaza and the North and suffering heavy losses. Sayyed Nasrallah responded again to the political parties and journalists claiming that Hezbollah border battle has not helped Gaza, asserting that 100 thousand Zionist soldiers are deployed near Lebanon border to prevent the Resistance from invading occupied Palestine.
Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted that the personnel shortage suffered by the Israeli occupation army which is in need of recruiting 14500 officers and soldiers, adding that the political crisis with the Haredim prepares for the collapse of the occupation entity. In this regard, Sayyed Nasrallah quoted the former Israeli premier Yair Lapid as saying that ‘Israel’ does not have enough soldiers to wage a war on Lebanon. Finally, Sayyed Nasrallah maintained that a further patience will lead the axis of Resistance to achieve a major victory, underlining the Zionist military, economic, and political exhaustion in this regard. Sayyed Nasrallah maintained that the Quranic education helps us confront challenges, adding that the Resistance martyrs’ wills are full of Quran verses, which illustrates the Holy Book’s role in their live.

Palestine As A Weapon... Inside Lebanon
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/March 13/2024
The Gaza war between Hamas and Israel has had an effect on public opinion worldwide. But the effect has not been the same in all countries. In Spain and Latin America, for example, full-throated advocacy for Palestinian causes is most marked among the political left; the farther left the party, the more extreme the advocacy. In the Middle East, the war has exacerbated existing friction between regimes, such as between Morocco and Algeria. In some places the war has fed into internal conflict, being used as a weapon or club in domestic political situations. In Jordan, the war is heightening friction between the country's Palestinian majority and its minority "East Bank" Jordanian elite. Internal tensions also spiked in Lebanon, a country where the cause of Palestine has been used at least three times in the past 50 years – by the PLO, by Syria and by Iran – as an excuse for foreign interference and oppression.
Public opinion in Lebanon is not uniform according to sect. There are "pro-Resistance" Christians, some of them vociferously so, and there are non-Christians – Shi'a and Sunni and Druze – who are against Lebanon being part of a wider war and opposed to being dragged by Hizbullah into another conflict. Those types of individuals often have to keep a lower profile given the threat of assassination, as befell Hizbullah critic Lokman Slim in 2021.[1] But if one was to generalize, opposition to war is much more likely – certain more open – among the country's Christian population, which is much more likely to embrace the concept that the war in Gaza has nothing to do with Lebanon and that Lebanon should concern itself with its own business and be neutral in all regional conflicts, including wars with Israel. To want to be neutral and at peace in Lebanon, to put the country's interests first over some foreign conflict, is interpreted by the so-called "Axis of Resistance" as being pro-Israel even if one never mentions that state.
Since the war began on October 7, 2023, the Resistance Axis – Hizbullah and its puppets – have concentrated much of their ire, their propaganda networks, and street action against the country's Christians, particularly against the Maronites, their leaders, and their symbols. In this way, an external conflict has been transformed into a tool of coercion and intimidation in an already existing internal struggle for power, pitting the country's Shi'a duopoly (Hizbullah + Amal) against anyone else, but especially against that part of the Maronite leadership most opposed to Hizbullah hegemony.
This could be seen from the beginning of the war in October. A reporter for Lebanon's MTV channel was interfered with by a pro-Hizbullah minder in South Lebanon because he claimed that the channel "supported the Zionist enemy." At the same time, noisy crowds carrying Palestinian and Hizbullah flags invaded Christian urban areas – Awkar, where the U.S. Embassy is located, and Achrafieh/Gemmayze. These outsiders' chants included "Shi'a, Shi'a, Shi'a," "At Your Service, Oh Nasrallah," and "Let's Go, Sayyed, for the Sake of Allah." Strangely enough, such provocative acts were deemed to be not sectarian – but Christians advocating for a federal Lebanon are often derided as irredeemably sectarian.
While images of Hamas spokesman Abu Obeidah – as "the spokesman of the nation" – marked Beirut's airport road, Hizbullah's extensive electronic media proxy army (which also includes leftist and pan-Arab nationalist allies) kept up a steady diet of anti-Maronite content, from political and religious mockery to crude, often obscene images against prominent figures – Kataeb Party parliamentarians Nadim and Samy Gemayel (portrayed as babies or women), Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea (pictured as Judas), and even the late Bashir Gemayel.
Other images at Christmastide showed Jesus Christ as crucified for Palestine or as a Palestinian militant, "the first Palestinian revolutionary." The Maronite Patriarchate, which has called for neutrality, was another focus of criticism. The mostly Christian proponents of neutrality were now dubbed by the critics as "isolationists." While much of this ferment over the past months was war-related, some was not, and focused rather on Maronites as Maronites, a type of eternal "Maroniphobia," inspired by social resentment or envy as much as by political disagreement or religious hatred. That the Christian population of Lebanon was declining and that Christians were emigrating was a topic of particular glee.
The Axis of Resistance also benefited from the presence of domesticated Court Christians – mocked by critics as dhimmis or as "Nasara Al-Manar" (Christians of the Hizbullah television channel Al-Manar) – who would amplify the Iranian-sponsored Resistance's talking points. This phrase is a likely response to the "Shi'a Al-Safara" term developed by Hizbullah online trolls and aimed against members of that community opposed to the terrorist group.
Some prominent Christians, of course, are immune to Resistance trolling. Suleiman Frangieh (grandson of President Suleiman Frangieh, 1970-1976) and Gibran Bassil, son-in-law of former President Michel Aoun, are Hizbullah allies who still aspire to become the next Lebanese president with the support of Nasrallah and Amal's Nabih Berri.
The latest point of internal friction in this mostly online campaign was generated by, of all things, a Catholic nun when video surfaced in early March 2024 of Sister May Ziadeh praising "the Resistance" while speaking at the Ghabala parochial school in the mostly Maronite Christian region of Keserwan. Ziadeh said:
"In the south there are students of your age who say they have no dreams other than liberating their land. Today we pray for the south, for the children of the south, for the people of the south, for the mothers of the south, and for the men of the resistance, because they are men from Lebanon and they are working hard to protect this homeland. If we don't reach out to them, and we don't love them no matter what we think, then we will be traitors to our land, our homeland and every book we read."[2]
The resulting media firestorm was predictable, even though positions were scrambled. The politicians and trolls of the Resistance (Hizbullah and friends) who had mocked and threatened priests and bishops, now found a nun they could embrace and cheer. The same online voices who only recently dripped venom against the Maronite Patriarch now launched a hashtag – "Solidarity with Sister Maya." Defenders of the Church were placed on the defensive but contrasted this nun who defended the persecutors of Christians with nuns and others who defended their own community.
The Federal Lebanon website responded noting that "the problem is not praying for the south. The problem is asking to pray for the men of the resistance. We don't send young children to schools to receive ideological indoctrination, The Hitler Youth has no place in our schools."[3] Not surprisingly, Hizbullah's Maronite allies like Bassil, and so-called "patriotic Christian" supporters of Hizbullah and Palestinian terrorists, used the nun incident to score political points.[4] The Hizbullah mouthpiece Al-Akhbar sarcastically declared that Geagea's Lebanese Forces, the largest Christian opposition party, had declared takfir on the nun.[5]
It is worth adding that Sister Maya was not only asking for prayers for the Resistance, but also implied that not supporting Hizbullah is treason, which is very much in sync with the Resistance narrative in Lebanon. Those who want neutrality, who are in favor of peace, and who are "isolationists" or federalists are to be considered as "traitors." That is why Lebanese journalists and others seen as having had any sort of contact with Israelis risked being brought before a military court.[6]
The deterioration in communal relations inside Lebanon, driven especially by Hizbullah and by the decline in both Christian and Sunni Muslim political power, predates the current Gaza war, but the conflict is deepening these tensions. Hizbullah knows that many and probably most Lebanese may have no love for Israel but are against another war in general, as the country is already enduring an unprecedented economic crisis.
But with about 300 Hizbullah fighters already killed since the conflict began, and Israeli airstrikes slowly creeping deeper north the longer the war continues, the terrorist group may be trapped in an iron cage of its own making. A wider war in Lebanon may become inevitable, despite the efforts of the Biden administration to prevent this.[7] If a longer, more intense war does come, the current campaign of intimidation and coercion launched against the Christian "isolationists" in Lebanon may get much worse very soon.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/middle-east-matters-episode-one-murder-lokman-slim-justice-delayed-lebanon, March 14, 2023.
[2] Almodon.com, March 11, 2024.
[3] Twitter.com/FederalLebanon_/status/1767205135048978728, March, 11, 2024.
[4] Tayyar.org/News/Lebanon, March 11, 2024.
[5] Al-akhbar.com/Politics/378547, March 12, 2024.
[6] MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11187, UAE-Based Lebanese Journalist Layal Alekhtiar, Wanted By Lebanese Military Court For Interviewing Israeli Military Official: The 'Culture Of Death' Has Destroyed Half Of Lebanon And Other Arab Countries – I Have Chosen The 'Culture Of Life', March 8, 2024.
[7] Aaawsat.com, March 12, 2024.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 13-14/2024
Israeli Forces Strike UN Food Center in Gaza, Killing at Least 5 People
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
The United Nations said Israeli forces on Wednesday hit a food distribution site in southern Gaza run by the UN agency that works with Palestinian refugees, killing one staff member from the agency and wounding 22 others. The death brings to 165 the number of workers for the agency, known as UNRWA, killed during the past five months of conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to UNRWA. Gaza’s health authorities said a total of five people were killed in the strike on the yard of an UNRWA warehouse. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency shares the coordinates of its Gaza facilities with Israel every day, and called for an independent inquiry into attacks on its facilities. “Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine,’’ Lazzarini said. “Since this war began, attacks against UN facilities, convoys and personnel have become commonplace in blatant disregard to international humanitarian law,” he said. Israel has accused 12 of UNRWA’s thousands of employees of participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Last week, it escalated the accusations, alleging 450 UNRWA employees were members of armed groups in Gaza, though it has provided no evidence. Gaza’s Health Ministry says the bodies of 88 people killed in Israel’s bombardment have been brought to local hospitals in the last 24 hours. That brings the war’s overall death toll among Palestinians to 31,272, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies. The ministry said around two-thirds of the dead are women and children, and that the real overall toll is higher because bodies are buried under the rubble or in areas that medics can’t access. The ministry says over 73,000 people have been wounded in the war. Israel blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, residential areas. The Israeli military says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence. The war erupted after 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 holding around 100 hostages, and the remains of around 30 others, after freeing most of the rest in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners last year.

