Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 29-30/2024
Holy Saturday: Hope in the face of despair, love in the face of hatred, and forgiveness in the face of hatred/Elias Bejjani/March 30/2024
What is Easter Sunday?
Gallant: Wherever Hezbollah Is, We Will Take Action
Lebanon: From a Democratic System to Rule by Consensus
6 Hezbollah members, 36 Syrian troops killed in Israeli raid in Aleppo
Israel says Lebanon strike kills a Hezbollah rocket unit commander
Israeli army says it killed deputy commander of Hezbollah rocket and missiles unit
Israel strikes car in Bazouriyeh as border skirmishes continue
UNIFIL decries escalating violence on Lebanon-Israel border
Hezbollah fires heavy rockets at northern Israel after deadliest day of Israeli strikes on Lebanon
Hezbollah mourns three martyrs from south Lebanon
Israel strikes car in Bazouriyeh as border skirmishes continue
Israeli Defense Minister 'vows' to pursue Hezbollah 'across borders'
Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry applauds ICJ's ruling on South Africa vs. Israel case
Christian nun in Lebanon prays for Shiite fighters of Hezbollah. A furor ensues
Gaza and Southern Lebanon: A Dual-Front Warfare?/Élie-Joe Kamel/This is Beirut/March 29/2024
Who Planned the Escape of Convict Dani Al-Rachid?/Youssef Diab/This is Beirut/March 29/2024Sayyed Nasrallah Calls for Massive Participation in Al-Quds Day Ceremony in Beirut’s Dahiyeh Next Friday
Financial motives drive 40% of child marriages: Lebanon faces 'serious' crisis threatening Lebanese youth

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 29-30/2024
Israeli PM Netanyahu approves sending delegation to Egypt, Qatar for Gaza talks
Israeli strike injures 2 in Damascus suburb
Israel targets Syria in major raid on Iran proxies since months
Top world court orders Israel to ensure urgent aid reaches Gazans
Israel kills dozens in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip
Netanyahu seeks delay in ultra-Orthodox conscription row
U.S. forces destroy four Houthi drones fired at U.S. and coalition warships
China joins investigation into deadly Pakistan suicide attack on its nationals
Russian Veto Halts UN Monitoring of North Korea Sanctions
Russia says big powers need to stop 'strangling' North Korea after veto
North Korea rules out any meetings with Japan

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on March 29-30/2024
Silence Speaks: A Good Friday Reflection On The Islamic State's Persecution Of African Christians/Matt Schierer/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 585/March 29/2024
Financial motives drive 40% of child marriages: Lebanon faces 'serious' crisis threatening Lebanese youth/LBCI/March 29, 2024
Qatar and Its Al-Jazeera Network: 'Voice for Terrorists'/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/March 29, 2024
'The Real Problem With Having The Americans As Your Allies Is You Never Know When They Will Turn Around And Stab Themselves In The Back' – Turkish General Quoted By Bernard Lewis/Yigal Carmon/ MEMRI/March 29/2024
We must take heed of the air war in Ukraine and prepare for the future of warfare/Luke Coffey/Arab News/March 29/2024
Space is the latest pillar of the emerging Saudi knowledge economy/Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/March 29/2024
Reigning champion Jon Rahm to lead field of Masters winners at LIV Golf /Sinem Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/March 29/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 29-30/2024
Holy Saturday: Hope in the face of despair, love in the face of hatred, and forgiveness in the face of hatred
Elias Bejjani/March 30/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/128278/128278/
On the sacred day of the Sabbath of Light, our hearts are drawn to a momentous occasion in the annals of humanity, when Jesus Christ emerged from His tomb, bathed in the radiance of divine resurrection, as the angel rolled away the stone from the entrance, illuminating the world with the triumphant glow of hope amidst darkness. This event stands as a testament to the ultimate victory of love over hatred, life over death, and light over the encompassing darkness.
As the women approached the tomb that fateful day, their hearts heavy with sorrow, they were met with the sight of an empty sepulcher. Their intent was to anoint the body of Jesus with fragrant spices, yet instead, they encountered a void. However, within that emptiness, they discovered an unwavering faith, a beacon of hope that transcended earthly disappointment. In the resurrection of Christ, we witness the eternal struggle against death conquered, and the glorious triumph of life. This is not merely a historical event but a living truth that permeates our existence each passing day.
In this profound narrative, hope becomes an indomitable flame within our souls, even amidst the darkest of trials. The resurrection of Christ signifies the abiding presence of God amidst our struggles, assuring us that goodness and luminosity will inevitably prevail over despair and obscurity. Thus, we are compelled to never succumb to despair, but rather to entrust ourselves to the unwavering providence of God, even in the face of adversity.
Let us rejoice in the resurrection of Christ with exultant hearts and grateful spirits, embracing our identity as children of light. May we steadfastly anticipate the boundless hope and rejuvenating life bestowed upon us by the grace of Christ, guiding our path through the ever-encroaching shadows of doubt and fear.

What is Easter Sunday?
GotQuestions/March 29/2024
There is a lot of confusion regarding what Easter Sunday is all about. For some, Easter Sunday is about the Easter Bunny, colorfully decorated Easter eggs, and Easter egg hunts. Most people understand that Easter Sunday has something to do with the resurrection of Jesus, but are confused as to how the resurrection is related to the Easter eggs and the Easter bunny. Biblically speaking, there is absolutely no connection between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the common modern traditions related to Easter Sunday. As a background, please read our article on the origins of Easter. Essentially, what occurred is that in order to make Christianity more attractive to non-Christians, the ancient Roman Catholic Church mixed the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection with celebrations that involved spring fertility rituals. These spring fertility rituals are the source of the egg and bunny traditions. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week, Sunday (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19). Jesus’ resurrection is most worthy of being celebrated (see 1 Corinthians 15). While it is appropriate for Jesus’ resurrection to be celebrated on a Sunday, the day on which Jesus’ resurrection is celebrated should not be referred to as Easter. Easter has nothing to do with Jesus’ resurrection on a Sunday. As a result, many Christians feel strongly that the day on which we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection should not be referred to as "Easter Sunday." Rather, something like "Resurrection Sunday" would be far more appropriate and biblical. For the Christian, it is unthinkable that we would allow the silliness of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny to be the focus of the day instead of Jesus’ resurrection. By all means, celebrate Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. Christ’s resurrection is something that should be celebrated every day, not just once a year. At the same time, if we choose to celebrate Easter Sunday, we should not allow the fun and games to distract our attention from what the day should truly be all about—the fact that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and that His resurrection demonstrates that we can indeed be promised an eternal home in Heaven by receiving Jesus as our Savior.

Gallant: Wherever Hezbollah Is, We Will Take Action
This Is Beirut/29 March/2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has renewed his threats against Hezbollah, stating that his army would “expand its operations” against the pro-Iranian group and “increase its attacks in the north.”According to Israeli channel i24news, Gallant stated, “We are transitioning from a defensive stance to actively pursuing Hezbollah.” “Wherever Hezbollah is, whether it’s in Beirut, Baalbeck, Tyre, Sidon, Nabatiyeh, or beyond, including Damascus, we will take action,” he announced in Safed, northern Israel, where he was visiting the northern command of his army to conduct a situation assessment. He announced plans to intensify the pace and broaden the scope of Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, a message he conveyed during recent meetings with US Defense Secretary Austin and special envoy Amos Hochstein, stated i24. “The Israeli Army is now in command of the North,” Galant declared. The assessment included a review of recent countermeasures taken against Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit, as well as ongoing intelligence operations aimed at neutralizing further threats posed by the Lebanese pro-Iranian group, according to i24news. His remarks come just hours after the elimination of a Hezbollah operative, Ali Naim, during an Israeli raid on Bazouriyeh in southern Lebanon. Five other members of the group were also killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight in Aleppo, resulting in a total of 38 casualties. Yoav Galant highlighted the success of the recent operations launched against Hezbollah, which he held “solely responsible for the damage caused in Lebanon” by the ongoing war between the group and Israel since October 8, 2023. He also accused its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, of being “also responsible for the death of a large number of its fighters,” over 320, according to him. “Any action from Lebanon will have a price,” he warned. Israel has recently intensified its operations targeting Hezbollah fighters and operatives. In response, Hezbollah launched, for the first time since Wednesday, Burkan missiles at Israeli settlements, having previously only targeted military bases.
According to Hassan Nasrallah, the Burkan is a short-range missile that can carry a warhead weighing between 300 and 500 kg.

Lebanon: From a Democratic System to Rule by Consensus
This Is Beirut/29 Mar 2024
A former official narrates that, before the 1989 Taif accord which put an end to Lebanon’s 15-year-long civil war, the presidential elections were held within constitutional deadlines, preventing any void in the State’s top post. Then, the elections took place within the framework of the democratic system and according to the balance of power and political alliances which resulted in a majority that rules and a minority that opposes. But after Taif, a so-called “rule by consensus” system was introduced under which the election of a president was linked to regional and external agreements. In other words, a prior agreement is reached abroad and marketed at home through a password conveyed to the political leaders who would abide by it. However, the author of the password changed according to circumstances dictated by the change in the balance of regional and international powers, including the US, France, the Vatican, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Qatar. Nonetheless, any green light is inevitably given in coordination with Washington and the Vatican.

6 Hezbollah members, 36 Syrian troops killed in Israeli raid in Aleppo
Agence France Presse/29 Mar 2024
A war monitor said Israeli air strikes Friday on Syria's Aleppo province killed at least 42 including 36 Syrian soldiers, the deadliest toll for the Syrian army since the Israel-Hamas war began. Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war there broke out in 2011, targeting army positions as well as Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah, an ally of Damascus and Palestinian militant group Hamas. The strikes have increased since Israel's war with Hamas began on October 7, and Friday's was the second such attack in 24 hours. "Israeli strikes" targeted "a rockets depot belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah" close to Aleppo airport, said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources inside Syria. It reported "42 killed, including six from Lebanon's Hezbollah group" and "36 soldiers," the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the Israel-Hamas war began. State news agency SANA, quoting a military source, reported that "at approximately 1:45 am, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Athriya, southeast of Aleppo," adding that "civilians and military personnel" were killed and wounded. Contacted by AFP from Jerusalem, the Israeli military said it would "not comment on reports in the foreign media."The Observatory also reported strikes targeting "defense factories" controlled by pro-Iran groups elsewhere in Aleppo province. The attack came just hours after a reported Israeli strike in the Damascus countryside. Syrian state media said "two civilians" were killed in an "Israeli air attack that targeted a residential building" on Thursday, also reporting material damage. The Observatory said the Sayyida Zeinab area, a stronghold of pro-Iran armed groups including Hezbollah south of the capital, was targeted.
Israeli raids in Syria also seek to cut off Hezbollah supply routes to neighboring Lebanon.
Fears of spillover
The Israel-Hamas war began with the Gaza-based Palestinian militants' unprecedented attacks that allegedly resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,623 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there. Israel has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon since the Gaza war began, sparking fears of a major regional conflagration. In Lebanon, cross-border fire since October has killed at least 346 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians, according to an AFP tally. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed. Hezbollah has fought alongside ally Damascus in Syria's civil war since at least 2013, and continues to operate in the country. The Syrian government's violent suppression of a 2011 uprising triggered a conflict that has killed more than half a million people and drawn in foreign armies and jihadists. On Tuesday, strikes on eastern Syria's Deir Ezzor province killed 19 people, mostly pro-Iran fighters including two advisers from Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the Observatory said. The World Health Organization reported one of its workers was killed in the strikes, which the Observatory blamed on Israel, after initially not saying who carried them out.
A U.S. defence official told AFP the United States "did not conduct any airstrikes" at the time. Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

Israel says Lebanon strike kills a Hezbollah rocket unit commander
AFP/March 29, 2024
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: An Israeli army air strike in Lebanon killed the deputy head of Hezbollah’s rocket unit on Friday, the army said, the latest deadly cross-border violence since the Israel-Hamas war erupted. The strike in south Lebanon’s Bazuriyeh killed Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, “one of the leaders for heavy-warhead rocket fire and responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilian,” the Israeli military said. Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 triggering war in Gaza. The hostilities have raised fears of all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war in 2006. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said “a raid by an enemy drone targeted a car” in Bazuriyeh in south Lebanon’s Tyre district, reporting at least one dead. AN army security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the person killed was “a Hezbollah official.” Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the strike, but announced it had carried out attacks on Israeli positions on Friday.
An AFP correspondent reported the targeted vehicle was destroyed and debris scattered nearby, and said authorities had cordoned off the area. The Iran-backed group says it is acting in support of Hamas with its attacks. Israel has targeted Hezbollah and Hamas officials inside Lebanon in response.
Recent days have seen an uptick in deadly hostilities, and the White House on Thursday called on Israel and Lebanon to put a high priority on restoring calm. The United Nations said this week it was “deeply disturbed” by attacks on health care facilities, after several strikes blamed on Israel killed rescue workers in southern Lebanon. Cross-border fire since October has killed at least 347 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians, according to an AFP tally. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.

Israeli army says it killed deputy commander of Hezbollah rocket and missiles unit
Reuters/29 Mar 2024
The Israeli military said on Friday it had killed Ali Abed Al-Hassan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah's rocket and missiles unit, in an air strike in the area of Bazouriye in Lebanon. It said he was one of the Iranian-backed militia's leaders in heavy-warhead rocket fire and said he was responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilians.

Israel strikes car in Bazouriyeh as border skirmishes continue
Naharnet/29 Mar 2024 
An Israeli drone strike Friday on a car in the Tyre district town of Bazouriyeh killed a “prominent” Hezbollah military commander, Israeli media reports said. Hezbollah meanwhile announced the death of three more of its fighters in the conflict, without mentioning where they were killed. It identified them as Ahmad Jawad Chehimi, 60, who hailed from the southern town of Markaba, Mustafa Ahmad Makki, 41, who hailed from the southern town of Tebnin, and Ibrahim Anis al-Zein, 42, who hailed from the southern town of Chhour. Alert sirens later sounded in Israel’s Kiryat Shmona, with Israeli reports saying that a “suspicious object launched from Lebanon was intercepted.” Hezbollah meanwhile announced two separate rocket attacks on the Zibdine barracks in the occupied Shebaa Farms. Israel has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon since the Gaza war began, sparking fears of a major regional conflagration. In Lebanon, cross-border fire since October has killed at least 349 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians, according to an AFP tally. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.

UNIFIL decries escalating violence on Lebanon-Israel border
Associated Press/29 Mar 2024
The U.N. peacekeeping force deployed in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel has calling for ending the escalation a day after exchanges of fire killed 17 people. The force known as UNIFIL said it is very concerned over the surge of cross-border violence between the Israeli military and Lebanon-based militant groups including Hezbollah. On Wednesday, a series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed 16 people and a barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah killed one Israeli man, making it the deadliest day in more than five months of fighting along the border. UNIFIL said the escalation has caused a high number of civilian deaths adding that it is imperative that “this escalation cease immediately.” “We urge all sides to put down their weapons and begin the process toward a sustainable political and diplomatic solution,” UNIFIL said. It added that the peacekeeping force remains ready to support that process in any way it can. The fighting along the border started a day after the attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas into southern Israel on Oct. 7. There have been near-daily clashes between Hezbollah and Israel ever since, resulting in the death of at least 347 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also over 60 civilians. Tens of thousands of people have also been displaced by the violence in Lebanon's south and Israel's north and Israel has threatened to launch a military operation against Hezbollah to push it away from the border.

Hezbollah fires heavy rockets at northern Israel after deadliest day of Israeli strikes on Lebanon
Associated Press/29 Mar 2024
Hezbollah fired rockets with heavy warheads at towns in northern Israel, saying it used the weapons against civilian targets for the first time Thursday in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes the night before that killed nine, including what the group said were several paramedics. There were no reports of Israelis hurt in the rocket attack, local media said. The Israeli military did not immediately offer comment on the rocket attack. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Oct. 7, concerns have grown that near-daily clashes along the border between Israel and Lebanon could escalate into a full-scale war. Airstrikes and rocket fire Wednesday killed 16 Lebanese and one Israeli, making it the deadliest day of the current conflict. Israel's chief military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Israel had killed 30 Hezbollah militants in the past week and had destroyed dozens of Hezbollah military sites in an effort to push the Iran-backed group away from the border. The recent increase in violence has raised alarm in Washington and at the United Nations. "Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden and for the administration," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters, saying the U.S. is closely monitoring developments. "We've also been very, very clear: We do not support a war in Lebanon." Kirby said the U.S. is working to halt the fighting through diplomatic efforts. This needs to be a top priority for Israel and Lebanon, he said, and would allow displaced civilians to return home. Tens of thousands of people on both sides have fled the fighting. At around sunset Thursday, a barrage of Katyusha and Burkan rockets was fired toward the Israeli settlements of Goren and Shlomi, a statement from Hezbollah said. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said the group had not previously fired Burkan rockets at civilian targets, but was now responding to the recent spate of Israeli airstrikes. Lebanon's state media reported that 10 paramedics were among those killed Wednesday. The Israeli military said it struck targets for Hezbollah and an allied Sunni Muslim group, the Jamaa Islamiya. Hezbollah has frequently used Russian-made portable anti-tank Kornet missiles in recent months. More rarely, it has launched Burkan rockets which, according to the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, can carry a warhead that weighs between 300 kilograms and 500 kilograms. Hezbollah says its attacks aim to keep some Israeli divisions busy and away from Gaza, and Nasrallah says attacks on the border will only stop when Israel halts its offensive in Gaza. Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Thursday he has discussed with Israeli counterparts that Israel doesn't need "to have a northern front that they have to deal with as they're dealing with Gaza." And he said he spoke with Lebanon's chief of defense also, in an effort to do what the U.S. can to "help bring down the temperature." The U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon known as UNIFIL said Thursday it was imperative that "this escalation cease immediately." "We urge all sides to put down their weapons and begin the process toward a sustainable political and diplomatic solution," UNIFIL said. It added that the peacekeeping force remains ready to support that process in any way it can.
The fighting has killed nine civilians and 11 soldiers in Israel. More than 240 Hezbollah fighters and about 50 civilians have died in Lebanon.

Hezbollah mourns three martyrs from south Lebanon
LBCI/29 March 2024
Hezbollah mourned on Friday the loss of three of its fighters from south Lebanon. The martyrs are:
-Ahmad Jawad Shhimi, "Abu Hussein," born in 1964 in Markaba.
-Mustafa Ahmad Makki, "Malak," born in 1983 in Tebnine.
-Ibrahim Anis al-Zein "Abdul Jalil," born in 1982 in Chehour.

Israel strikes car in Bazouriyeh as border skirmishes continue
Naharnet/29 March 2024 
An Israeli drone strike Friday on a car in the Tyre district town of Bazouriyeh killed a “prominent” Hezbollah military commander, Israeli media reports said. Hezbollah meanwhile announced the death of three more of its fighters in the conflict, without mentioning where they were killed. It identified them as Ahmad Jawad Chehimi, 60, who hailed from the southern town of Markaba, Mustafa Ahmad Makki, 41, who hailed from the southern town of Tebnin, and Ibrahim Anis al-Zein, 42, who hailed from the southern town of Chhour. Alert sirens later sounded in Israel’s Kiryat Shmona, with Israeli reports saying that a “suspicious object launched from Lebanon was intercepted.”Hezbollah meanwhile announced two separate rocket attacks on the Zibdine barracks in the occupied Shebaa Farms. Israel has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon since the Gaza war began, sparking fears of a major regional conflagration. In Lebanon, cross-border fire since October has killed at least 349 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians, according to an AFP tally. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.

Israeli Defense Minister 'vows' to pursue Hezbollah 'across borders'
LBCI/March 29/2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant affirmed, "We will reach every place where Hezbollah operates, whether in Beirut, Damascus, or even farther locations."
Gallant emphasized that they "will expand the battle and increase the pace of attacks in the north." He pointed out that they are "transitioning from defenders [against Hezbollah] to pursuers of Hezbollah."

Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry applauds ICJ's ruling on South Africa vs. Israel case
LBCI/March 29/2024
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised the International Court of Justice's decision to issue new interim preventive measures within the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel before the court. The ministry emphasized "the importance of the court's decision to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to stop the famine and the unprecedented humanitarian disaster that contradicts all humanitarian and ethical values." The ministry also called on the international community to take "immediate measures to stop the war on the Gaza Strip, halt Israeli violations of international and humanitarian law, and implement Security Council Resolution 2728." The ministry also urged the comprehensive and full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which ensures calm and stability on the southern borders of Lebanon and "stops Israeli aggressions and violations."

Christian nun in Lebanon prays for Shiite fighters of Hezbollah. A furor ensues
Associated Press/29 March 2024
The nun stood in front of a group of young students at a Lebanese Christian school and asked them to pray for the "men of the resistance" in southern Lebanon who she said were defending the country. The men to whom nun Maya Ziadeh was referring are members of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which has been clashing with Israel across a volatile border for nearly six months, becoming a critical regional player as the Israel-Hamas war persists in Gaza. A video capturing Ziadeh's comments was widely circulated online earlier this month, outraging some who accused her of "brainwashing" the children and imposing her political views. Others rallied to her support, commending her stance as courageous and honorable. The war of words that unfolded highlighted larger, longstanding schisms in Lebanon over Hezbollah, now amplified by the Lebanon-Israel border clashes and by fears that an already crisis-hit Lebanon could be dragged into an all-out war. "There are sharp (political) divisions over Hezbollah's weapons," said Sami Nader, director of the Institute of Political Science at Saint Joseph University of Beirut. And while there's wide support for the Palestinian cause, he said, there are "differences over the degree of such support and how to provide it." Lebanon is home to multiple religious groups. Politically, the presidency is given to a Maronite Christian, the parliament speaker post to a Shiite Muslim and the prime minister's post to a Sunni Muslim. Although Hezbollah has alliances with figures from other religious groups, the base of its support lies in the Shiite community, while many Christians and Sunnis accuse the group of hijacking the country. The nun's speech generated added attention — and for some, furor — in particular because it came from a Christian religious figure. In the recent video, Ziadeh called for praying for the "children, people and mothers of the south and ... for the men of the resistance," describing those who fail to do so as "traitors," a characterization that many found troubling, especially given the young age of her audience. Others saw a message of love in her call to pray for the people of southern Lebanon. "In the south, there are students your age who say that 'our only dreams are to protect our land,'" the nun told the children. Lebanese Christian anti-Hezbollah activist Antonios Tawk criticized Ziadeh on X, formerly known as Twitter. He called on the Maronite Catholic church to act "because our children are being brainwashed." Meanwhile, Jebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah's main Christian ally, argued online that when Ziadeh called for prayers, "she was implementing the teachings of Jesus."
Ziadeh couldn't be reached for comment.
Officials with Hezbollah, a Shiite military and political powerhouse in Lebanon, say the group's cross-border strikes are in support of Gaza and argue they divert some Israeli forces that would otherwise be focused on Hamas in Gaza, where the territory's health officials say the Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians. The Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacks on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking hostages, triggering the latest war in Gaza. To Hezbollah's critics in Lebanon, the fighting is a reminder that the group's weapons constitute "a threat …, not only to internal peace, but because they give Hezbollah a monopoly over war and peace decisions outside state structures," said Randa Slim, senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Institute. "These are existential decisions for the Lebanese population and their representatives are not involved in this decision-making process." What Hezbollah is doing is "destroying Lebanon," Charles Jabbour, a senior member of the Lebanese Forces party, said during a heated debate on a local TV talk show. "I'm sure that large parts of (Lebanon's) Shiites, don't want their homes destroyed or have their children, women and men killed." Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said even Hezbollah's allies among the Christians are uncomfortable with its "unilateral decision to spark a fight with Israel," but that this hasn't translated into a split between Hezbollah and its main Christian political ally. The Free Patriotic Movement's Bassil has argued that Hezbollah's deterrence prevented Israel from launching an all-out war on Lebanon. But Bassil, who is sanctioned by the United States, also said he opposed Hezbollah's stance that it would only stop attacking Israeli positions when a cease-fire is reached in Gaza.
Among Lebanese Shiites, who were the group most affected by Israel's 18-year occupation of south Lebanon ending in 2000, many see Hezbollah's actions through a different lens. Hussein Khalil, the Shiite owner of a tourism business, said he believes Hezbollah's cross-border strikes were necessary, not only to support the Palestinians, but because "when Israel gets done with Gaza, ... it would have turned to Lebanon," if Hezbollah hadn't intervened. Khalil said that while his business has suffered, he views such losses as short-term pain. "I support not just Hezbollah, but whoever defends me, my dignity and my rights as long as they're able to defeat the Israeli enemy and to protect me," he said. "The (Lebanese) state's capabilities are limited." When Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war ended, Hezbollah was the only militia allowed to keep its weapons as it was leading the fight against Israeli forces that were occupying parts of southern Lebanon at the time. The group later fought a monthlong war with Israel in 2006, the toll of which is fresh in the minds of the Lebanese. Today, Lebanon is in the grips of a crippling economic crisis. Some fear that, even if the current fighting doesn't turn into a full-blown war, a state of low-level conflict could become the new normal, further straining the economy and society. Many Sunni Muslims have criticized Hezbollah over the years for having weapons, especially after the group used them in internal fighting in Beirut in 2008. However, for some, anger over the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the plight of Palestinians — who are mostly Sunni — appear to have overshadowed concerns over Hezbollah's weapons for now, providing common ground. "The massacres committed by the Israeli enemy and the destruction makes it compulsory to stand up," said Abed Nakhle, from a predominantly Sunni Beirut neighborhood. "I might have an opinion, but we're with them (Hezbollah) in this cause."Some Sunni fighters have joined Hezbollah's militants at the border.
Still, some from Hezbollah's strongholds in the south say they're feeling the pain.
The fighting along the border has displaced many on both sides of the border and caused casualties and wide damage in towns and villages. Khatib said a large majority of Lebanese "do not want to see all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel." This sentiment, she added, cuts across sectarian lines. In the mountain village of Ghbaleh, some of the children's parents complained about Ziadeh's speech, said Youssef Nasr, secretary-general of the Catholic Schools in Lebanon. He denied reports that Ziadeh had been fired from the school and told The Associated Press that the nun was spending some time in a monastery for isolation and reflection. Nasr said the case of Ziadeh was overplayed by the media, adding that despite the school's respect for freedom of opinion, "we prefer that during class hours no disputable matters be discussed that might be approved by some parents and rejected by others."