More Aid to Be Sent from Cyprus to Gaza as Sea Route Gains Acceptance, Minister Says
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
A second shipment of aid will be sent from Cyprus to Gaza in coming days, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, citing growing acceptance the island could play a pivotal role in delivering supplies by sea to the shattered Palestinian enclave. A ship carrying almost 200 tons of food aid for Gaza left Cyprus on Tuesday, launching a new but untested maritime route to get emergency supplies to a population humanitarian agencies say is at risk of starvation after five months of war. A new shipment is in the pipeline, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said. Cyprus, the closest European Union member state to the Middle East, had campaigned for months to win acceptance of its plan to establish a maritime corridor straight to coastal Gaza, given serious obstacles to getting aid in by land. "The whole point is to try to offer much needed assistance to the people who are in this horrible situation," Kombos told a small group of journalists. "You can't do it alone. We need a coalition of willing participants, and that has matured in the last two to three weeks to a point where it has taken on a very rapid pace." Further steps on coordinating seaborne aid will be addressed in a conference call later on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, British counterpart David Cameron, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, and a representative of the European Commission, according to Kombos. Mostly funded by the UAE, food collected by charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) was slowly making its way across the Mediterranean on Wednesday on a barge towed by the Open Arms, a salvage vessel belonging to Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms.
'Confident’
The timing of its arrival in Gaza remains unclear. WCK, which has been on the ground for months, has had workers scrambling to create a hardpacked rubble-and-earth wharf on Gaza's coast to allow the vessel to approach. "We are confident that when the aid gets to Gaza there will be a way to offload it and get it into the hands of Gazans who are starving and need this food aid urgently," said Linda Roth, chief communications officer at WCK. She was speaking at a warehouse on the outskirts of Larnaca where aid workers were packing tinned food onto pallets. The objective, Roth said, was to create a "maritime highway", while Kombos, who spoke in Nicosia, said the next dispatch would be a bigger cargo. "It will be a mothership which has a higher carriage capacity," Kombos said. Cyprus says cargoes for Gaza can undergo security inspections on the island by teams which include Israel, eliminating the need for screenings at their offloading points to eliminate potential hold-ups in aid deliveries. The United States is pressing Israel, which invaded Gaza after Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7 and maintained a tight siege since, to allow greater overland access to the enclave for aid operations. Israel denies restricting humanitarian aid and says poor UN management of distribution is to blame for shortfalls. The US has begun airdropping aid into Gaza but humanitarian groups say air drops are more expensive and limited in capacity than deliveries by truck.

Who Is Marwan Issa, the ‘Shadow Man’, Al-Qassam Brigade’s No. 2?
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
The Israeli army and Hamas are trying to determine whether Marwan Issa, deputy head of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the Palestinian movement’s military wing, was actually killed in an air strike in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday night. Israel’s Channel 12 said: “Three days after the unusually strong attack in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip, Israel still does not know for sure whether Issa was killed.”Hamas, which has not yet commented on the report, is facing difficulties to communicate and verify any information, in light of the massive destruction caused by the strike. Issa is the most important figure to be targeted since the beginning of the war. He is considered the No. 3 on the Israel’s Hamas wanted list, after Muhammad al-Deif, the commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, and Yahya al-Sanwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza. Saleh Al-Arouri, the fourth on the list, was assassinated by Israel in Lebanon in January. Marwan Abdel Karim Issa was born in 1965 in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza. He grew up in the camp and received his education in UNRWA schools, before receiving his university education at the Islamic University. He was a distinguished athlete and excelled in playing basketball in the camp services club. Issa belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood in his early youth, shortly before the announcement of the founding of the Hamas movement, which he later joined. He was arrested by Israeli forces in 1987 and was released in 1993. He continued to suffer from Israeli persecution, until he was arrested in 1997 by the Palestinian security services. He was freed with the eruption of the second Al-Aqsa Intifada at the end of 2000. He engaged in the Hamas movement and Al-Qassam Brigades, until he became a prominent military figure. He was later appointed commander of the Central Region Brigade before becoming a member of the Military Council and then secretary of the council, until he reached his current position, deputy commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades, following the assassination of Ahmed Al-Jaabari in 2012. Issa survived numerous assassination attempts and had been fighting cancer for many years. His health had deteriorated and persistent attempts were made before the October 7 war to take him out of the Gaza Strip in order to receive treatment.

Israel says it plans to direct Palestinians out of Rafah ahead of anticipated offensive
AP/March 13, 2024
TEL AVIV: The Israeli military said Wednesday it plans to direct a significant portion of the 1.4 million displaced Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip’s southernmost town of Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in the center of the territory ahead of its planned offensive in the area. The fate of the people in Rafah has been a major area of concern of Israel’s allies — including the United States — and humanitarian groups, worried an offensive in the region densely crowded with so many displaced people would be a catastrophe. Rafah is also Gaza’s main entry point for desperately needed aid. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a Rafah offensive is crucial to achieve Israel’s stated aim of destroying Hamas following the militants’ Oct. 7 attack in which about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 250 taken hostage and brought into Gaza. Israel’s invasion of Gaza has killed more than 31,000, according to Gaza health officials, left much of the enclave in ruins and displaced some 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people. Israel’s chief military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said moving those in Rafah to the designated areas, which he said would be done in coordination with international actors, was a key part of the military’s preparations for its anticipated invasion of Rafah, where Israel says Hamas maintains four battalions it wants to destroy. Rafah has swelled in size in the last months as Palestinians in Gaza have fled fighting in nearly every other corner of the territory. The town is covered in tents.
“We need to make sure that 1.4 million people or at least a significant amount of the 1.4 million will move. Where? To humanitarian islands that we will create with the international community,” Hagari told reporters at a briefing. Hagari said those islands would provide temporary housing, food, water and other necessities to evacuated Palestinians. He did not say when Rafah’s evacuation would occur, nor when the Rafah offensive would begin, saying that Israel wanted the timing to be right operationally and to be coordinated with neighboring Egypt, which has said it does not want an influx of displaced Palestinians crossing its border.
At the start of the war, Israel directed evacuees to a slice of undeveloped land along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast that it designated as a safe zone. But aid groups said there were no real plans in place to receive large numbers of displaced there. Israeli strikes also targeted the area. More than 31,270 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and most of its 2.3 million people forced from their homes, Gaza’s Health Ministry says. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says 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. The military has said it has killed 13,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence. Meanwhile, fighting continued across Gaza. An Israeli strike Wednesday hit a food distribution site in southern Gaza run by UNRWA, the UN agency that works with Palestinian refugees, killing one staff member from the agency and wounding 22 others.The death brings to 165 the number of workers for the agency killed during the past five months of fighting, according to UNRWA. Gaza’s health authorities said a total of five people were killed in the strike on the yard of an UNRWA warehouse.
Hagari said the army was looking into the report.
The conflict has sparked a humanitarian disaster that has led to growing hunger. Aid delivery has been hobbled by Israeli restrictions, the ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of order inside Gaza, according to the United Nations. Israel denies it is restricting the entry of aid. The crisis has been particularly acute in northern Gaza, Israel’s initial target in the early weeks of the war. Hagari said Wednesday Israel plans to “flood the area” with aid, with plans to scale up the entry of goods from multiple points in northern Gaza, after half a dozen trucks delivered aid entered from the north on Tuesday as part of a pilot program. He did not say how many more trucks were expected to enter and at what frequency. Hagari also said representatives from the US military were expected in Israel this week to further coordinate a planned US floating pier that will be built off the coast of Gaza, which he said would be “significant” for northern Gaza.
The US and other countries have also been airdropping food into northern Gaza in recent weeks to help alleviate the crisis. Aid groups said air drops and bringing sea shipments are far less efficient and effective than bringing in food by truck.

Blinken: Protecting civilians and providing Gaza aid must be a 'priority' for Israel
AFP/13 March 2024
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized Wednesday that protecting civilians and providing humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip should be a "priority" for Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas for over five months.
Blinken told reporters, "We look forward to ensuring that the Israeli government makes this a priority. Protecting civilians, ensuring people receive the assistance they need, should be the first mission even while doing what is necessary to defend the country and deal with the threat posed by Hamas."

EU urges Israel to open more crossings so additional aid can reach Gaza
Reuters/13 March 2024
The EU on Wednesday called on Israel to open additional crossings besides the Cyprus maritime corridor so that more aid can reach Gaza. "While supporting the Cyprus maritime corridor, we call on Israel to open additional crossings so more aid can reach Gaza, including the North, and to ease overall customs restrictions", EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said on social media platform X. The statement came after Lenarcic virtually met with Cypriot Foreign Affairs Minister Constantinos Kombos, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, British Foreign Minister David Cameron, UAE Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Qatari Foreign Affairs Minister Abdulrahman Al Thani and UN Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag.