Gaza and Southern Lebanon: A Dual-Front Warfare?
Élie-Joe Kamel/This is Beirut/March 29/2024
“The US is currently exerting pressure to deter Israel from invading Rafah, but this is leading to an escalation on the Lebanese front,” asserted retired General Khaled Hamadeh. Lebanese citizens are holding their breath, closely scrutinizing every development in South Lebanon, where the war raging between Israel and Hezbollah could take a new turn. Israeli airstrikes have significantly intensified in recent times, particularly in-depth, sparking fears of a widening of the war’s scope. Despite the UN Security Council’s adoption of an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza on Monday, hostilities persist and are escalating, both in the besieged strip and on the Lebanese front. It is important to recall that within less than 24 hours, 16 deaths were reported in Israeli airstrikes in South Lebanon. Four individuals were killed in a raid on a coffee shop in Naqoura on Wednesday night, with five more in a deadly strike on a house in Tayr Harfa. On Tuesday night, an Israeli airstrike resulted in seven deaths among responders at an Islamic emergency and relief center in Hebbariyeh. Moreover, a Hamas official narrowly avoided a drone attack in western Bekaa on Sunday, marking the first incident of this kind in the region since October 8, 2023. Israeli warplanes raided a four-story building in Baalbeck late on Saturday night to Sunday in the al-Asseera neighborhood, near the residence of a Hezbollah official, Hassan al-Lakkis. In this context, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed the victory against Hamas “within reach,” estimating that “an assault on Rafah, the last bastion of Hamas, is imperative,” and pledging to “eradicate it.” Concurrently, numerous Israeli media outlets suggest that “the Israeli army will enter Lebanon following the conclusion of the operation in Rafah.” On the other hand, the commander of Israeli forces in the north, Uri Gordin, declared on Wednesday that “Israeli forces were poised to act along the Lebanese border.” It is significant to note in this context that Israelis have recently endeavored to reinforce their northern front by deploying a “Mountain Brigade,” named Heharim, to the sectors of Mount Hermon and Mount Dov, along the southeast border with Lebanon. This deployment aims to “improve their readiness for warfare on the northern front, as well as in other regions where combats endure,” as stated by Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
An Open War of Attrition
Former Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Nassif Hitti was contacted by This is Beirut and estimated that “it would be highly difficult for Israel to carry out two simultaneous operations against Rafah and in southern Lebanon.” The latter aims to push back the pro-Iranian group to a safer distance from its border. He emphasized that “the Hebrew State finds itself trapped in its own tactics.” This reflects an “open war of attrition (both in Gaza and southern Lebanon) that could extend over time without resulting in a victory,” according to Hitti who does not dismiss the possibility of a “real escalation if a sustainable ceasefire is not achieved.”The former diplomat also warned that “a potential invasion of Rafah would result in a second Nakba, without achieving a favorable political outcome, but rather worsening and radicalizing the situation.” With the Israeli army unable to embroil in a ground invasion, it faces pressure from the Americans, who recommend instead conducting surgical strikes involving strategic targeted attacks. Hitti went on to say that “Israel is ensnared in its own trap.” The former diplomat also called for “a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza and southern Lebanon,” emphasizing that “the UN Security Council should exert pressure on countries capable of influencing Israel’s policy and immediately initiate negotiations under UN auspices to address the issue of the 6 contentious points along the southern border of Lebanon.” “Therefore, it falls upon the Lebanese State to negotiate this agreement with a full deployment of the Lebanese army on the front,” he said, before adding that “the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 may not be imminent, but it should be implemented gradually and the first step is to halt hostilities.”
A New Chapter in the Conflict
Retired General and Director General of RDCS, the Regional Forum for Consultancy and Studies, Khaled Hamadeh, noted that “the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has entered a new phase,” and highlighted the “legitimate concerns about a potential secondary escalation.”
He explained to This is Beirut that “the circumstances surrounding these strikes, including the upcoming US presidential elections, are influencing American decisions. The reluctant negotiations in Gaza and the US’ insistence on separating operations in Lebanon from those in Gaza have created favorable conditions for Netanyahu’s intensified attacks on the infrastructure of the pro-Iranian Shiite faction.”“At present, the US is exerting pressure to prevent Israel from invading Rafah, but this is resulting in an escalation on the Lebanese front,” argued General Hamadeh, estimating in this regard that “what Netanyahu cannot fulfil in Gaza, he may fulfil in Lebanon in the near future.” Additionally, it is noteworthy to note within this framework that the US President’s special envoy, Amos Hochstein, emphasized during his recent visit to Beirut that “a truce in Gaza does not automatically translate to a truce in Lebanon.”
However, General Hamadeh argues that “it is unlikely Israel will be compelled to conduct two simultaneous military operations,” noting that “if a limited military operation continues in Gaza and if conditions in the US allow it, such (simultaneous) action probably won’t occur prior to the American presidential elections.” General Hamadeh further estimates that “the issue is not the Hebrew State’s capability to manage both fronts, but rather the lack of American diplomatic activity to reach a definitive agreement on the Israeli border.” The general adds, “We could be entering a phase of open warfare, different from that of 2006, where objectives not achieved through diplomacy might be achieved through military means.” Meanwhile, UNIFIL has expressed concern over the escalating violence between Lebanon and Israel. In a communiqué issued on Thursday, UNIFIL underscored that “it is imperative for this escalation to come to an immediate halt,” urging “all parties to disarm and embark on endeavors towards a sustainable political and diplomatic solution.” The peacekeeping forces (Blue Helmets) affirmed their “readiness to assist in this process through every available means, especially convening a tripartite meeting upon request from the concerned parties.”When contacted by This is Beirut, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti stressed that “an escalation, combined with miscalculations, could lead to a broader conflict, which we are striving to prevent at all costs.” When asked about UNIFIL’s role in the event of a widespread upheaval, Tenenti reiterated that “the interim force, stationed at the border since 1978, has never vacated its position or wavered in its commitments to the Lebanese army and local communities.” Tenenti concluded, “Should the war expand, UNIFIL’s fate lies in the hands of the UN Security Council, but for now, the mission remains fully deployed and will stay that way.”

Who Planned the Escape of Convict Dani Al-Rachid?
Youssef Diab/This is Beirut/March 29/2024
Yet another blow was delivered to the Lebanese state today, when the convict Dani al-Rachid escaped from a State Security prison. Accused of attempted murder in Zahle, he was nevertheless located and arrested early this evening on the border with Syria. The case in question is a real scandal that requires no further investigation to reveal that Rachid’s escape was the result of a well-laid plan that is extremely embarrassing for the state. Widely known for having special political and security protection, he received preferential treatment in prison, as if he were staying in a luxury five-star hotel. The incident that baffled judges and security officials alike raises questions about the efficiency of the Lebanese security apparatus and the identity of the people who plotted Rachid’s escape—and possibly his travel abroad. Rachid happens to be the director of the office of former Minister Salim Jreissati, an advisor to former President Michel Aoun and personal advisor to the head of State Security, General Tony Saliba, also close to Michel Aoun. The incident sparked outrage among several judges, prompting the Court of Cassation General Prosecutor, Jamal al-Hajjar, to hold an emergency meeting in his office with government commissioner to the Military Tribunal, judge Fadi Akiki. It was agreed that an immediate inquiry would be initiated by Akiki, under Hajjar’s supervision. According to a judicial source, the inquiry resulted in the arrest of three State Security officers, while several others are still under investigation. The same source confirmed that judge Akiki “summoned General Tony Saliba for questioning, given that the latter is the head of State Security and the person in charge of the officers’ behavior.” Saliba “found the matter peculiar and inquired about the reasons, before agreeing to appear at Akiki’s office and give his testimony before the Military Court.” Additionally, the First Investigative Magistrate in the Bekaa, judge Amani Salameh, emitted a non-final order accusing Rachid of “the felony of attempted murder against engineer Abdallah Hanna (who has ties to the Secretary General of the Popular Bloc, Myriam Skaff) by instigating individuals to beat and harm him.” However, the accusing committee nullified judge Salameh’s order and accused Rachid of simple “bodily harm.” All attempts at freeing the latter proved unsuccessful. Rachid’s (facilitated) escape came a few days after the report was sent to judge Jamal Hajjar. The report states that the former “enjoys favoritism from State Security, given that he is the advisor to the head of State Security and has ties to a number of political officials. Furthermore, information shows that Rachid was being frequently taken out of jail to his home, where he would spend long hours with his family and friends. Subsequently, judge Hajjar sent a notification to General Saliba for the transfer of all State Security prisoners to jails under the supervision of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), but the transfer in question did not take place.”The judicial source also clarified that Hajjar “asked State Security representatives about the causes of the delay and requested a full list of the inmates,” adding that the General Prosecutor “received the list with the names of all the inmates except Dani Rachid, which led Hajjar to believe that he had been transferred to a central prison. Hajjar was then surprised to hear of Rachid’s escape.” Even more surprising is the fact that the escape operation occurred a few hours after General Saliba and ISF General Director Imad Osman had fixed the timing of Rachid’s transfer to an ISF prison

Sayyed Nasrallah Calls for Massive Participation in Al-Quds Day Ceremony in Beirut’s Dahiyeh Next Friday
Al-Manar English Website/March 29/2024
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah addressed on Friday the worshippers in Beirut’s Dahiyeh and elsewhere marking the First Night of Al-Qadr (Night of Power), tackling the various religious aspects of the occasion. In this regard, Sayyed Nasrallah underlined the importance prayers and resorting to the divine power in order to face the earthly challenges, including the current confrontation with the Israeli enemy in Lebanon, Gaza and other areas. Sayyed Nasrallah ridiculed the antagonistic propaganda which claims that calling for prayers reflects Resistance weakness in the battlefield, adding that reading a prayer is vital during the time of woes and bliss similarly. Holy God’s support has always helped us to defeat the Israeli enemy despite the discrepancy of the military capabilities, Sayyed Nasrallah said. Sayyed Nasrallah delayed tackling the latest developments in South Lebanon, Gaza and the entire region till next Friday which marks Al-Quds International Day. “Al-Quds Day this year synchronizes with important developments.” Sayyed Nasrallah called for a massive participation in Hezbollah central ceremony which will be held to mark Al-Quds International Day in Beirut’s Dahiyeh. The Israeli enemy has been bombing Gaza for 175 days, killing 32,600 innocent civilians and injuring over 75, 000 of others.Hezbollah, in turn, has engaged in a border battle to support Gaza in face of the Zionist enemy, inflicting heavy losses upon the occupation forces.