Washington is working to coordinate efforts to set maritime aid corridor into Gaza, says Blinken
Reuters/13 March 2024
Washington is working to coordinate a multinational effort to set up a maritime aid corridor into Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, part of a US strategy of "flooding the zone" with humanitarian assistance. President Joe Biden last week announced plans for the US military to set up a dock on Gaza's Mediterranean coast that will enable distribution of up to 2 million meals a day in Gaza. Aid agencies say five months of war between Israel and Hamas has driven much of the population there to the brink of famine. Blinken held a video conference on Wednesday with officials from Cyprus, Britain, the UAE, Qatar, the European Union and the United Nations to discuss getting the new route up and running. The US was also working with Israel on the corridor, also supported by Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada, but it would take time to establish the corridor, Blinken told reporters at the State Department. "I want to emphasize it is a complement to, not a substitute for, other ways of getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and in particular overland routes remain the most critical way to get assistance in and then to people who need it," Blinken said. President Joe Biden's administration faces growing criticism over its military support for Israel even as it pushes for more humanitarian access to Gaza, where Israeli forces launched an air and ground assault in response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Palestinian militants Hamas, which killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages. Israel's response has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, destroyed much of the strip's infrastructure and sparked a humanitarian crisis. Blinken said Israel needs to open as many land crossings into Gaza as possible, noting that shipments into northern Gaza began this week through a crossing known as the 96th gate. The US military has also dropped meals into the strip from aircraft. "The bottom line is we need to see... flooding the zone when it comes to humanitarian assistance for Gaza," Blinken said, adding that Washington continues to push for a deal that would see a temporary pause in fighting and the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza.

Spanish Ship en Route to Gaza with Desperately Needed Aid
Asharq Al Awsat/13 March 2024
A Spanish aid boat was en route to Gaza on Wednesday, opening a new maritime corridor intended to allow deliveries of desperately needed food to the Palestinian territory ravaged by months of war between Israel and Hamas. In a sign of worsening humanitarian conditions, the Hamas-run territory's health ministry says 27 people have died of malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children. A weeks-long diplomatic push had sought to bring about a ceasefire and increase aid deliveries before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, but key mediator Qatar said Tuesday that the warring sides were not close to striking a deal. Fresh bombardments could be heard in southern Gaza, an AFP journalist said early Wednesday, and the health ministry reported another 70 people killed in overnight strikes. With land shipments into the territory severely curtailed, the international community has sought to diversify routes for delivering aid, including via air drops and the new Cyprus maritime corridor. The Open Arms ship that left the port of Larnaca on Tuesday is towing 200 tonnes of relief goods roughly 400 kilometres (250 miles) across the Mediterranean to Gaza, with US charity World Central Kitchen saying work was "underway" on a jetty to unload the shipment. Cyprus said a second vessel was also being prepared. Gaza has experienced dire shortages of food and other essentials since Israel imposed a siege at the outset of the war, and prices have shot up for what food there is. "Today, there are many things in the market that are not available; even if they are available, they are at astronomical prices," said dentist and Gaza City resident Baher Hassouna, one of the 1.5 million Gazans displaced to the southern border city of Rafah. Four US Army vessels also departed a base in Virginia on Tuesday carrying about 100 soldiers and equipment needed to build a temporary port on Gaza's coast to facilitate aid shipments. The new facility -- which will consist of an offshore platform and a pier to bring aid ashore -- is expected to be up and running "at the 60-day mark", US Army Brigadier General Brad Hinson told journalists.
Aid groups have been warning of the risk of famine in besieged Gaza for weeks, and the United Nations has reported particular difficulty in accessing the territory's north for deliveries of food and other humanitarian supplies. The UN aid coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, and head of the United Nations Office for Project Services, Jorge Moreira da Silva, said in a joint statement they "welcome the opening of a maritime corridor" while cautioning it may not be enough.
"For aid delivery at scale there is no meaningful substitute to the many land routes and entry points from Israel into Gaza," they said. The Israeli army on Tuesday night announced a pilot project for delivering aid directly into the north, saying six World Food Program (WFP) aid trucks had entered through a new crossing. Israel has maintained strict control over supplies entering the Gaza Strip, and aid workers have blamed cumbersome screenings for the severity of the current shortages. Israel blames problems on the Palestinian side for inadequacies in aid delivery. Without specifically mentioning the new overland route, the WFP wrote on social media platform X that it had "delivered enough food for 25,000 people to Gaza City early Tuesday in (the) first successful convoy to the north since 20 February"."With people in northern #Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day," it added. Morocco, meanwhile, sent a plane loaded with 40 tonnes of relief supplies directly to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, a diplomatic source said, a bid to bypass bottlenecks on the Egypt-Gaza border. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, called on Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire, labelling the conflict "a war on children". In a post on X, Lazzarini cited UN and Gaza health ministry figures that suggest more children have been killed in Gaza between October and February "than the number of children killed in four years of wars around the world combined".

Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinians in West Bank Raid After Deadly Night
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
Israeli forces killed two Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank early on Wednesday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, bringing to five the number of Palestinians killed in different incidents within several hours. Yousef Nimer, a witness, said Israeli forces began firing at people he was sitting with outside a hospital in the city of Jenin as they were finishing Suhur, the final meal before sunrise during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. "I told them, look, there is something coming towards us. We ran away, then a sniper started to shoot at us. Some crawled and some ran away. The people who ran away got injured and those who crawled were saved," said Nimer, who was wounded in the incident and pointed to a hole he said had been made by a bullet in one of the hospital's walls. In a separate incident on Wednesday, Israeli police said an armed civilian guard shot and "neutralized" a suspect in a stabbing attack at a military checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The condition of the suspect, whom police identified as a 15-year-old Palestinian, was not immediately clear. Israel's ambulance service said two security personnel who sustained mild to moderate stab wounds had been taken to hospital. Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian from a refugee camp on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Tuesday night, and killed two others at a checkpoint, Israeli police said. The police said the boy was shot after aiming fireworks at forces stationed in an observation post. In the checkpoint incident, the police said five people were seen igniting explosives and intending to hurl them at the road, prompting Israeli forces to open fire and arrest the suspects. It did not confirm any deaths and said there were no casualties among its ranks. Israel has stepped up raids in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in October. United Nations' records show at least 358 people in the Palestinian territory have been killed since Oct. 7, a quarter of them children. The war was triggered by an attack on southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7 in which the Palestinian group Hamas killed 1,200 people and abducted 253, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's air and ground assault on blockaded Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people and wounded over 71,500, according to Gaza health authorities. The offensive has flattened much of Gaza and displaced most of its 2.3 million population, one-quarter of whom the UN says are a step away from famine. South Africa has accused Israel of state-led genocide at the World Court, which Israel denies.

South Africa's foreign minister says citizens fighting with Israeli forces in Gaza will be arrested
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)/March 13, 2024
South Africa's foreign minister says her country's citizens who fight in the Israeli armed forces or alongside them in Gaza will be arrested when they return home, deepening the rift between the nations after South Africa lay accusations of genocide against Israel at the United Nations' top court. Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor made the comment earlier this week at a Palestinian solidarity event attended by officials from South Africa's ruling African National Congress party. She also encouraged people to protest outside the embassies of what she called the “five primary supporters” of Israel and its military action in Gaza. She didn’t name them but almost certainly was referring to the United States, the U.K. and Germany among others. “I have already issued a statement alerting those who are South African and are fighting alongside or in the Israeli Defense Forces: We are ready. When you come home, we are going to arrest you,” Pandor said, to rapturous applause from the audience. In December, the foreign ministry said that the South African government was concerned that some of its citizens or permanent residents had joined the IDF to fight in Gaza and warned that they could face prosecution if they hadn't been granted permission to do so under South Africa's arms control laws. Those with dual South African-Israeli citizenship could be stripped of their South African citizenship, the foreign ministry said. Pandor's comments represented an apparent hardening of the government's stance. It's not clear how many South African citizens have fought for Israel during the current war in Gaza. South Africa has a significant Jewish population of around 70,000 people. The South African government was a vocal supporter of the Palestinian people and a critic of Israel even before the current war. The issue is close to the ruling ANC party and many South Africans, who for years have compared Israel's policies against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with the treatment of non-whites in South Africa during its apartheid era of forced racial segregation and oppression. Israel denies South Africa's charge that it has enforced a form of apartheid on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and strongly rejects the charge by South Africa in the International Court of Justice that it is committing genocide in Gaza. That case may take years for a verdict. Israel has replied by accusing South Africa of being a representative of the Hamas militant group that attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostages back to Gaza, sparking the war. Israel's assault on Gaza has killed over 31,000 Palestinians, driven most of the coastal enclave's 2.3 million people from their homes and caused a humanitarian disaster, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians on the brink of starvation. Pandor asked audience members at the Palestinian solidary event this week to make posters with the words "Stop Genocide" and protest outside the embassies of what she called the “five primary supporters” of Israel. “Don’t only come to this dinner. Be visible in the support of the people of Palestine," she said.