Financial motives drive 40% of child marriages: Lebanon faces 'serious' crisis threatening Lebanese youth
LBCI/March 29, 2024
Are they truly prepared to embrace motherhood at this moment?
As minors, young girls deserve the opportunity to focus on their education, self-discovery, and the richness of life's experiences. This reality is akin to poetry, yet tragically absent from the lives of some young girls in Lebanon. A study conducted on 1300 Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian individuals showed that the percentage of those who are married with their parent's consent and are under the age of 18 reached 20 percent of those surveyed, while 86 percent of them are girls. If we look at who forces their children into marriage more, Syrians top the list at 45 percent, followed by Lebanon at 36 percent, and 20 percent from Palestinian nationality. The noteworthy aspect of these statistics is that in 40 percent of cases, the primary reason for these marriages is financial. This means that some parents view marrying off their children as a way to alleviate the financial strain of raising them, shifting the responsibility to the spouse without fully grasping the potential adverse effects on the children's psychological and physical well-being. A look at the percentages of child marriage in various Lebanese governorates indicated that it reached 31 percent in Baalbek-Hermel, 29 percent in the Bekaa, 27 percent in Akkar, 25 percent in North Lebanon, 23 percent in Nabatieh, 17 percent in the South, 15 percent in Mount Lebanon, and 10 percent in Beirut.  Since some of these statistics are alarming, it is now crucial to implement a law that safeguards these children from having their lives negatively impacted. Since 2017, and in conjunction with the "Not Before 18" campaign, a draft law was presented to the parliament to set the marriage age above 18 and criminalize child marriage, but this law is still being discussed by various comittees. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Committee approved this law in 2023, and MP George Okais pledged to expedite its course. In summary, getting married at a young age robs children of their childhood and shatters their dreams, and this harmful practice needs to be stopped immediately to prevent further damage in the future.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 29-30/2024
Israeli PM Netanyahu approves sending delegation to Egypt, Qatar for Gaza talks
Reuters/March 29/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to send delegations to Egypt and Qatar, where negotiators have been trying to secure the release of Israeli hostages as part of a possible Gaza ceasefire deal, his office said on Friday. Netanyahu's office said he spoke with the heads of Israeli intelligence agencies Shin Bet and Mossad and "approved that delegations on their behalf go in the coming days to Doha and Cairo," with a mandate to push forward with negotiations.

Israeli strike injures 2 in Damascus suburb
Agence France Presse/March 29/2024
Two people have been injured in an air strike on a residential building in a Damascus suburb, Syrian state media said, blaming the strike on Israel. "The Israeli enemy launched an aerial attack from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a residential building on the outskirts of Damascus," the Syrian state news agency SANA said, citing a military source. "The attack left two civilians injured and caused material damage," the agency added. The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, meanwhile told AFP "explosions were heard" near Damascus "after Israeli strikes on sites belonging to groups affiliated with Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah". The Sayyida Zeinab area targeted in the strikes is a stronghold of pro-Iran armed groups. According to the Observatory, Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic evolutionary Guard Corps have their Syrian headquarters in the area. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes targeting pro-Iran groups fighting alongside the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's 13-year civil war. On Tuesday, strikes in Syria killed 16 pro-Iran fighters including an Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Observatory said. And earlier this month, an Israeli strike reportedly killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard and two other people in Banias on Syria's Mediterranean coast. The Israeli army previously said it had hit about 4,500 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Syria over the past five months. Israel rarely comments on individual strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

Israel targets Syria in major raid on Iran proxies since months
Reuters/March 29/2024
Israel carried out its deadliest strikes in months on northern Syria's Aleppo province early on Friday and said it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, stepping up its campaign against Iran's proxies in parallel with its war in Gaza. Israel has ramped up airstrikes in Syria against both Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) since the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, and in recent days its pilots have resumed regular practice for "deep" raids into Lebanon. Tehran and its proxies have entrenched themselves across Syria, including around Aleppo and the capital Damascus. The Israeli military said on Friday it had killed Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah's rocket and missiles unit, in an airstrike in the area of Bazouriye in Lebanon. It said he was one of the Iranian-backed militia's leaders in heavy-warhead rocket fire and said he was responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilians. Israel and Hezbollah have also been trading fire across Lebanon's southern border in the biggest escalation since they fought a month-long war in 2006, as Hezbollah has tried to show its support for Hamas with volleys of rockets into Israel. About a dozen Israeli troops and half a dozen civilians have been killed in northern Israel, while nearly 270 Hezbollah fighters and 50 civilians including medics, civilians and journalists have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon. Israel has repeatedly struck international airports in both Damascus and Aleppo over the years to disrupt weapons flows to Iran's allies in the region, but strikes since Oct. 7 have been deadlier and prompted Iran to withdraw some of its top officers from Syria. Syria's defence ministry said Israeli strikes hit several areas in the southeastern part of Aleppo province around 1:45 a.m. (2245 GMT on Thursday), killing a number of civilians and military personnel. It said the airstrikes coincided with drone attacks carried out from Idlib and western rural Aleppo that the ministry described as having been conducted by "terrorist organisations" against civilians in Aleppo and its surroundings. The Israeli military declined comment. In a post on X, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Israel's attacks on Syria were a "blatant and desperate attempt" to expand the war, without saying if there were Iranian casualties. Three security sources told Reuters that 33 Syrians and five Hezbollah fighters had been killed in the strikes. One of the Hezbollah fighters was a local field commander whose brother had been killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon in November, one of the sources said. It represented the single highest death toll in Israeli strikes on Syria since Oct. 7.

Top world court orders Israel to ensure urgent aid reaches Gazans
Agence France Presse/March 29/2024
The world's top court has ordered Israel to ensure more food and urgent humanitarian assistance reaches Gazans, warning famine is already setting in after nearly six months of war. The International Court of Justice's order on Thursday comes after the United Nations has repeatedly said the besieged territory was on the brink of "man-made famine" and blamed Israel's restrictions on aid for causing "horrifying" levels of hunger and deprivation. "Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, but... famine is setting in," the Hague-based U.N. court said. It told Israel to "take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay" the supply "of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance." After Hamas's October 7 attacks, Israel imposed a complete siege on Gaza, blocking food, water and medicine, before eventually allowing some deliveries to resume. But humanitarian groups say the occasional aid trucks allowed in are still far from sufficient, while the UN human rights chief has said Israeli restrictions may amount to using starvation as a weapon of war. Gazans' desperation became starkly clear this week, after people rushing for food drowned and were trampled to death when parachuted aid parcels fell into the sea. "There's nowhere else in the world where so many people face imminent famine," the World Food Programme's Palestine director Matthew Hollingworth said Thursday. With clean water also scarce, Gazans say they face long walks to try their luck at tanks that may not have anything left. "We have to queue for everything," said Maram Abu Amra. "We walk for an hour in total. Sometimes, we return empty-handed, without water."
Fighting around Gaza hospitals
Heavy fighting and sustained bombardments have continued to rock the territory despite the U.N. Security Council's adoption of a resolution earlier this week calling for an "immediate ceasefire". "Dozens" were killed overnight, including 12 in a home in southern city Rafah, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Friday. The war has turned much of the territory into a wasteland and shattered the health system. The Israeli military has conducted sieges on three major hospitals, accusing Hamas and Islamic Jihad of hiding inside and using patients, medical staff and displaced people for cover -- charges the Palestinian militant groups have denied. Israel said its soldiers near the Al-Amal Hospital in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Younis carried out "targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure ... and are eliminating dozens of terrorists using precise fire in close-quarters combat and with air support." They had also "apprehended dozens of terrorists in the area who were transferred for interrogations," the army added.
Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have also massed around another Khan Yunis health facility, the Nasser Hospital, but have not yet staged a full-scale raid, the Gaza health ministry said. Fighting has also rocked the Gaza City district around Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory's biggest, where the army says it has killed about 200 militants since early last week. Palestinian Abed Radwan, 63, said he had to flee when "Israeli forces stormed all buildings and homes in the Al-Rimal area, arrested several people and forced the rest to walk south.""I walked with them," he said. "I saw many decomposing bodies in the streets and several houses flattened. They left nothing intact, they destroyed everything."The war began with Hamas' October 7 attack that allegedly resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. The militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel says about 130 captives remain in Gaza, including 34 presumed dead. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,552 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Regional impacts
Since the start of the war, Israel has also exchanged near-daily fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah, an escalation that has sparked fears of a wider, regional conflict. On Friday before dawn, an Israeli strike near the international airport in Syria's Aleppo killed at least 36 soldiers, according to a UK-based war monitor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack was targeting "rockets depots belonging to Lebanese group Hezbollah". Pushing to staunch any broader spillover, mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have tried to secure a truce, but those talks appear deadlocked for now. Washington, Israel's main backer, angered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration this week by abstaining from a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire". Afterwards, Israel cancelled a meeting to discuss U.S. concerns over its possible operation in Rafah, before later backtracking and requesting a rescheduling. U.S. officials say they want to present Israel with an alternative plan for Rafah, focused on striking Hamas targets while limiting civilian casualties in a city where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering. Washington has also raised the issue of how Gaza will be ruled after the war and suggested a future role for the Palestinian Authority, the body that exercises limited powers in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. On Thursday, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas approved the new government of prime minister Mohammed Mustafa.
Mustafa said his cabinet "will work on formulating visions to reunify the institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza".Hamas took over from Abbas's government in the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Israel kills dozens in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip
REUTERS/March 29, 2024
CAIRO: Israel sustained its aerial and ground bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing dozens of Palestinians, as fighting raged around Gaza City’s main Al Shifa hospital, Palestinian officials and the Israeli military said. Palestinian health officials said two Israeli strikes on the Al-Shejaia suburb in eastern Gaza City killed 17 people, while an Israeli air strike on a house in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip killed eight people. Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office said at least 10 policemen, tasked with securing aid to the displaced in northern Gaza, were among those killed in Al-Shejaia.
The Israeli military said its forces continued operations in around Gaza City’s Al Shifa complex “while mitigating harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment,” adding that over the past day it killed a number of gunmen and located weapons and military infrastructure.
Al Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, had been one of the few health care facilities even partially operational in north Gaza before the latest fighting. It had also been housing displaced civilians. The Israeli statement said its forces conducted raids in central and southern areas including Khan Younis and Al-Karara, where troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen before they killed them and located weapons and rockets. The armed wing of Hamas said their fighters targeted Israeli forces near to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the city’s two hospitals blockaded by Israeli soldiers for several days. In the far south of the Strip, Israel continued its bombardment in Rafah, the Palestinians’ last refuge where over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were sheltering. An air strike on a house killed 12 Palestinians late on Thursday. More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, with 71 killed in the last 24 hours, according to health authorities in the territory. Thousands more dead are believed to be buried under rubble and more than 80 percent of Gazans have been displaced, many at risk of famine.
The war erupted after Hamas militants broke through the border and rampaged through communities in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. In the northern Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned famine is imminent as early as May, an elderly man died of malnutrition and lack of medication, Palestinian media said. On Thursday, the World Court unanimously ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies to Gaza’s population and halt spreading famine.
“The renewed binding order from the @ICJ (International Court of Justice) yesterday is a stark reminder that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is man made and worsening. It can however still be reversed,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, said on X.
“(This) means that Israel must reverse its decision and allow @UNRWA to reach northern Gaza with food and nutrition convoys on a daily basis and to open additional land crossings,” he added. Earlier this week, UNRWA said Israel told it that it would no longer approve its food convoys to north Gaza. Four such requests were denied since March 21, it added.