US strikes Yemen’s Hodeidah airport after Houthi Red Sea attacks
SAEED AL-BATATI/Arab News/March 13, 2024
AL-MUKALLA: The US and UK carried out airstrikes on Hodeidah city airport in western Yemen a day after the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on ships in the Red Sea, the militia said on Wednesday. The Houthis launched a close-range ballistic missile at a US naval destroyer on Tuesday, the latest in a series of militia missile and drone strikes targeting foreign commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, and Gulf of Aden. According to the US Central Command, the Houthis launched the missile from areas under their control in Yemen between 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. (Sanaa time) on Tuesday. The missile targeted the USS Laboon in the Red Sea, but did not strike the ship or cause any damage.The US military said on X that its forces and an allied warship destroyed two unmanned aerial systems fired from a Houthi-controlled region of Yemen targeting US, international, and commercial ships in the Red Sea. “It was determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships. These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said.  Since November, Iran-backed Houthis have launched hundreds of drones, missiles, and remote-controlled boats at commercial and navy ships in international waters off Yemen’s coastline, claiming that their actions are in solidarity with Palestinians, and retaliation for US and UK strikes on areas under their control in Yemen. The US and UK, supported by other nations, launched dozens of attacks on military targets in Sanaa, Saada, Taiz, and other Houthi-controlled territories, hitting missile and drone launchers and depots, radar sites, and other military infrastructure. Despite the airstrikes and pleas for de-escalation in the Red Sea, the Houthi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday renewed its threats to increase the assaults on US, UK, and Israeli ships, as well as vessels bound for Israel, if Israel launches a fresh military onslaught in Gaza. Meanwhile, the Houthis said that X notified them that the removal of blue verification badges from their media outlets and their leaders’ accounts was due to technical issues and had no political motivation. “Twitter management emphasized to Sanaa experts that the absence of the blue mark for certain accounts was caused by a technical issue rather than a political one and that they are working to fix it,” Hussein Al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in the Houthi government, said on X. On Tuesday, the Houthis criticized X for removing verification badges from the accounts of their Al-Masirah TV, Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, and military spokesperson Yahya Sarea. Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani applauded the decision.

Yemen’s Houthis Fired Ballistic Missile Toward USS Laboon in the Red Sea, US Says
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the Iran-aligned Houthi militias fired on Tuesday one close-range ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon in the Red Sea, but it did not hit the vessel and there were no injuries or damage reported. "United States Central Command and a coalition vessel successfully engaged and destroyed two unmanned aerial systems (UAS) launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen," CENTCOM added in a statement early on Wednesday.

Putin Warns the West: Russia Is Ready for Nuclear War
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia was technically ready for nuclear war and that if the US sent troops to Ukraine, it would be considered a significant escalation of the war. Putin, speaking just days before a March 15-17 election which is certain to give him another six years in power, said the nuclear war scenario was not "rushing" up and he saw no need for the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. "From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready," Putin, 71, told Rossiya-1 television and news agency RIA in response to a question whether the country was really ready for a nuclear war. Putin said the US understood that if it deployed American troops on Russian territory - or to Ukraine - Russia would treat the move as an intervention. "(In the United States) there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint," Putin said. "Therefore, I don't think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this." The war in Ukraine has triggered the deepest crisis in Russia's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and Putin has warned several times that the West risks provoking a nuclear war if it sends troops to fight in Ukraine. Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering full-scale war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces on one side and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian proxies on the other. Western leaders have promised to defeat Russia in Ukraine, but after two years of war, Russian forces control a little under one fifth of Ukrainian territory. In a US election year, the West is grappling with how to support Kyiv against Russia which has bolstered its army with hundreds of thousands of men and is rearming much faster than the West. Kyiv says it is defending itself against an imperial-style war of conquest designed to erase its national identity. Russia says the areas it controls in Ukraine are now Russia.
Nuclear war?
Putin, Russia's ultimate decision maker on nuclear weapons, reiterated that the use of nuclear weapons was spelled out in the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine, its policy setting out the circumstances in which Russia might use its weapons. "Weapons exist in order to use them," Putin said. "We have our own principles." Russia and the United States are by far the largest nuclear powers, controlling more than 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. Putin said Russia was ready for serious talks on Ukraine. "Russia is ready for negotiations on Ukraine, but they should be based on reality - and not on cravings after the use of psychotropic drugs," Putin said. Reuters reported last month that Putin's suggestion of a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war was rejected by the United States after contacts between intermediaries. If the United States conducted nuclear tests, Russia might do the same, he added in the wide-ranging interview. "It's not necessary ... we still need to think about it, but I don't rule out that we can do the same." CNN reported on Saturday that the administration of US President Joe Biden was specifically concerned in 2022 that Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
CNN said US intelligence agencies received information there were communications among Russian officials explicitly discussing a nuclear strike in 2022. However, Putin said Russia had never faced a need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, where the conflict has raged since February 2022. "Why do we need to use weapons of mass destruction? There has never been such a need."

House Passes a Bill That Could Lead to a TikTok Ban If Chinese Owner Refuses to Sell
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn't sell its stake, as lawmakers acted on concerns that the company's current ownership structure is a national security threat. The bill, passed by a vote of 352-65, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear. TikTok, which has more than 150 million American users, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd. The lawmakers contend that ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the US any time it wants. The worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering. “We have given TikTok a clear choice,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. “Separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party), and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences. The choice is TikTok's.”House passage of the bill is only the first step. The Senate would also need to pass the measure for it to become law, and lawmakers in that chamber indicated it would undergo a thorough review. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he'll have to consult with relevant committee chairs to determine the bill's path. President Joe Biden has said if Congress passes the measure, he will sign it.
The House vote is the latest example of increased tensions between China and the US. By targeting TikTok, lawmakers are tackling what they see as a grave threat to America's national security — but also singling out a platform popular with millions of people, many of whom skew younger, just months before an election. A TikTok spokesperson, Alex Haurek, said in a statement after the vote that the bill was jammed through as part of a secretive process. "We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service,” Haurek said. In anticipation of the vote, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, accused Washington of resorting to political tools when US businesses fail to compete. He said the effort would disrupt normal business operations and undermine investor confidence "and will eventually backfire on the US itself.”Overall, 197 Republican lawmakers voted for the measure and 15 against. On the Democratic side, 155 voted for the bill and 50 against.
Some Republican opponents of the bill said the US should warn consumers if there are data privacy and propaganda concerns, but the final choice should be left with consumers. “The answer to authoritarianism is not more authoritarianism,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. “The answer to CCP-style propaganda is not CCP-style oppression. Let us slow down before we blunder down this very steep and slippery slope.”Democrats also warned of the impact a ban would have on users in the US, including entrepreneurs and business owners. One of the no votes came from Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee. “One of the key differences between us and those adversaries is the fact that they shut down newspapers, broadcast stations, and social media platforms. We do not,” Himes said. “We trust our citizens to be worthy of their democracy. We do not trust our government to decide what information they may or may not see.” The day before the House vote, top national security officials in the Biden administration held a closed-door briefing with lawmakers to discuss TikTok and the national security implications. Lawmakers are balancing those security concerns against a desire not to limit free speech online. “What we've tried to do here is be very thoughtful and deliberate about the need to force a divestiture of TikTok without granting any authority to the executive branch to regulate content or go after any American company,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, the bill's author, as he emerged from the briefing. TikTok has long denied that it could be used as a tool of the Chinese government. The company has said it has never shared US user data with Chinese authorities and won’t do so if it is asked. To date, the US government also has not provided evidence that shows TikTok shared such information with Chinese authorities.
Republican leaders moved quickly to bring up the bill after its introduction last week by Gallagher and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. A House committee approved the legislation unanimously, on a 50-0 vote, even after their offices were inundated with calls from TikTok users demanding they drop the effort. Some offices even shut off their phones because of the onslaught. Supporters of the bill said the effort backfired. “(It) provided members a preview of how the platform could be weaponized to inject disinformation into our system,” Gallagher said. Lawmakers in both parties are anxious to confront China on a range of issues. The House formed a special committee to focus on China-related issues. And Schumer directed committee chairs to begin working with Republicans on a bipartisan China competition bill. Schumer is likely to feel some pressure from within his own party to move on the TikTok legislation. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner announced after the House vote that he will work to “get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.”In a joint statement with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the intelligence panel, Warner said that “we are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok — a platform with enormous power to influence and divide Americans whose parent company ByteDance remains legally required to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party”Roughly 30 TikTok influencers and others who traveled with them spoke out against the bill on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. They chanted phrases like “Keep TikTok” ahead of the vote. They also held signs that read “TikTok changed my life for the better” and “TikTok helped me grow my business.”Dan Salinger, a Sacramento, California-based TikTok creator in attendance, said he started creating content on the app during the COVID-19 pandemic purely out of boredom. But since then, his account, which features videos about his life and his father, who suffers from dementia, has grown in popularity. Today, he has 2 million followers on the app.“I’m actually appalled for many reasons,” Salinger said. “The speed with which they’re pushing this bill through does not give enough time for Americans to voice their concerns and opinions.”Former President Donald Trump has spoken out against the House effort, but his vice president, Mike Pence, is urging Schumer to bring the House bill to a vote. “There can be no doubt that this app is Chinese spyware and that a sale to a non-foreign adversary company is in the best interests of the American people,” Pence said in a letter to Schumer.