Netanyahu seeks delay in ultra-Orthodox conscription row
Agence France Presse/March 29/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israel's top court for a new delay on compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews, an issue that has put his ruling coalition at risk.Conscription of ultra-Orthodox men has long been a divisive issue in Israeli politics, precipitating a protracted crisis that saw five parliamentary elections in under four years. Ultra-Orthodox men are facing the possibility of being called up from April 1, as Israel's war against Hamas militants rages in the Gaza Strip.But Netanyahu, who has depended on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties in successive coalition governments, asked the Supreme Court to delay a deadline for coming up with a conscription proposal. He sought on Thursday a 30-day delay to allow more time to come up with an agreement with his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, who are fiercely opposed to conscription for their community. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara argued against a delay, telling the court that conscription needs to begin by April 1.The court issued an interim ruling Thursday saying that Jewish seminaries would lose funding if students without deferrals or exemptions did not report for military service.A hearing will be scheduled for sometime in May to hear arguments against making the order final, the court ruled.Netanyahu ally Aryeh Deri called the ruling "a mark of Cain and unprecedented cruelty" for seminary students. As tens of thousands of reservists have been called up for the war in Gaza, pressure has increased on the country's large and growing ultra-Orthodox community who have long been exempt from military service even though it is compulsory for nearly all other Jewish men in Israel. Netanyahu is working to avoid an early election that might benefit Benny Gantz, a centrist member of his war cabinet, Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, has said. Recent polls suggest that if there were an election, Gantz's party would win the largest number of seats. Before the war, the religious parties had supported Netanyahu's controversial judicial reforms, in the hope of further extending military exemptions. The judicial revamp sparked months of protests, often by tens of thousands of Israelis.
Exemptions date back decades -
But Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in February announced a reform of military service that would include the ultra-Orthodox. Some Israeli media perceived Gallant's move as a challenge to Netanyahu. Both men belong to the same Likud party. Military service is obligatory for young Israelis -- 32 months for men, and two years for women. But almost all the ultra-Orthodox have been able to escape it, with 66,000 members of the community excused from military service last year alone. Jewish men who study the Torah full-time in seminaries have long been granted an annual deferment from military service until the age of 26, at which point they become exempt. Young ultra-Orthodox women are automatically exempt. The exemptions date from Israel's founding in 1948, and were meant to allow a group of 400 young people to study sacred texts and preserve Jewish traditions put at risk by the Holocaust. Today, the ultra-Orthodox number 1.3 million people, according to the Israel Democracy Institute -- bolstered by a fertility rate of more than six children per woman, which far exceeds the national average of 2.5. Most ultra-Orthodox want the exemptions to be extended to all religious students, saying serving in the military is incompatible with their values.

U.S. forces destroy four Houthi drones fired at U.S. and coalition warships
Doug Cunningham/United Press International/March 29, 2024
The Houthis claim their attacks are not intended to harm ship crews. "We ask them not to cross," Houthi spokesman Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti said in a statement on X. "American and Britain's insistence on the continuation of genocide in Gaza the starvation of its population and its aggression against Yemen is what led to this dangerous escalation."On March 12 two Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles were fired at the Liberian flagged container vessel Pinocchio as it passed through the Red Sea, but the missiles missed and the ship was not damaged. Six strikes were then conducted against an underwater drone and 18 anti-ship missiles in Yemen, according to Central Command. Both the United States and Britain began airstrikes against the Houthis in mid-January to protect shipping and attempt to degrade the ability of Houthis to continue attacking ships. The Houthis have said they started the attacks to support Palestinians being killed by Israel in Gaza in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel that triggered Israel's invasion of Gaza.

China joins investigation into deadly Pakistan suicide attack on its nationals
Reuters/March 29/2024
Chinese investigators arrived in Pakistan on Friday to join a probe into the killing of five Chinese nationals in a suicide attack, Pakistan's interior ministry said, seeking to stem assaults threatening Islamabad's drive to modernize the economy. Tuesday's incident was the third major attack in little over a week on China's interests in the South Asian nation, where Beijing has invested more than $65 billion in infrastructure projects as part of its wider Belt and Road initiative. Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met the Chinese team of investigators at Beijing's embassy and briefed them on the investigation so far, the statement said. In late 2022, the two allied countries started a joint investigation into an attack that year on China's nationals and interests, which had been rising in recent months. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack, in which a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project at Dasu in Pakistan's northwest, killing six people. The bombing followed a March 20 attack on a strategic port used by China in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, and a March 25 assault on a naval air base, also in the southwest. Both attacks were claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan.

Russian Veto Halts UN Monitoring of North Korea Sanctions
(AFP)/This Is Beirut/ 29 Mar 2024
Russia blocked on Thursday the renewal of a panel of UN experts monitoring international sanctions on North Korea, weeks after the body said that it was investigating reports of arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang. The move was met with a flurry of criticism, including by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, which said that Russia had made an “irresponsible decision” despite its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The United States called the veto by Moscow a “self-interested effort to bury the panel’s reporting on its own collusion” with North Korea. “Russia’s actions today have cynically undermined international peace and security, all to advance the corrupt bargain that Moscow has struck with the DPRK,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took to social media to call the veto “a guilty plea,” amid allegations that Pyongyang is aiding Moscow in its war against Kyiv. Moscow’s veto at the Security Council does not remove the sanctions on North Korea, but spells the end for the group monitoring their implementation and myriad alleged violations.
The panel’s mandate expires at the end of April. North Korea has been under mounting sanctions since 2006, put in place by the UN Security Council in response to its nuclear program. Since 2019, Russia and China have tried to persuade the Security Council to ease the sanctions, which had no expiration date. The council has long been divided on the issue, with China’s deputy ambassador Geng Shuang arguing on Thursday that the sanctions “have exacerbated tensions and confrontation with a serious negative impact on the humanitarian situation.” China abstained rather than joining Russia in the veto. All other members had voted in favor of renewing the expert panel. Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzia said that without an annual review guaranteed to assess and potentially modify the sanctions, the panel was unjustified. “The panel has continued to focus on trivial matters that are not commensurate with the problems facing the peninsula,” Nebenzia said. “Russia has called for the council to adopt a decision to hold an open and honest review of the Council sanctions… on an annual basis.”In its latest report, issued at the beginning of March, the sanctions panel reported that North Korea “continued to flout” sanctions, including by launching ballistic missiles and breaching oil import limits. It added that it is investigating reports of arms shipments from Pyongyang to Russia for use in Ukraine.
With AFP

Russia says big powers need to stop 'strangling' North Korea after veto
Reuters/March 29/2024
Russia said on Friday that major powers needed a new approach to North Korea, accusing the United States and its allies of ratcheting up military tensions in Asia and seeking to "strangle" the reclusive state. Russia vetoed the annual renewal of a panel of experts monitoring enforcement of longstanding United Nations sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Moscow's move, which strikes a blow at the enforcement of a myriad of UN sanctions imposed after Pyongyang carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, underscores the dividend that Kim Jong Un has earned by moving closer to President Vladimir Putin amid the war in Ukraine. "It is obvious to us that the UN Security Council can no longer use old templates in relation to the problems of the Korean Peninsula," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Zakharova said the United States was stoking military tensions that international restrictions had not improved the security situation and that there were severe humanitarian consequences for the population of North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). "The United States and its allies have clearly demonstrated that their interest does not extend beyond the task of 'strangling' the DPRK by all available means and a peaceful settlement is not on the agenda at all," she said. The Russian veto is seen as a major turning point in the international sanctions regime against North Korea, which was formed in 1948 with the backing of the then-Soviet Union while the Republic of Korea was backed by the United States.

North Korea rules out any meetings with Japan
Reuters/March 29/2024
North Korea has no interest in dialogue with Japan, state media KCNA reported on Friday, citing foreign minister Choe Son Hui. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said he wants to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "without any preconditions" and is personally overseeing efforts to realize the first such leaders' summit in 20 years in an attempt to defuse decades of tensions. But North Korea has said, opens new tab it had no interest in a summit with Japan and would reject any talks, signaling no thaw in relations between the two countries. Choe also said Pyongyang has no intention to help with the issue of Japanese abductees, according to KCNA, adding North Korea will "respond sharply" to Japan's interference with its sovereignty. "I cannot understand why he persistently adheres to the issue that cannot be settled," Choe was quoted as saying by KCNA, referring to Kishida.
North Korea admitted in 2002 to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens decades earlier. Five abductees and their families later returned to Japan, saying the others had died.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 29-30/2024
Silence Speaks: A Good Friday Reflection On The Islamic State's Persecution Of African Christians
Matt Schierer/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 585/March 29/2024
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." – Matthew 5:10
Today, Christians the world over will commemorate Good Friday, the occasion of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Everywhere the liturgies will be solemn and the faithful will grieve, but nowhere will more Christians mourn than in Africa, where the faith's largest flock[1] is also one of its most persecuted.
There, the cry of Good Friday[2] will resonate with the weary voices of countless Christians who are silently suffering from violence, abuse, and persecution at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS). But, despite the cacophony of their cries, the world will – unfortunately – remain largely indifferent.
The world's attention was last briefly fixated on the continent's persecuted a decade ago, in February 2015. At the time, an ISIS video, entitled "A Message in Blood to the Nation of the Cross," broadcast for all to witness the brutal and shocking beheading of 21 Coptic Orthodox Christians on a beach in Libya – It proved to be but a foreshadowing of the terrors to come.[3]
Other notorious attacks elsewhere by the Islamic State on Christians have generated even more fleeting attention: the 2010 massacre in the Syriac Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad on All Saints ‘Eve, the twin suicide bombing of Coptic Orthodox churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt on Palm Sunday 2017, and five years ago, the ISIS attacks on three churches (two Catholic and the third Evangelical) on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka. But nowhere has the ISIS frenzy against Christians been as bloody and as sustained as on the African continent.
ISIS fighters behead 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, February 15, 2015.
Today, global attention has waned while ISIS's persecution of African Christians has not. In fact, violence against Christian believers has surged as ISIS expands its reach across the continent.
ISIS fighters now routinely reenact that harrowing scene on Libya's beach in countries such as Nigeria, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Mali – and gleefully publicize the acts online – as part of a continent-wide campaign of terror designed both to intimidate and inspire violence.[4]
For those of us who daily monitor ISIS, the targeted violence against Christians that has accompanied the group's expansion is unsurprising. Indeed, ISIS has long prioritized the persecution of Christians as being a crucial manhaj, or methodology, for projecting strength and driving recruitment,[5] and its supporters regularly boast of "breaking the crosses"[6] and "returning the Islamic conquests to Africa."
ISIS fighters behead two Christians in Mozambique on March 17, 2024.
But what is also unsurprising is that Africa's Christians remain resilient to this terror. Even after almost ten years of persecution – and the world's deafening silence – The faithful are thriving on the continent as never before; in fact, African Christians now number over 718 million, the most of any continent.[7]
Cardinal Robert Sarah, a Guinean and Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, perhaps offers an explanation. In an interview about his book, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, Sarah noted:
"When I traveled to countries that were going through violent, profound crises, sufferings and tragic miseries [...] I observed that silent prayer is the last treasure of those who have nothing left. Silence is the last trench where no one can enter, the one room in which to remain at peace, the place where suffering for a moment lays down its weapons. In suffering, let us hide ourselves in the fortress of prayer."[8]
So today, on this day of silent remembrance, Christians will quietly reflect not only on the suffering of Jesus, but also on the continued suffering of his followers. And they should do so not in the silence of indifference practiced by the world, but in the silence of contemplative prayer practiced by Africa's resilient faithful.
For as Cardinal Sarah writes: "The grace of Easter is a profound silence, an immense peace, and a pure taste in the soul. It is the taste of heaven, away from all disordered excitement."[9]
ISIS fighters topple a cross in Mozambique in February 2024. The cross bears the Portuguese word "hope."
*Matt Schierer is a research fellow at MEMRI JTTM Project.
[1] Gordonconwell.edu/blog/who-owns-global-christianity/, accessed on March 27, 2024.
[2] Medium.com/@archbishopofcanterbury/my-god-my-god-have-you-forsaken-me-reflections-on-good-friday-in-a-suffering-world-eb1531779771, accessed on March 27, 2024.
[3] See MEMRI JTTM report Islamic State (ISIS) Video Features Beheading Of 21 Copts In Libya, February 15, 2015.
[4] See MEMRI JTTM report ISIS In Africa (Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Mozambique): Targeting Christians – Killing, Beheading, Murdering Priests And Nuns, Burning Churches, Health Clinics, And Homes – As The World Is Largely Silent – WARNING: GRAPHIC ‎CONTENT, June 16, 2023.
[5] See MEMRI JTTM report Slaughtering Christians – Islamic State Central Africa Province's (ISCAP) Regular Tactic For Expansion, April 2, 2021.
[6] See MEMRI report 'Breaking The Crosses' And Other Ills, November 10, 2022.
[7] Gordonconwell.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2023/01/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2023.pdf, accessed on March 27, 2024.
[8] Catholicworldreport.com/2016/10/03/cardinal-robert-sarah-on-the-strength-of-silence-and-the-dictatorship-of-noise/, accessed on March 27, 2024.
[9] Sarah, Robert. The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise. May 10, 2016.