Türkiye, Iraq to Hold High-Level Talks on Security, Energy in Baghdad, Ankara Says
Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
Senior officials from Türkiye and Iraq will meet in Baghdad on Thursday to discuss energy cooperation, as well as security and defense matters, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.Ties between the neighbors have been rocky in recent years as Ankara has ramped up cross-border operations against Kurdish PKK militants based in northern Iraq's mountainous regions. Iraq has said the operations violate its sovereignty, but Ankara says it must protect itself and has warned of a new incursion. The two are also at odds over the resumption of oil exports from a crude oil pipeline running from Iraq through Türkiye that Ankara says is ready to operate but Baghdad has yet to resume its operations. Speaking at a briefing in Ankara, ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and Ibrahim Kalin, head of Türkiye’s MIT intelligence agency, would hold talks with their counterparts in Baghdad in a "security summit". "Developing a common understanding in counterterrorism and concrete steps that can be taken in that regard will be on the table," Keceli said. "The PKK being defined as a common security threat by Iraqi authorities is a sign that the desire to battle the PKK is developing in Iraq and we welcome this." The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the insurgency. Keceli said the resumption of oil flows from the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline would be discussed during the meetings. Türkiye halted flows on the pipeline, Iraq's northern oil export route, after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages for unauthorized exports between 2014 and 2018. Ankara later started maintenance work on the pipeline that contributes about 0.5% of global crude supply. The two countries agreed to wait until a maintenance assessment on the pipeline was complete to restart flows while still engaging in a legal battle on arbitration awards. "We said last October that the flows could being on this pipeline, that there is no issues for us. However, we understand the Iraqi side is not yet ready," Keceli said. "We want for all the parties in Iraq to reach an agreement within the framework of mutual dialogue and understanding, and for flows on this pipeline to resume as soon as possible."He said the officials would also discuss cooperation on gas and renewable energy, as well as a planned visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Baghdad, which is expected in the spring.

Russia says it is alarmed by 'insulting rhetoric' and ultimatums from Armenian leadership
MOSCOW (Reuters)/March 13, 2024
Russia said on Wednesday it was alarmed by what it described as insulting rhetoric and ultimatums directed at Moscow from the political leadership of Armenia and advised Yerevan to use the proper communications channels instead. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was reacting to a statement made the previous day by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who said his country would leave the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) unless the security bloc detailed its commitment to uphold Armenia's security in a satisfactory way. Ties between Armenia, traditionally a close ally of Moscow and host to various Russian military facilities, are strained after Azerbaijan retook its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in September last year despite the presence there of Russian peacekeepers. The CSTO did not intervene either and the military action prompted a mass exodus of the area's ethnic Armenian population to Armenia. Zakharova said on Wednesday that Russia did not object to any country's right to determine its own foreign policy based on its national interests, but said Armenia's behaviour was improper. "We cannot but be alarmed by the ultimatums and sometimes insulting rhetoric from the Armenian leadership," she told a briefing. "The consistent desire of parts of the Armenian elite to discuss the CSTO outside this organisation is puzzling."She advised Armenia to discuss the future of its membership of the CSTO within the CSTO and to use two-way communication channels with Russia for anything concerning bilateral ties. Pashinyan has in recent months expressed discontent with Armenia's longstanding ties with Russia and said Yerevan could no longer rely on Moscow to ensure its defence needs. Armenian Foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Friday his country was also considering applying for European Union membership as it seeks to forge closer ties with the West.

Copts Beaten, Stabbed for Playing Christian Music in Cairo Suburb
Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity
Another incident indicative of the state of affairs for Egypt’s Christian minorities, the Copts, recently occurred. After opening his modest carpentry shop north of Cairo one morning, Mina, 34, tuned in to listen to the Coptic mass, though—and all things considered—by keeping the volume very low. It was not enough. A Muslim man identified only as Harika—literally, “firebrand,” and described in reports as an “extremist” and a “bully”—barged into the shop at the head of a gang and began verbally and then physically abusing Mina. “You Christian!—you son of a [various extreme obscenities] Did we not tell you before never to play this stuff in our area?!” Harika and the other thugs proceeded to smash up Mina’s workshop and even stabbed the Christian several times with a switchblade knife, causing injuries to his face, arms, and body. The ordeal did not end before the Muslim gang made Mina swear to close shop and leave the region. Although they indicated they would return his belongings—including money plundered from the cash register and his mobile phone—when he returned on the following day to take his belongings and permanently close shop, they reneged and kept their “jizya.” Another beating began when he protested. His younger brother, Barsoum, 27, and sickly father, who accompanied him but were waiting outside, ran to his aid, only to be beaten and stabbed as well. Mina was “mutilated” and sustained several new injuries. His father and brother also suffered severe stab wounds, including to their necks, chest, and thighs. As the three Christians fled towards their home, a neighbor helped them get in and sealed the door—only for the Muslim gang to continue the assault, pelting the home with empty bottles, stones, and other missiles, “as if they were at war,” observes the report. Soon police came and arrested everyone—including the innocent victims. While in prison, and as usual, the Christian victims were pressured into “reconciling” with their Muslim persecutors and told that if they did not, if their assailants ended up doing even a single day of prison time, once released, they would target the Christians’ womenfolk and set their home on fire. With little choice, and no help from the authorities, the Copts conceded and “reconciled” with their persecutors, who all went scot-free on the following day. Such is just another day in Muslim Egypt, and the great price some Christians have to pay merely for listening to what in the West would amount to “Christian music.”

Arrest after Coptic monks stabbed to death in South Africa
GOBRAN MOHAMED/Arab News/March 13, 2024
CAIRO: South African police on Wednesday arrested a suspect in connection with the murder in a church of three Egyptian Coptic Orthodox monks. The motive for Tuesday’s fatal stabbings remains unclear. “The 35-year-old man is expected to appear before Cullinan Magistrates’ Court on 14 March 2024,” South African Police Service said in a statement. The monks were murdered on Tuesday at Cullinan, 50 km northeast of Pretoria, the police department said. “Three victims were found with stab wounds while the fourth victim that survived alleged that he was hit by an iron rod on his hand before fleeing and hiding in one of the rooms,” it said. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was “closely following the investigations into the killing of three Egyptian monks,” along with the country’s embassy in Pretoria. The Egyptian ambassador hoped that the investigation leads to “uncovering the circumstances of the incident, the identity of the perpetrators, and holding them accountable.” The Coptic Orthodox Church of South Africa, in a Facebook message, expressed “deep anguish over the occurrence of such a tragic incident.” The church and Egypt’s Foreign Ministry extended condolences to the families of the monks, identified on church social media pages as Hegumen Takla El-Samuely, Yostos Ava Markos and Mina Ava Markos, AFP said. According to police, the suspect or suspects left the scene without taking anything. The Coptic Orthodox community in South Africa consists of about 4,500 families, according to the church’s website, in a country of 62 million people. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the highest seat of Islamic learning in Egypt, condemned the killings. He said that attacking a person in a place of worship was a “hateful terrorist act” and that “religious laws, with their values calling for peace and love, can never be a justification for murder and terrorism.”Al-Tayeb offered his condolences to Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, patriarch of the See of St. Mark, and to the families of the victims. The church expressed its “extreme pain” over the killings and offered its condolences to the families of the three monks. A statement said that Pope Tawadros II was closely following the case.

US religious freedom delegation cuts short Saudi Arabia visit after rabbi is asked to remove his kippah
Celine Alkhaldi, CNN/Wed, March 13, 2024
An American delegation on religious freedom cut short its visit to Saudi Arabia after one of its members was asked to remove his Jewish head covering, or kippah. The delegation from the US Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF) was on an official visit to the UNESCO heritage site of Diriyah, the original home of the Saudi royal family, when Saudi officials asked its chairman Rabbi Abraham Cooper to remove his kippah, the commission said in a statement Monday. US embassy staff accompanying the delegation tried to convey Cooper’s “polite but resolute refusal,” but site officials escorted the delegation out after Cooper “indicated he sought no confrontation or provocation but as an observant Jew could not comply with a request to remove his kippah,” the commission said. It added that the Saudi government had invited the group to tour the site and that the visit had been approved by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Saudi Arabia said Wednesday that the “unfortunate incident” was the result of a “misunderstanding of internal protocols.” The Saudi Ambassador to Washington, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, spoke with Cooper about the incident, according to a statement from the Saudi embassy. “The matter was resolved but we respect his decision to not continue the tour,” it said. “We look forward to welcoming him back to the kingdom.” USCIRF, a bipartisan advisory body independent from the State Department, condemned the Saudi officials’ request. “Saudi officials’ request for Chair Cooper to remove his kippah was stunning and painful. It directly contradicted not only the government’s official narrative of change but also genuine signs of greater religious freedom in the Kingdom that we observed firsthand,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Reverend Frederick A. Davie. “While we appreciate the various meetings we had in country with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Human Rights Commission, and other interlocuters, this unfortunate incident starkly illustrates that much more work remains to be done for Saudi Arabia to align with international legal protections guaranteeing this fundamental right,” Davie added. “No one should be denied access to a heritage site, especially one intended to highlight unity and progress, simply for existing as a Jew,” Cooper said.