Qatar and Its Al-Jazeera Network: 'Voice for Terrorists'
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/March 29, 2024
The long-term agenda looks as if the US and Qatar intend to try to elbow Israel out of any say in what "humanitarian aid" is eventually be brought into Gaza
The US seems to believe that Qatar is aligned with it; the US has its major Middle Eastern airbase there, without which Qatar would be a vulnerable target. However, the report reveals Qatar as aligned with countries such as Iran, Russia, and China, and groups such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban, which seek to replace the West. Qatar supported the Taliban until Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani fled in his plane. Then Qatar offered to mediate.
It is the same act -- "first the arsonist then the firefighter" -- that Qatar is putting over on the Biden administration with Hamas. First, Qatar funds Hamas to the gills, hosts Hamas's billionaire leaders in its capital, Doha, and allows Deif to declare war on Qatar's megaphone, Al Jazeera. Then, the Qataris pretend to be impartial mediators, and the Biden administration pretends to buy their act.
It is no secret that Qatar and its news organization Al-Jazeera have long been serving as champions, protectors and lifelines for Hamas and other terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda affiliates and the Taliban.
"There are many channels who are biased, but this is past bias. Now Al-Jazeera is a voice for terrorists." — Mohammed Fahmy, the former Cairo bureau chief of Al-Jazeera, reported by Eli Lake, aawsat.com, June 25, 2017.
In light of the new damning evidence of Al-Jazeera's employing terrorists and its close connections to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, perhaps it is time for Israel and Western countries to learn from the Arabs, who understood many years ago that Qatar and its Al-Jazeera are not platforms for peace or news, but rather perpetuators of terrorism.
In light of the new damning evidence of Al-Jazeera's employing terrorists and its close connections to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, perhaps it is time for Israel and Western countries to learn from the Arabs, who understood many years ago that Qatar and its Al-Jazeera are not platforms for peace or news, but rather perpetuators of terrorism. Pictured: The headquarters of Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images)
Qatar and its vast media network, Al Jazeera, have a long history, which, according to a report by the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI), promote terrorism worldwide. The report notes:
"Al-Jazeera, therefore, should not be discussed as a means of telecommunications, but instead as an unyielding and forceful political tool of Qatari foreign policy under the guise of a mass media network."
It was this communications powerhouse, the report continues, that basically drove Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power and in 2012 replaced him with the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, who was also driven from power a year later.
Al Jazeera was also the vehicle that provided a platform for Osama bin Laden among other terrorists, as well as allowing a pledge of allegiance, to ISIS leader's Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, to be broadcast live on air.
On October 7, 2023, Al Jazeera provided the "exclusive broadcast" for the declaration of war on Israel by Hamas's military leader, Mohammed Deif, who, in a recorded announcement, declared that "Operation Al Aqsa Flood" was "just the first strike," and urged all Palestinians "to join the war, using, all means in their possession including guns, knives and vehicles."
Qatar has funded and nurtured Hamas from its beginnings and helped it to grow. Hamas is its client, and Qatar does not wish to see its protégé defeated. The Biden administration just invited Qatar to be in charge of the new "temporary" pier in Gaza the US is building. Apparently Qatar agreed to pay for it. The long-term agenda looks as if the US and Qatar intend to try to elbow Israel out of any say in what "humanitarian aid" is eventually be brought into Gaza.
The US seems to believe that Qatar is aligned with it; the US has its major Middle Eastern airbase there, without which Qatar would be a vulnerable target. However, the report reveals Qatar as aligned with countries such as Iran, Russia, and China, and groups such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban, which seek to replace the West. Qatar supported the Taliban until Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani fled in his plane. Then Qatar offered to mediate.
It is the same act -- "first the arsonist then the firefighter" -- that Qatar is putting over on the Biden administration with Hamas. First, Qatar funds Hamas to the gills, hosts Hamas's billionaire leaders in its capital, Doha, and allows Deif to declare war on Qatar's megaphone, Al Jazeera. Then, the Qataris pretend to be impartial mediators, and the Biden administration pretends to buy their act.
Most recently, on March 18, Al-Jazeera Arabic, along with some media watchdogs, condemned Israel for arresting Ismail al-Ghoul at al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Al-Ghoul, who was described as a "journalist" with Al-Jazeera, was apprehended during a raid by the Israeli army on the hospital, where scores of Hamas terrorists were holed up. The Israeli army said that during the military operation, more than 90 Hamas gunmen were killed and another 300 captured. Twelve hours after al-Ghoul was taken into custody together with the Hamas terrorists, the Israel Defense Forces released him.
Those who rushed to denounce Israel for arresting the Al-Jazeera journalist did not brother to mention his close ties to Hamas. They also did not say what al-Ghoul was doing inside the hospital at 3.00 am, when the Israeli army arrived there.
Eitan Fischberger, a communications expert and analyst, conducted his own research about al-Ghoul, and concluded that al-Ghoul had previously worked as a journalist at the Hamas-run news outlets Felesteen and al-Resalah. Fischberger also discovered that al-Ghoul had recently deleted some of his old social media posts and accounts to conceal his links to Hamas. Fischberger wrote:
"Given the multiple instances since October 7th of Al Jazeera journalists moonlighting as Hamas operatives (or vice versa), I figured I'd take a look into al-Ghoul as well. What I found was a highly sophisticated, concerted effort to – for lack of a better word – manufacture a 'legitimate journalist' out of whole cloth."
Fischberger presented some of al-Ghoul's official journal social media accounts on Telegram, X, and Facebook; all those accounts had been created between November 2023 and February 2024 -- after Hamas's October 7 massacre of Israelis, and noted:
"In other words, unlike many of the Al Jazeera journalists who have been exposed as terrorists or terror supporters since October 7th due to their social media activity, much of this guy's social media activity was inaccessible. Or so I initially thought.
"Turns out he has a personal Facebook, on which he loves to post his love for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
"He also glorifies terrorism, like in the cases of Basel al-Arraj, the head of a PFLP cell who was killed in a gun battle in the West Bank in 2017, and Diya'a al-Sabarini, an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist who was killed in a gunfight with the IDF"
Fischberger pointed out that, although al-Ghoul's old X account was disabled:
"I did some more internet sleuthing stuff and managed to find some of his old posts in which he demonstrates his antisemitism and support for terror.
"For example:
"'The greatest epidemic is the Israeli entity and every Arab trying to normalize it as a reality to coexist with them... 72 years of continuous crime and abuse against Palestinians, the most recent being exposing Palestinian prisoners to the global pandemic. #Covid48'"
Noting that the Al-Jazeera journalist had also deleted his old TikTok, X, and Instagram accounts, Fischberger commented:
"It's no small feat to erase much of someone's social media presence, create new profiles, and then amass hundreds of thousands of followers in just a few months, as seen with al-Ghoul.
"The orchestrator of this psy-op invested considerable effort to conceal al-Ghoul's connections to Hamas and his malevolent beliefs. They recognized the importance of meticulously shaping an image that aligns with the standards of "respected" news sources like Al Jazeera. "
Ultimately, they transformed a Hamas operative into an ostensibly "legitimate" journalist, yet whose primary goal is to disseminate Hamas propaganda and demonize the State of Israel, whether through his reporting or now, by elevating his status to that of a martyr following his arrest.
"Judging by the public response to al-Ghoul's arrest, it's evident that their strategy was wildly successful."
In February, another Al-Jazeera "journalist" in the Gaza Strip, Esmaeel Omer, was also exposed as a supporter of terrorism. Omer was one of several Palestinian journalists who accompanied the Hamas terrorists during their invasion of Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip. In some of the videos he posted on social media during the Hamas atrocities, Omer was literally crying tears of joy. In another post, he wrote: "Our children will play with their (Israelis') heads."
The IDF discovered in February that Mohammed Washah, another Al-Jazeera "journalist" in the Gaza Strip, was similarly moonlighting as a Hamas terrorist.
"In the morning, he's a journalist on the Al-Jazeera channel, and in the evening, a terrorist in Hamas," wrote Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF's Arabic-language spokesman. Adraee revealed that Israeli soldiers found a laptop in a Hamas base in northern Gaza that belonged to Washah. Documents recovered from the laptop revealed that Washah, 37, is a prominent commander in Hamas's anti-tank missile unit, and in late 2022, he began to work in research and development for the terror group's air unit. Intelligence gleaned from the computer included images linking Washah to activities within Hamas, including training in the use of anti-tank weapons, as well as working with other weapons and a drone.
It is no secret that Qatar and its news organization Al-Jazeera have long been serving as champions, protectors and lifelines for Hamas and other terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda affiliates and the Taliban. In 2021, a Hamas delegation paid a visit to the Al-Jazeera bureau in Gaza to express gratitude to the television station for its coverage of the conflict between Israel and terror groups. The delegation presented the Al-Jazeera team with a certificate marking their appreciation for its coverage. "We saw a high level of nationalism and a national tone in Al-Jazeera's coverage," said senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya.
Qatar still continues to host several Hamas leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal. The Hamas leaders enjoy the full backing of Qatar's rulers as well as of Al-Jazeera. Qatar's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim has admitted that the Doha-based Al-Jazeera network is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood organization, considered by some Arab states a terrorist group and a threat to their regimes and to security and stability in the Middle East. A leaked audio recording reportedly captured a conversation between him and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi:
"Al-Jazeera is controlled, members of the Muslim Brotherhood are controlling the programs on Al-Jazeera," Gaddafi is heard saying. "I agree with you, I am telling you this is true," the former Qatari prime minister replied.
In 2014, Mohammed Fahmy, the former Cairo bureau chief of Al-Jazeera, began a 438-day sentence in an Egyptian prison on charges of terrorism and practicing unlicensed journalism. Fahmy has admitted that the Egyptian government was correct when it said that Al-Jazeera is an arm of Qatari foreign policy and really a propaganda channel for Islamists. "There are many channels who are biased, but this is past bias. Now Al-Jazeera is a voice for terrorists," Fahmy said.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain imposed a political and diplomatic blockade on Qatar. As part of that blockade, Al-Jazeera was expelled from those Arab countries.
Remarkably, one of the places Al-Jazeera is still free to operate is Israel. The television station has a big bureau in Jerusalem, and its correspondents feel free to incite violence against Israel from within Israel. The correspondents know that Israel is a democracy that allows journalists from all around the world to enter the country and work freely. In light of the new damning evidence of Al-Jazeera's employing terrorists and its close connections to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, perhaps it is time for Israel and Western countries to learn from the Arabs, who understood many years ago that Qatar and its Al-Jazeera are not platforms for peace or news, but rather perpetuators of terrorism.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

'The Real Problem With Having The Americans As Your Allies Is You Never Know When They Will Turn Around And Stab Themselves In The Back' – Turkish General Quoted By Bernard Lewis*
Yigal Carmon/ MEMRI Daily Brief No. 586/March 29/2024
https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-prime-minister-ismail-haniya-jihad-strategic-option-nation
https://www.memri.org/reports/real-problem-having-americans-your-allies-you-never-know-when-they-will-turn-around-and-stab
Unlike the decision to hand over the funding and administration of the Gaza port initiative to Qatar (which is Hamas) – a decision that carries operational and even strategic dangers – the U.S. abstention in the March 25 vote in the UN Security Council on the resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza has a merely symbolic meaning.[1]
Indeed, the American officials stressed the point that the vote is only symbolic, since it does not mention sanctions and the U.S. does not condition its continued military support to Israel on Israel's agreement to a ceasefire or the cancellation of its imminent military operation in Rafah.
This American argument is further strengthened by the massive U.S. military support to Israel, which has been continuing for nearly six months, including with the possibility of escalation in the north. Israel should be, and is, most grateful to President Biden himself, and to his administration, for standing by it on the ground in its biggest challenge in decades.
However, this resolution, coming on the heels of the U.S.'s decision regarding the Gaza port, is more than symbolic in meaning – not necessarily for Israel alone, but just as much for the U.S. itself and its standing in the world.
A few days earlier, Russia and China (as well as Algeria, the sole Arab League member currently part of the UNSC) had voted against a U.S.-proposed draft resolution in the UNSC, even though it was supposedly damaging to their ally Hamas. But the Russians and Chinese saw this resolution, and their veto of it, as part of larger global battle against the U.S., more important than the local one in Gaza local one. They did not hesitate to veto a ceasefire resolution that could have benefited their ally Hamas.
The U.S. administration, on the other hand, failed to consider the global context, and did not veto the Russian-Chinese proposed resolution. Its abstention benefited Hamas, a designated terrorist organization that killed 32 Americans on October 7 and still holds six Americans hostage.[2]
The U.S. abstention did not damage Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically. He might even get some internal political mileage out of it. But it damages America. The administration did not even consider the resolution's omission of condemnation of Hamas. It let it pass, with no condemnation of an organization that is designated terrorist by the U.S. and the E.U.
The most feckless argument regarding the resolution is that the ceasefire was demanded in connection with Ramadan. For Islamists, Ramadan is not a month of peace but rather the month of jihad and martyrdom. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh explained: "Anyone who studies the history of Islam discovers that most of the great victories and decisive battles took place in the blessed month of Ramadan – beginning with the Battle of Badr, followed by the conquest of Mecca, the Battle of Hittin, the Battle of Ein Jalut, the conquest of Andalusia, and the 1973 war. Many of the battles. Even the mujahideen in Palestine – Allah has granted them success in the holy month of Ramadhan, crushing their enemy, thus pleasing the hearts of the believers. This happened in the heroic jihadi operations which took place in the West Bank yesterday and the day before yesterday. These are some of the victories of Ramadhan."
Ramadan is the month in which, according to Hamas and all other Islamist terrorist organizations, Allah grants victory to his believers. The biggest battles in Islam took place during it, including the one most painful to Israel – the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which the Arab world called the War of Ramadan.
It is this false claim that the U.S. administration agreed to let pass, as Israeli soldiers are killed and wounded by Hamas, that is fighting every day of the month of Ramadan – just as U.S. forces were killed and wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq throughout every Ramadan.
The administration seems to believe that the U.S. abstention may help President Biden in the upcoming presidential election. But will it help the U.S. in the region? What will the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority take away from it? Not that America acted according to its values, to consider first and foremost the tragic situation. No, what they will take away from this is simply that America is weak and easily fooled, and is incapable of standing by its ally Israel, particularly in advance of an American presidential election.
The anti-U.S. elements in the region – Iran and its proxies across the Middle East – will understand that now is the best time for them to ratchet up their military efforts to oust U.S. military bases from the entire Middle East. Russia will understand that now is the time to escalate its fighting in the Ukraine, and China will find that now is the time for it to make its moves against Taiwan and the Philippines regarding the South China Sea. All of America's adversaries are now seeing growing opportunities to advance their own agendas.
Instead of calming down the U.S.'s enemies in the region and internationally, the U.S. abstention will fuel their activity – just before the election.
So whose fault will this be? President Biden's alone, for not totally and comprehensively standing by Israel? The answer is no. Clearly, it is also Prime Minister Netanyahu's fault, as I have explained in a previous report (A Small Step For President Biden In Gaza, A Big Step Towards Total War).
Netanyahu did not provide President Biden with the political cover he desperately needed in order to sustain his full support for Israel despite the huge human toll in civilian casualties in Gaza. Neither did he give President Biden a way to say that all these civilian casualties are for a sacred goal – a peaceful solution for the day after.[3]
In these two American moves – its granting of support to Qatar/Hamas, and its abstention in the UNSC – the Biden administration is of course complicit. But it is imperative to go back to the original sin. It was Netanyahu's sin.
The entire current war is the result of the flow of billions of Qatari dollars into Hamas-ruled Gaza, enabling Hamas to build its military terrorist empire. It was Netanyahu who allowed this funding, and facilitated its transfer from Qatar to the Gaza Strip. The Mossad managed the operation, in contravention of all Israeli and international laws of fighting terrorism. Netanyahu sought to "buy" calm in Gaza with Qatari money – and instead funded war.
When the Qataris are accused, in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, of building Hamas and enabling its October 7 attack, they immediately respond that this funding was approved by Israel. Qatari officials also say that their entire relationship with Hamas exists because the Americans asked them to maintain open lines of communication with the terror organization.
Even assuming their claim is true, the question still stands: Did Qatar just maintain open communication with Hamas? Apparently not. It was establishing Hamas headquarters in Doha.[4]
Qatar might also have been asked to maintain open communication with the Taliban. But what it actually did was to sustain this terrorist organization for years, up to the day it took over Afghanistan from a democratically elected secular government. That day, 13 Americans were killed by ISIS, active in the country under Taliban protection. The Taliban too were given headquarters in Doha.
Indeed, the flow of billions of dollars from Qatar to Hamas-ruled Gaza was not only the fault of Netanyahu, but of the entire Israeli defense establishment, that joined Netanyahu in this fateful policy.
Concerned about the mounting attacks on them in the U.S. Congress, the Qataris hastened to defend themselves, with an apparent leak of documents showing high-level Israeli officials thanking them for the funds that they sent to Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Just look at what Mossad director and close Netanyahu ally Yossi Cohen wrote to the Qatari emir in a letter in 2020: "This aid has undoubtedly played a fundamental role in achieving the continued improvement of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and ensuring stability and security in the region." Stability and security, hah!
In 2021, Ronen Levy, then the director of the Middle East, Africa and Special Liaisons Division in Israel's National Security Council, wrote to Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Aal Thani: "We reiterate the importance of continuing to transfer the Qatari humanitarian financial assistance through the existing mechanism, i.e. the ambassador [Mohammad] Al-Emadi [head of] the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, in order to maintain the aforementioned... achievements."[5]
A mere four months before the October 7 massacre, Gen. Ghassan Alian, director of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) wrote to Qatari envoy Mohammad Al-Emadi about Israel's approval of the gas project in Gaza: "We are at your disposal and will continue accompanying the implementation of this project." He added: "We greatly appreciate your cooperation and open discourse to safeguard stability and security in the region and to bring our countries and peoples closer together."
Moreover, it recently emerged that IDF Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi, when he was commander of the Southern Command in 2020, joined the Mossad director in a visit to Qatar to ask the Qatari government for more funds for Hamas-ruled Gaza – funds which ended up in the hands of the killers of his soldiers. (Footnote to source Halevi)
How could they all do this? They could not, of course have gone against official government policy, but they could have resigned if they thought that this posed a threat to Israel's security. Money for Hamas-ruled Gaza was not a minor issue that they could somehow have swallowed even if they opposed it. It was a major issue that they should have strongly spoken out against, had they truly opposed it.
This cost Israel 1,200 dead on October 7, and hundreds more in the days, weeks, and months that followed. It continues to this very day, because what is happening in Gaza is not genocide, but a war against Hamas operatives.
This original sin of Netanyahu and the defense establishment cannot be forgiven. Neither can the continued captivity of the hostages, who are being tortured, raped, and murdered.
Are Israel and the U.S. equally responsible for the Gaza war? Perhaps. But the U.S. is still the unipolar superpower, and expected to lead the free world, not fooled by the tricks of the world's most important sponsor of Islamist terrorism, and Iranian ally – Qatar.
Netanyahu is evidently a failed leader. But we all expected the president of the United States of America to again display the leadership he showed on October 10. Tragically, in handing the Gaza port initiative over to Qatar and Hamas, and abstaining in the vote on the UNSC resolution, he did not.
At the end of the day, the U.S. remains a problem for all those seeking to ally with it – because, in the words of that Turkish general, you never know when the Americans will turn around and stab themselves in the back.
* Lewis quoted the general in his 2012 book Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian.
** Yigal Carmon is Founder and President of MEMRI.
[1] With this decision to abstain instead of vetoing, President Biden surrendered the population in Gaza to Hamas rule. In 2021, he similarly sacrificed the democratically elected secular Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the Afghan people to the Taliban, to the detriment of America's security and standing in the world.
[2] The administration apparently does not consider them enough of a priority to demand their release before anything else.
[3] Indeed, the Hamas Health Ministry is the source of all the casualty numbers, and they are proven to have no basis in reality. Nevertheless, these are the numbers repeatedly provided by media internationally – and Israel never refutes them. See Tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-gaza-health-ministry-fakes-casualty-numbers, March 6, 2024; Washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/gaza-fatality-data-has-become-completely-unreliable, March 26, 2024.
[4] Qatar even went so far as to train Hamas operatives. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11111, Officers Of Hamas Security Apparatuses Trained In Qatar, February 1, 2024.
[5] At that very time, in an interview with the kibbutz movement magazine Zman Yarok published May 24, 2021, I termed this transfer of funds "The Bloody Wedding of Bibi and Qatar."

We must take heed of the air war in Ukraine and prepare for the future of warfare
Luke Coffey/Arab News/March 29/2024
More than two years into the war in Ukraine, the front lines are mostly static, at least for now. Russian and Ukrainian forces have both built elaborate defensive lines consisting of complex systems of trenches that would not have looked out of place on the Western Front during the First World War.
While these fortifications have not prevented either side from trying to attack, the few minor territorial gains have come at a high cost to life and equipment. But while on the ground the system of trenches and vast fortifications might seem like they are from a previous century, in the skies above the battlefield the future nature of warfare is rapidly evolving.
Given the difficulties in making progress on the ground, both sides have taken to the air. Over the past couple of weeks, Russia has launched hundreds of suicide drones (meaning the drone does not return to base after its mission and instead flies directly into the intended target), cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Ukrainian targets. Targets have included civilian apartment blocks, electrical power plants and substations, and even a major dam.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has launched a steady wave of domestically produced suicide drones that have been able to strike targets deep inside the Russian Federation.
It is too early to say which side will gain the upper hand in this air war. So far, Russia has fired more than 7,000 missiles of all kinds at Ukraine. The world has not seen airstrikes at this level and intensity for decades.
In February 2022, when Russia launched its initial missile salvos against Ukrainian targets, few could have guessed that more than two years later, Russian forces would still be burning through its stockpiles at such a rate.
It has taken the Russian defense industry months to try to meet this new demand. Even so, it is estimated that Russia can only build between 115 and 130 longer-range missiles a month. In the past 10 days alone, Russian forces have fired about 120 missiles. Clearly the recent tempo of missile strikes is not sustainable for a long period of time. However, even a few dozen missiles a month can have a major impact in the absence of adequate air defenses.
This year will be a race between Ukraine’s allies to provide advanced air defense systems, and Russia’s allies to provide more ballistic missiles and drones.
While Russia might be burning through its missile inventory, its allies have been willing to help fill the gaps. There is evidence that North Korean missiles are being used to hit targets in Ukraine, for example.
There is also extensive cooperation between Moscow and Tehran when it comes to drones. Thousands of Iranian-produced Shahed suicide drones have been supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine since the war started. Last year, ground was broken on a new factory in Russia's Tatarstan region that is expected to be producing thousands of Shahed drones by 2025.
As for Ukraine, creativity, ingenuity, boldness and, above all, survival instincts have allowed it to counter Russia’s air threat fairly successfully. Ukrainians have surprised the world with the rapid development of its own drone fleet, which is able to strike targets deep inside Russia. While the exact details are not publicly known, it is thought that Ukraine has produced at least 15 different types of drones since February 2022.
Last week, the world saw firsthand the effectiveness of Ukraine’s homemade drones when they struck several Russian oil refineries. At least 13 refineries have been hit by Ukrainian drones so far this year, with the most distant target located in the Samara Oblast, about 800 kilometers from Ukraine.
The ability to hit such targets is important to Ukraine because Western sanctions have been weak in terms of cracking down on Russian oil exports. Moscow depends on oil revenue to generate income for its war chest.
Instead of relying on watered-down Western sanctions, Ukrainians have therefore taken matters into their own hands. The results of the drone strikes have already been felt inside Russia; it is estimated that 12 percent of Russian oil-refinery capacity has been put out of commission. Consequently, all Russian exports of gasoline to global markets have been halted until further notice.
Even with Ukraine’s recent successes with its drone program, however, Kyiv remains on the defensive when it comes to the air war.
The Ukrainians have done a good job of using air defense systems provided by the West, such as the patriot missile system, to counter the Russian missile threat. However, delays by the US Congress in authorizing additional aid for Ukraine mean that stocks of the interceptors needed for these systems are starting to run low. This probably explains why more Russian missiles have been hitting their targets in recent weeks. Additionally, Ukraine has only been provided with enough advanced air defense systems to protect major cities, such as Kyiv and Odesa. Other population centers lack comprehensive air defense coverage, and soldiers serving on the front lines are suffering, too.
This year will be a race, therefore, between Ukraine’s allies to provide advanced air defense systems, and Russia’s allies to provide more ballistic missiles and drones. At the same time, Ukraine will be working overtime to expand its indigenous drone program in an effort to keep pace with Russia’s domestic missile production.
While the conflict seems to be slow-going on the ground, the ongoing barrage of missiles and drones launched by both sides serves as a reminder that it will not end any time soon. The war in Ukraine might seem to be thousands of kilometers away from most people, but it should serve as a wake-up call for everyone. The use of drones and advanced missiles in conflicts will only increase. Policymakers must learn the lessons now to better prepare for the future.
**Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey

Space is the latest pillar of the emerging Saudi knowledge economy
Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/March 29/2024
Saudi Arabia is undergoing a massive economic overhaul and the domestic space industry has emerged as a particularly promising sector for innovation and investment.
Globally, the space economy is a lucrative area for investment that is forecast to grow in value to $1 trillion this year. In 2022, the Saudi space industry generated an unprecedented $400 million in revenue and is predicted to reach an average annual value of $2.2 billion by 2030.
One of the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 national development and diversification plan is to create a global investment powerhouse, and to that end there is a strong case for utilizing advanced scientific research and human development to create a robust knowledge economy.
Given the potential of space sciences for enhancing the study of subjects such as health and medicine, transportation and information technology, Saudi authorities are seeking avenues through which to establish diplomatic and commercial partnerships in the space sector.
The latest and most innovative development in this field is space tourism. Global space tourism company Halo Space recently announced its next commercial stratospheric test flight will be launched from a site in Saudi Arabia in June. This will be the sixth test of the company’s innovative prototype capsule, which will soar to an altitude of 32 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
An advanced space industry is crucial to national security and defense preparedness
This project has been approved by the Communications, Space and Technology Commission, the Kingdom’s official space regulator and, if all goes well, starting in 2026 tourists will be able to take off from a launchpad in Saudi Arabia and fly into the stratosphere at the cost of $164,000. Reports suggest that by 2030, the size of the Saudi space tourism sector could reach $600 million in revenue.
Two government agencies are at the forefront of Saudi space sector reforms. One of them is the aforementioned Communications, Space and Technology Commission. It was established in 2001 to oversee the regulation of the communications and IT sector, including the use of information and communication technologies and space to upgrade Saudi communications infrastructure. It is involved in expanding fiber internet coverage and digital connectivity across the Kingdom.
The other is the Saudi Space Agency, which was established in 2018 and is responsible for development and innovation in the nation’s space sector, with a focus on the use of space science and exploratory missions to create new opportunities. This includes the localization of space technology, the promotion of peaceful and civil usage of that technology, and efforts to establish Saudi Arabia as an emerging regional and international leader in the field.
These two agencies work hand-in-hand to promote space research and entrepreneurship, and ensure the efficient administration of the space sector in the Kingdom. An advanced space industry is crucial to national security and defense preparedness. Saudi Arabia is the biggest spender on defense in the region and sixth-largest globally. In recent years, it has actively invested in the acquisition of defense technologies and vocational training to build an efficient and independent domestic defense industry.
The field of satellite communications is where the space sector and national defense strategies meet. Satellites are crucial for improving military communications, and they also support navigation, weather forecasting and environmental monitoring.
The field of satellite communications is where the space sector and national defense strategies meet
In addition, emerging technologies such as agricultural-monitoring satellites hold the potential to improve Saudi food security by helping to maximize crop yields.
Saudi Arabia is not a newcomer to the field of satellite communications. The Saudi-based Arab Satellite Communications Organization operated its first two communications satellites, Arabsat 1-A and Arabsat 1-B, between 1985 and 1993.
The Kingdom ventured into domestic satellite manufacture in October 2023 when it signed a $266.6 million agreement with Hong Kong-based space firm ASPACE to develop a factory in Saudi Arabia.
As the country actively expands its cache of the latest space technologies to build a sustainable and profitable space industry, it has benefited from building a number of international commercial partnerships in the space sector. Last month, for example, the Saudi Space Agency signed a memorandum of understanding with Canadian company NorthStar for the development of space situational awareness technologies. The Kingdom has also partnered with SpaceX, the American satellite communications and spacecraft-manufacturing company headed by Elon Musk. In May 2023, SpaceX successfully launched the Saudi Arabsat Badr-8 communications satellite.
In April 2023, King Abdulaziz University of Science and Technology and American space-to-cloud data and analytics company Spire Global collaboratively launched a 6U CubeSat nanosatellite as part of a SpaceX Transporter-7 ride-share mission. It is part of a project that involves the collection of data about terrestrial and ocean ecosystems to uncover detailed information about the Earth’s surface, soil, water and natural resources in Saudi Arabia and the wider Arabian Peninsula.
Furthermore, the space industry offers Saudi women and young people opportunities to explore and develop their potential.
Serco, for example, a British defense and space company, launched its Middle East Space Graduate Program in Saudi Arabia in October 2023 in collaboration with the Communications, Space and Technology Commission. The Kingdom’s first space-focused program of its kind, it will provide training for young engineers in space science and technology. Aerospace engineering graduate Sarah Al-Habbas recently became its first graduate. In May 2023, Rayyanah Barnawi flew to the International Space Station as a mission specialist with the Axiom Mission 2. She was the Kingdom’s first female astronaut and the first Arab woman in outer space. Also part of the crew was fellow Saudi astronaut Ali Al-Qarni.
The recently announced partnership with space tourism company Halo Space is indicative of the immense potential for the space sector to support the socioeconomic transformation in Saudi Arabia.
Beyond the traditional benefits of enhanced telecommunications and national security, an advanced space sector will help to boost entrepreneurship, the empowerment of women, vocational training and employment opportunities in the Kingdom. By setting its sights on outer space, the country hopes to enhance its position as an international diplomatic and economic force.
**Zaid M. Belbagi is a political commentator and an adviser to private clients between London and the Gulf Cooperation Council region. X: @Moulay_Zaid

Reigning champion Jon Rahm to lead field of Masters winners at LIV Golf
Sinem Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/March 29/2024
Turkiye and the Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to begin formal negotiations for a free-trade agreement, with Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat and GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohammed Al-Budaiwi signing a joint communique confirming this last week.
In 2005, Turkiye’s president at the time, Abdullah Gul, and the GCC secretary-general, Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah, signed a framework agreement to commence talks on just such an agreement. During a ministerial meeting in Kuwait in 2010, Turkiye emphasized the importance of concluding a deal as soon as possible, given its growing economic ties with the GCC at that time.
However, despite the economic progress that had been made, difficulties in reaching a concrete trade agreement resulted in the talks stalling. The Arab uprisings that began soon after further complicated Turkiye’s relations with the GCC, which had been on a positive trajectory since the early 2000s.
Relations began to normalize again in early 2021 and both sides have now entered a new phase in their relationship that is predominantly driven by economic motivations. Three solid developments have taken place in the past year that helped cement this normalization process.
The Arab uprisings further complicated Turkiye’s relations with the GCC, which had been on a positive trajectory since the early 2000s.
In March 2023, Turkiye and the GCC adopted a joint action plan covering the period from 2023 to 2027, showing their commitment to deeper relations. This was followed by a Turkiye-GCC Economic Forum in Istanbul last November. The participants at this event, which aimed to bring the two sides closer together to explore areas for cooperation and investment, included ministers, other officials and businessmen. And now this month, talks over a free trade agreement are set to begin after stalling for more than a decade.
Turkiye and the GCC are also set to hold a sixth round of strategic discussions in Istanbul soon. The fifth such meeting took place in 2016, so the upcoming talks follow a very long break during which Turkish-Gulf relations deteriorated and there were crises within the GCC itself. The strained relations between Turkiye and Gulf nations over the past decade adversely affected all of the institutional gains achieved up until that point, including the fledgling free trade talks and discussions about strategic cooperation.
Speaking exclusively to Arab News, Al-Budaiwi stressed the importance of last week’s agreement to begin talks. “We are now entering into the first phase of negotiations with Turkiye over a free-trade agreement,” he said. “The signing of the joint communique was a testament that both sides have ironed out the subjects that paved the way for talks. Thus, the process of the talks will depend on both sides’ way of handling issues that need to be handled.”
The aim of the negotiations is to reach a “win-win” situation, he added.
“We neither want to have the upper hand, nor do we want any other side to have the upper hand,” Al-Budaiwi said. “It should be on equal terms for the two sides.
“We are now opening all the subjects to discussion and we expect to iron out any obstacles that we might face in this agreement.”
One of the main obstacles to the successful conclusion to negotiations and implementation of an agreement could be the EU
Bolat, the Turkish trade minister, expressed confidence that the talks could be concluded quickly, and said an agreement would create one of the largest free-trade areas in the world, with a total value of $2.4 trillion.
However, Sinan Ulgen, a Turkish former diplomat, said that despite the agreement by Turkiye and the GCC to begin talks, one of the main obstacles to the successful conclusion to negotiations and implementation of an agreement could be the EU.
“Turkiye is in the customs union with the EU and a condition of its membership is that it cannot have its own separate set of free-trade agreements with third-party countries that the EU does not have a free-trade agreement with,” he told Arab News. “This is a key structural obstacle. Therefore, Turkiye and the GCC cannot conclude the deal unless the EU and the GCC have already concluded a similar pact.”In other words, the GCC would need to have a free-trade agreement in place with the EU if it wants a similar treaty with Turkiye. The EU and the GCC began negotiations in 1990 for a free-trade deal that was intended to provide for the progressive and reciprocal liberalization of trade in goods and services.
However, negotiations were suspended in 2008 in the face of several challenges. A more structured EU-GCC dialogue on trade and investment began in May 2017.
As a result of the long-stalled negotiations between the EU and the GCC, some Gulf states are trying negotiate their own deals with the EU. The UAE, for example, is quietly urging the EU to begin talks on a bilateral trade pact distinct from any agreement with the GCC. The EU would prefer a deal with the wider GCC, but some EU states have voiced support for an agreement with the UAE given the lack of progress in bloc-wide talks.
According to reports, absent any significant progress in negotiations with the GCC by the summer, the EU might consider a bilateral process with the UAE. Last year, the UAE ratified a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Turkiye that aims to increase the value of bilateral trade to $40 billion in the next five years. These bilateral trade deals are happening even though the UAE is a member of the GCC Customs Union, and while the GCC is also having free trade agreements with several countries. Last year, the GCC signed a free trade agreement with South Korea and a ‘preliminary’ free trade deal with Pakistan. It is in negotiations with China and has already started talks with Japan and India. Talks with Great Britain are also underway.
Despite the challenges, Turkiye and the GCC have taken significant strides recently in their efforts to institutionalize relations after a decade or more of little progress. A free-trade agreement could serve as a crucial tool for strengthening ties, provided both EU-GCC and Turkiye-GCC negotiations proceed positively and with determination.
**Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkiye’s relations with the Middle East. X: @SinemCngz