Major Russian Oil Refinery on Fire After Drone Strike
Bloomberg News/Wed, March 13, 2024
A Ukrainian drone attack hit one of Russia’s biggest refineries in an assault President Vladimir Putin said was aimed at disrupting his presidential election later this week. It was not immediately clear how much damage had been caused to Rosneft PJSC’s largest oil refinery, which was hit in the latest wave of drone attacks on Russia. The strike on the refinery in Ryazan about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Moscow was on a facility that has a capacity of 17.1 million tons a year, or around 340,000 barrels a day. It is a major supplier of motor fuels for Russian regions around the capital. It’s the second casualty of Ukrainian strikes that have damaged facilities accounting for more than 10% of Russia’s oil-processing capacity in the past two days. Ukrainian strikes in Russian regions “are aimed at, if not frustrating the elections in Russia, then interfering with them,” Putin said in an interview with the RIA Novosti news service published Wednesday. “Another goal is to get some kind of trump card in a possible negotiation process.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted 58 drones overnight in the Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Ryazan and Leningrad regions. That’s among the largest assaults in recent months. The attacks underline how the invasion of Ukraine that was intended to last a few days is instead leading to growing insecurity for ordinary Russians living in regions near the border as the war enters its third year. That’s in sharp contrast to Kremlin claims that Putin is the guarantor of the country’s defense. The drone attack “started a fire” that was later extinguished, regional Governor Pavel Malkov said Wednesday on his Telegram channel, without giving details of the extent of any damage. Two people were hospitalized, the Tass news service reported. Later on Wednesday, the independent Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s southern Rostov region halted operations after a drone strike, regional governor Vasily Golubev said on Telegram, while giving no details of any damage. The facility has a capacity of 5.6 million tons per year, or around 112,000 barrels a day. Since the start of this year, Ukraine has used drones to target important Russian oil-processing plants from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. As fighting on the front lines swings in Moscow’s favor, Kyiv has been trying to hamper the country’s oil-product exports and its ability to send fuel to its forces. The initial flurry of attacks in February affected almost a fifth of the country’s crude-processing capacity, but by early March the industry was already recovering.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was “totally fair” to inflict losses on the Russian state in retaliation for missile and drone attacks that are killing and injuring civilians in his country. “I think everyone sees that our drones work, and they work at long distance,” Zelenskiy said in an address late Tuesday. “Our ability for long-distance strikes is the real way to move towards security for everyone.”
The latest wave of attacks that started Tuesday damaged a unit of Lukoil PJSC’s Norsi refinery in Nizhny Novgorod and hit an oil depot in the Oryol region. Ukrainian drones also repeatedly targeted Surgutneftegas PJSC’s major export-focused Kinef refinery in Kirishi, on the Baltic coast, according to Leningrad region Governor Alexander Drozdenko. A drone targeting the Kinef refinery early Wednesday was downed, Drozdenko said.
Ukraine was targeting the refineries in Ryazan, Kirishi and Norsi, a Ukrainian official with knowledge of the matter said. The governor of Russia’s southern Voronezh region, Aleksandr Gusev, said 30 drones were destroyed. Some infrastructure and residential properties sustained “minor damage,” he said. The attacks are taking place as Russia prepares for the March 15-17 presidential election that’s been tightly controlled by the Kremlin to deliver an overwhelming victory for Putin and another six years in power. Ukraine has launched drones targeting Russian infrastructure and industrial facilities, as it seeks to undermine the Kremlin’s war effort and retaliate for waves of missile and drone assaults on its own territory since the February 2022 invasion began. The strikes on oil facilities also aim to disrupt Russia’s exports and fuel supplies to the Russian army on the front lines. “We are fighting everything that finances Russia’s army and the war,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said, after Russian air strikes killed and injured civilians in three cities overnight. “Russia is fighting civilians and apartment blocks.”Ukraine Says Russia Strikes Apartment Blocks, Killing Civiliansز In his interview with state-run RIA, Putin said Russia would demand security guarantees to consider talks to end the war in Ukraine and reiterated that “realities on the ground” should be the basis of any negotiations. “We are primarily interested in the security of Russia,” Putin said. “We will proceed from that.”Asked if a “fair deal” with the West is possible, Putin replied: “I don’t trust anyone, but we need assurances.”Ukraine’s government has previously rejected any deal involving territorial concessions that would reward Putin’s aggression. Putin has declared four annexed regions of eastern and southern Ukraine to be “forever” part of Russia, even as his forces don’t fully control them. Russian troops have made recent advances as the government in Kyiv struggles to keep its military supplied with munitions following delays in aid from its US and European allies. Zelenskiy claimed this week that his forces have halted Russia’s offensive and were stabilizing the front line. Putin said the thought of using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine had never crossed his mind and there’s never been a need for them. He didn’t think Russia and the US were heading toward a nuclear conflict. Still, he said countries that declared they had no red lines toward Russia should understand that Russia would respond in the same way.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 13-14/2024
When the Moon Turns Red: China's Plan to Annex Space
Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/March 13, 2024
"Chinese control of the moon would confer control of Cis-Lunar space, the portion of space between the Earth and the moon. Control of Cis-Lunar space would give a country the ability to shoot down or otherwise disable deep-space satellites, which are essential for, among other things, the early warning of ballistic missile attacks." — Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, to the author, March 2014. The free world should view Chinese and Russian progress with alarm. China's regime, for instance, has made it clear it intends to annex space.
Ye Peijian made it clear that Beijing intends to exclude others from the moon, among other places, if it is in a position to do so.
The American-led Artemis program also contemplates a base at the south pole. NASA, unfortunately, has been pushing back Artemis timetables.
Article II of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits "national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means," but when has a treaty obligation ever stopped the People's Republic from doing whatever it wants? China, with Russia's help, wants to build a base on the moon. If the Chinese regime succeeds in building the first facility there, it will try to deny to others the ability to land on the lunar surface.
If the Chinese regime succeeds in building the first facility there, it will try to deny to others the ability to land on the lunar surface. The People's Republic of China in fact intends to annex the near parts of the solar system.
As Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center pointed out to this author, Chinese control of the moon would confer control of Cis-Lunar space, the portion of space between the Earth and the moon. Control of Cis-Lunar space would give a country the ability to shoot down or otherwise disable deep-space satellites, which are essential for, among other things, the early warning of ballistic missile attacks. Beijing and Moscow understand all this. In 2021, Roscosmos, Russia's space agency and the China National Space Administration agreed to build a shared moon base, to be named the International Lunar Research Station.
Beijing and Moscow are making progress. "Today, we are seriously considering a project to deliver to the moon and mount a power reactor there jointly with our Chinese partners somewhere between 2033 and 2035," said Yury Borisov, the CEO of Roscosmos, on March 5 to TASS.
China and Russia are contemplating nuclear power because, Borisov explained, solar panels would not be able to provide sufficient energy to the installation. The two countries, he said, will build the reactor "without the presence of humans." He revealed that they were "almost ready."
China and Russia plan to build their station at the moon's coveted south pole, which is in constant shade. Chinese efforts to build the base have been determined and successful. China has had a moon presence since 2013, when Chang'e-3 put both a lander and rover on the surface. Chang'e 4, which landed on the moon's far side in January 2019, has been gathering data, presumably for a permanent location.
Moreover, the country this month announced it will launch large, reusable rockets, built by state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., in 2025 and 2026. Beijing last May announced its intention to land a human on the moon by 2030.
The free world should view Chinese and Russian progress with alarm. China's regime, for instance, has made it clear it intends to annex space.
"The universe is an ocean, the moon is the Diaoyu Islands, Mars is Huangyan Island," said Ye Peijian in 2017, referring to features in the East China and South China Seas. "If we don't go there now even though we're capable of doing so, then we will be blamed by our descendants. If others go there, then they will take over, and you won't be able to go even if you want to."
Ye, the head of China's lunar program then, essentially issued a warning, because he compared the near heavenly bodies to islands and outcroppings that Beijing claims as sovereign territory. In short, Ye Peijian made it clear that Beijing intends to exclude others from the moon, among other places, if it is in a position to do so.The message has not been lost on NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who in January of last year told Politico, referring to China, that "we better watch out that they don't get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research." Why? "It is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, 'Keep out, we're here, this is our territory.' "The moon's south pole is some of the most valuable real estate in the solar system. "At the south pole, the lunar ice—water—can be used to both hydrate thirsty Chinese taikonauts and Russian cosmonauts and be converted into rocket fuel for missions to Mars," Brandon Weichert, the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, told Gatestone. "By capitalizing on this pristine real estate on the moon, China would dominate the most resource-rich, human-friendly region before the Americans could even tie on their space boots," he says. "It would be akin to staking out all the water holes in the desert." The American-led Artemis program also contemplates a base at the south pole. NASA, unfortunately, has been pushing back Artemis timetables.
Domination of the moon's south pole would give China a big head start on dominating nearby planets as well. As Weichert notes, "A human base at the southern pole of the moon could be used as a launching point to get humans more quickly—and cheaply—to Mars and beyond, something that China's Communist Party obviously desires."Article II of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits "national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means," but when has a treaty obligation ever stopped the People's Republic from doing whatever it wants?
So who wants to live under a red moon in a universe also painted red by China's Communists?
**Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China and China Is Going to War, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.
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Ramadan and Selling Illusions
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made this appeal on X: “Today marks the start of Ramadan, yet the bloodshed continues in Gaza. My appeal is to honor the spirit of the holy month by silencing the guns & removing all obstacles to the delivery of lifesaving aid. I also repeat my call for the immediate release of all hostages.”It is a noble and humane appeal, and he should be thanked for making it. The Secretary-General has not been lenient with the Israelis since the Gaza War, but his statements have not changed anything on the ground. Nor has it saved any lives.
His statements do not ensure that the war will stop, nor do they present a legal mechanism for ending it. They do nothing to force the two parties - yes, both parties, Israel and Hamas - to agree to a ceasefire or truce. In the end, these are statements, and they cannot satiate hunger.
True, the Secretary-General cannot send tanks and planes, but he has legal and institutional powers; he could mobilize the international community, and work, for example, with European countries to ensure recognition of the Palestinian state regardless of Netanyahu or Israel’s position on the matter. Indeed, the United States, Britain, France, and other countries have suggested that they are willing to recognize the Palestinian state unilaterally. The UN Secretary-General should work on making that happen, not just post tweets! I do not say this to disparage the Secretary-General for making statements. However, his statements are not enough to address the disaster on the ground, the death and destruction that Israel is responsible for. More must be done to stop the killing machine and ensure that it does not reach Rafah.
The Arabs must also put pressure on Hamas, thereby denying the Israelis their flimsy excuses, especially since Netanyahu is seeking to extend his political career, even if that means more death and destruction.
There are several reasons for why I say that I do not mean to belittle the Secretary-General, some that recent, and very recent, history has taught us. In 2001, in the fourth week of the US war on Afghanistan following the Al-Qaeda attacks on 9/11, there was a debate about fighting during Ramadan.
At that time, US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld told reporters: “The history of warfare is that it has proceeded right through Ramadan year after year after year after year. The Northern Alliance fought the Taliban for the last five-plus years. Middle East wars have gone on during Ramadan. There have been any number of conflicts between Muslim countries and between Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries throughout Ramadan.”Around the same time, Senator John McCain told CBS considerations tied to Ramadan and concerns about civilian casualties should come second to the goal of destroying the enemy. So what happened? Al-Qaeda benefited from these statements and destroyed Afghanistan, and then the US withdrew and allowed the Taliban to return to power. The Americans underestimated the power of the spirit of this holy month the Secretary-General is talking about now. Then they occupied Iraq... It became clear that Saddam did not have weapons, and Iraq did not become a genuine democratic state. Iraq was not the enemy supporting Al-Qaeda in the first place, Iran was. The bottom line is that Ramadan is a month of benevolence and mercy, but political problems and wars are not resolved with good intentions.

Trump Is Stronger Than He’s Ever Been
Ross Douthat/The New York Times/March 13/2024
About 18 months ago, Donald Trump suffered one of his worst political defeats, when many of his loyalists and handpicked candidates were defeated in a midterm landscape that clearly favored the Republicans. A lot of people — I was one of them — thought that this might be the beginning of the end for him, a stark indicator of political weakness that would encourage G.O.P. voters to abandon him or set him up for a decisive general election defeat.
Instead today Trump arguably occupies a more politically commanding position in American politics than at any other point in the past eight years. His romp through Super Tuesday last night completes the replay of 2016’s Republican primaries, with his opposition once again fatally divided and his coalition this time much stronger from the start. And while the residual support for Nikki Haley indicates some persistent discontent, the polls that matter are the ones that show Trump consistently beating President Biden — a show of strength beyond anything he managed at a similar point in his previous two presidential runs.
How did we go from defeat and apparent weakness to recovery and strength? Start with the most important political result of the Republican disappointments in 2022, which was not the temporary blow to Trump but the brief return of Biden’s mojo, pre-empting any effort within the liberal coalition to make an issue of his age and push him out for 2024. Sticking with Biden didn’t just mean that Democrats were stuck with apparent presidential decrepitude to go along with an unpopular economic record. It also meant that the argument among Republicans for Trump’s unelectability, briefly potent enough to lift Ron DeSantis in the polls, fizzled out quickly: With every new survey showing Biden struggling, it became harder and harder for DeSantis and then Haley to persuade voters who liked Trump that it was time to turn the page.
In saving Biden, then, the midterms eventually helped revive Trump. So did the return of liberal lawfare, which was in abeyance during Biden’s first two years but came back with a vengeance in the run of indictments, lawsuits and attempts to remove Trump from the presidential ballot.
There is an understandable liberal frustration with all attempts to make Trumpism out to be some kind of unbeatable political force, given how many bruising defeats he and his allies have suffered at the ballot box. But there is a clear pattern where you can’t expect to beat Trump except at the ballot box — because all the attempts to investigate, impeach and prosecute just don’t have the desired political effect.
Obviously Trump is corrupt, and some of the proceedings against him have merit. But far too often these efforts end up tainted by nakedly partisan intent, whether they’re taken over by liberal grifters like Michael Avenatti or just pursued with a mixture of overreach, incompetence and wishcasting.
So it’s been in the past year. Prosecutors could have brought one slam-dunk indictment against the former president, in the classified-documents case. Instead they brought four of them — the first one (the New York case) completely partisan and far-fetched and the other two requiring novel or creative legal theories to succeed. And now one of the prosecutors, Georgia’s Fani Willis, has recapitulated the Avenatti arc, as her pursuit of Trump has exposed her own ethical vulnerabilities.
Meanwhile we’ve also had the strange swell of enthusiasm for a 14th Amendment solution to the Trump problem, his removal from the ballot via state officialdom or judicial diktat. As lawfare, this was the worst of all worlds: The effort was antidemocratic and incompetent at once, signifying a special liberal fear of Trump (boosting him with his core supporters) and a general elite fear of the voting public (alienating swing voters) while leading to an entirely-foreseeable 9-to-0 Supreme Court rebuke.
So Trump has risen by being fortunate, once again, in his rivals and enemies. But he’s also risen by doing something a bit more unaccustomed: ceding the spotlight and showing a touch — just a touch — of actual political discipline.
He refused to be goaded onto the primary debate stage, whether by Haley, Chris Christie or his former vice president. He has somewhat normal political professionals running his campaign. He’s kept his more bizarre rants confined to the weird microworld of Truth Social instead of making a triumphant return to a larger social media platform. He’s done fewer rallies, made fewer headlines with his insults and backed off from some fights that might have run for weeks in the past. (For instance, when a dig at Haley’s husband, serving overseas, went over badly in South Carolina, Trump mostly dropped it from his campaign-trail rhetoric.) This isn’t a “new Trump,” exactly: His rally speeches are still rambling and rich with grievance, and you just need to take a glance at Truth Social to see the old mania at work. It may just be that he seems more contained because he’s being contained, unwillingly, by forces stronger than his ego, from advancing age to the demands of all those trials and legal issues. But whether there’s a real strategy or not, his current position clearly vindicates the rule of the Trump era that the lower his profile, the higher his polls. A cautious front-runner’s campaign and a packed calendar of court dates have been much better for his political standing than a packed calendar of rallies and a return to constant posting on Elon Musk’s social media platform.
This is the one part of the Trumpian revival that I think should give the Biden campaign some degree of comfort for the fall campaign. In general the White House seems to be in a dangerous kind of denial about its parlous position, trying to wish away the clear message of the polling averages. But to the extent that Trump thrives when he’s getting less attention, you would expect a general election campaign to provide many more reminders of his chaos and unfitness to the voters who just aren’t paying close attention now.
Or at least you’d expect that from a normal general election campaign, with a Democratic candidate ready to take the fight to Trump and make a big deal out of his every rant and ramble. But we don’t know yet if Biden can really play that role. If he can’t, then the peculiar ease of Trump’s recovery, the way he’s seemed to coast toward his party’s nomination and into a general election lead, may just extend itself all the way to a November restoration.

The Resounding Foundational Tragedy Shrouded in Neglect
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 13/2024
Tragedy has hit one country of the Arab Levant after another, and yet a foundational tragedy has been deliberately neglected, despite the fact that many of the others were either linked to it or caused by it.
The prominent position that Arab nationalists and socialists have occupied in Arab political culture promoted this neglect to the rank of "progressive" and "revolutionary" tools used in the fight against colonialism and the effort to hold it solely responsible for all of our disappointments and flaws. If colonialism remains a factor that must be accounted for in Palestine, applying this "analysis" to other cases, both within and without the Arab world, combines gratuitous obfuscation with malicious deliberate neglect.
The foundational tragedy in question is the series of military coups that, in a sense, hollowed out and laid waste to Levantine patriotism. In fact, we could perhaps say that, in many respects, the ordeal of patriotism in the Levant began when the notables lost power (1952 in Egypt, 1958 in Iraq, and in intermittent stages in Syria). Influenced by a blend of fascism and Soviet communism, nations came to be divided, in ideologies that became state doctrine, into two camps: patriots and traitors.
That was an early recipe for more than just the rise of populist leaders, but also for splitting society and priming it for civil war. We cannot present a full account of today’s scene, with its proliferation of militias and rulers killing their people, without a genealogy that traces it back to its great grandfather, the theory of “friends of the people” and “their enemies.”Indeed, because putschists and their putschist regimes were tinged with Arab nationalism, especially after 1956, the conflict over this new identity became another element of dividing national associations. In Egypt, large patriotic communities kept quiet about their opposition to dragging their country toward pan-Arabism. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the dispute between Abdul Karim Qasim and Abdul Salam Arif very clearly reflected this struggle reinforced by sectarian loyalties. Syria was fragmented along geopolitical lines that fed into the Egyptian-Iraqi polarization, which was paralleled by the polarization of Damascus and Aleppo. The repercussions of junta rule were also felt in Lebanon, which had been relatively stable when notables held power in neighboring Arab states. The officers’ hold on power accompanied with the presence of Palestinian revolution on its soil, which lit the fuse of its sectarian contradictions and made their containment nearly impossible. The worst thing the nationalist-leftist alliance (that was brimming with competition) did was develop a notion of patriotism that rendered it synonymous with “fighting imperialism,” instead of being a concept built around a vision of some kind of connection to one’s homeland and its tangible interests.
The hollowing out and laying to waste of patriotism took other forms as well. After modest institutions and political traditions began to be developed or those inherited from the colonial era were adopted- albeit in a flawed and uneven manner - following independence, the putschist Arab regime took on the task of destroying all of these traditions and institutions, using a shortcoming here and corruption or injustice there as pretexts. The truth is that while conservative thought may be excessively beholden to tradition and its role, abolishing traditions is nonetheless extremely dangerous, especially in incohesive and fragmented countries with weak social fabrics like ours.
Since their alliance with the Soviets was organic to these police states run by officers, they became increasingly reliant on security services and arbitrary rule. The floodgates were opened to the influence of ideas that substituted addressing the population’s real concerns with theoretical abstraction, while the “patriotic and progressive” regimes banned any serious empirical study of the societies they ruled over. Meanwhile, parties, unions, the press, cultural life, and civil society were suspended or seized and nationalized.
Moreover, the population's relationship to modernity and contemporaneity was soiled by these regimes’ imposition of modernization from above. They championed an enlightenment divorced from people’s rights and interests, to say nothing about their promotion of a liberation that was, in practice if not in theory, antithetical to freedom. The conflict with Israel and the slogan of liberating Palestine offered these regimes an ideal way out of confronting reality, reinforcing their militarization and tyranny. With the exception of the last two years of Nasser’s life, these police states put hurdles in the way of any settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a matter of policy, turning it into a problem with no solution.
If there have been countless episodes that speak to this since the 1960s, none do so more eloquently than those of the 1980s. The Syrian regime brought down the Jordanian-Palestinian peace project, through violence and assassination, after having overturned the May 17 Lebanese-Israeli agreement concluded earlier in the decade. And with their left hand, the police states of the Levant sponsored the translation and dissemination of European anti-Semitic literature, before Khomeinist Iran and its arms in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen inherited it from them.
Although this political system was not totalitarian in the strict sense, it is no different from the “onion” Hannah Arendt uses as a metaphor for how Nazi power is structured and organized. The leader is in the center, exercising power and repressing opposition from within, not from above. That sets him apart from his comrades in the circles around him, creating a bulwark protecting him from external shocks and challenges, and allowing him to toy with others by bringing them closer and pushing them further away.
Once this system begins to rot, be it for internal or external reasons, its degeneration is manifested in two forms, both inherent in the putschist regime itself: militias, and the ruler killing his people and destroying his country, like a cruel foreign occupier. Thus, after patriotism is debased, the country is itself sacrificed. Today, nowhere can we see this criminal theory in action more clearly than in Syria.

US’ Gaza floating port proposal highlights its failures
Mohamed Chebaro//Arab News/March 13, 2024
No ceasefire, no humanitarian truce and not enough aid is trickling through to feed the starving Palestinians. The Israeli war on Gaza continues to show no signs of abating, even for a humanitarian pause on the occasion of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The UN and aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies needed for Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been allowed in since Israel placed the narrow Mediterranean Strip under near-total siege following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas inside Israel that left more than 1,200 mainly civilian Israelis dead and saw more than 250 taken hostage. The reprisal war by Israel has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children.
Weeks of talks involving the US, Qatar and Egypt failed to yield a ceasefire, truce or any hostage exchange ahead of the start of Ramadan. And while both sides continue their blame game for the failure to reach a deal, the civilians of Gaza are likely to continue to barely exist. If they survive the relentless Israeli bombardments, they might not survive the lack of food and medicine. The UN and many aid groups say that the supplies reaching Gaza by truck from Egypt or by airdrops make up hardly 20 percent of what Gazans need on a daily basis. One can only hope that the newly announced US humanitarian sea bridge will be able to deliver the vital supplies needed to save lives in Gaza.
One cannot help but read between the lines and see the waning US foreign influence vis a vis one of its closest allies
But I am skeptical. Sadly, I believe that President Joe Biden’s plan for the US military to build a floating port to ferry badly needed aid to Gaza, even if it were to be up and running tomorrow, exposes the limits of American power and its failure to influence one of its closest allies. This is despite Israel having been reliant on the US’ unwavering support for its survival for more than 75 years.
The plan to build a floating harbor is a grand project to prove wrong those who accuse the US administration of disregarding the unfolding human tragedy in Gaza and to show that Biden cares for the plight of Palestinian civilians, exactly like the millions around the world who are protesting and calling for an end to the war. Cynically speaking, however, one cannot also help but read between the lines and see the waning US foreign influence and its limits vis a vis one of its closest allies. In an election year, Biden is unlikely to water down America’s backing for Israel, as many in the Arab and Muslim worlds would wish. This humanitarian sea bridge seems to be a tool to make the Israeli leadership understand that patience is wearing thin, even among its allies.
From the outside, the sea bridge, like the airdrops of humanitarian supplies over Gaza, points to the US army’s long tradition of humanitarian relief operations, such as the one undertaken as early as 1949 known as the Berlin Airlift and the one in Somalia in the summer of 1992 to save Somalis from starvation. But the Gaza sea bridge is a costly choice, taken by a desperate power, especially as the Strip is not far from Israeli ports or Egyptian land access. However, the relentless Israeli military operations in and around Gaza, in addition to the Israeli checks on goods prior to allowing them in and the breakdown of any system to safely distribute the aid inside Gaza, are likely to undermine the efficiency of even the most ambitious plans.
What the US needs is for its ally Israel to heed its calls that enough is enough. Despite the initial outpouring of support from Biden and other Western leaders in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, as the Israeli war on Gaza has unfolded, leaving thousands of women and children dead, Israel’s allies have slowly started to express their disquiet, initially behind closed doors. And the sea bridge is maybe the clearest manifestation of the breakdown of relations due to Israeli intransigence.
The sea bridge is maybe the clearest manifestation of the breakdown of relations due to Israeli intransigence
There has never been any love that has bound Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Biden. And despite Biden continuously urging Netanyahu to apply restraint, it was never likely that the US president would back up his veiled threats to the Israeli leadership with action. The US administration’s welcome for de facto Israeli deputy prime minister Benny Gantz in Washington last week is likely to have irked Netanyahu. But he knows that America is unlikely to take any bolder steps, such as halting arms shipments or abstaining from using its veto in defense of Israel at the UN Security Council, even if Washington’s “red line” warning against an invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza is flouted.
This red line concerning Rafah, just like the one on Syria’s use of chemical weapons in 2012-2013, is likely to be crossed. This is what has lost Washington many friends in the Middle East and across the globe and is likely to further its position as a superpower whose stature and reputation is being eroded, this time by an ally rather than a foe. Many in the region believe that Washington only has itself to blame for its failure to calibrate an unambiguous stance that reflects the positive role a superpower should play, even within the confines of the thinking that the US is “never going to leave Israel,” as Biden said in an interview this week. One last word though. Maybe the US is failing as a superpower in Gaza and before that in Syria and possibly elsewhere, but at least it is still a power that makes some efforts, even if they fail. The question is, what are the other ascending powers of this world doing for peace and stability, other than uttering empty rhetoric and enjoying the disruptor or critical observer’s role? Maybe it is time for all of them to call and work for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
• Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.

Financial challenges will hamper Trump’s election campaign
Maria Maalouf/Arab News/March 13, 2024
Former US President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for November’s presidential election, faces a significant dilemma following civil judgments requiring him to pay more than $440 million. As Trump’s legal bills continue to swell — he is also the defendant in four separate criminal cases — his team is examining the options for paying the fines imposed on him amid questions about whether he will be forced to use other sources of financing, sell assets and real estate or even declare bankruptcy, an option six of his businesses have resorted to in the past.
One of Trump’s criminal cases is taking place in New York, where he is accused of making hush-money payments ahead of the 2016 election. The judge supervising the case has set March 25 as the trial’s start date, despite the objections of Trump’s lawyer, who sought to postpone it due to the former president’s competing legal and political obligations.
In Florida, Trump has been charged over his handling of classified documents upon leaving office, while in Washington and Georgia he is accused over his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.
Of course, the fines Trump has been hit with threaten the financial liquidity of the former president and billionaire businessman and raise questions about his political future, as well as the fate of his real estate empire.
The fines Trump has been hit with threaten his financial liquidity and raise questions about his political future
There are a set of possible options that Trump may resort to when paying the fines, including resorting to the Republican National Committee. His efforts to change its leadership — with the appointment of a new chair to replace Ronna McDaniel and the move of Lara Trump, his son Eric’s wife, to co-chair — are considered by some to be an indication of the possibility of Trump asking the committee to help him pay the fines. However, this would pose a threat to his and the Republican Party’s chances in November’s elections.
If the funds requested in the New York civil fraud case are not paid, the ruling becomes effective immediately and the city can begin seizing Trump’s assets. The judge could order Trump to produce his bank account records or directly seize his proceeds. Even if an appeal is filed against the rulings, it is not common for judges to reduce the fines imposed. Trump also cannot delay paying the fines until after an appeal is heard, as he must place the money in the court’s account. If Trump truly cannot afford these provisions, he should declare bankruptcy.
Forbes magazine estimates the value of Trump’s New York real estate at $690 million. His total wealth is estimated at $2.6 billion, including $870 million-worth of golf clubs and resorts, $190 million in real estate outside of New York City and $640 million in “liquidity and personal assets.” So, there might be a possibility of him paying the fines from cash and personal assets.
One recent report suggested that Trump may resort to selling something, but it does not necessarily have to be real estate, as he could sell some investments or other assets.He has denied any fraud and denounced the exploitation of the judiciary against a presidential candidate who is ahead in the opinion polls.
The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee have the advantage of being able to raise money together
It is noteworthy that Trump was given a 30-day implementation period following the ruling on Feb. 16, during which he has to either deposit the fine into the court’s account or obtain a bond. Even if he had $440 million in cash, which is unclear, paying the penalties could wipe out his accounts. Another solution is a GoFundMe campaign that seeks to raise the sum that Trump owes. The campaign has already raised more than $1.3 million. It is being organized by Elena Cardone, a woman from Florida who describes herself as “a mother and an ardent supporter of American values.”
Finally, in comparison to what the Republican Party’s front-runner faces, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee have the advantage of being able to raise money together, which their Republican competitors cannot do at this moment. President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party and their allies started the 2024 election year with a whopping $140 million in cash, including $46 million available to Biden’s presidential campaign and $21 million to the Democratic National Committee, in addition to $24 million from the Biden-aligned political action committee Future Forward.
*Maria Maalouf is a Lebanese journalist, broadcaster, publisher, and writer. X: @bilarakib