Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 15-16/2024
Hezbollah strikes Israel after death of senior field commander
Hezbollah says it launched drones at military base west of Israel's Tiberias
Hezbollah Executive Eliminated, Sixty Rockets Fired at Northern Israel
Quintet Committee ambassadors meet at US Embassy: Reviewing efforts to elect a Lebanese President
Addressing Syrian refugee crisis: Lebanese Parliament takes action, presents comprehensive recommendations
Three Arrested in Connection With Shooting Incident Involving PSP Official
Pedophile TikTokers: Arrest Warrants Against Two Lebanese Expatriates
Mawlawi Launches Beirut Security Plan Wednesday
On LBCI, MP Waddah Sadek underlines the opposition's 'limited' power, examines Syrian refugee crisis - Key statements
What Does Nasrallah Want From the Syrian Refugees Dossier?
Lebanon's PM Mikati leads ministerial delegation to Arab Summit in Bahrain
EU’s Aid Over Syrian Migrants: Three Questions to Migration Expert Ziad El Sayegh
Political ‘Pilgrimage’ From Lebanon to Doha for Crucial Talks
Hezbollah’s Disregard of South Lebanon’s Populace/Michel Touma/This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
The European Union at a Critical Crossroads!/Rami Rayess/This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
How Israel can be restrained as it eyes an attack on Lebanon/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/May 15, 2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 15-16/2024
Blinken says Israel needs a clear and concrete plan for Gaza’s future
Israeli military calls for investigation after releasing video showing armed men at UN facility in Gaza
Fighting intensifies between Israel and Hamas-led militants in north and south Gaza
Israel’s defense minister says government must decide post-war Gaza rule
Palestinians flee heavy fighting in Gaza on Nakba anniversary
EU urges Israel to end Rafah military operation ‘immediately’
Egypt warns against consequences of Israeli escalation in Gaza
Biden's move to send $1 billion in weapons to Israel could backfire
Erdogan says Israel will ‘set sights’ on Turkiye if Hamas defeated
Houthis claim 2 attacks on ships in Red Sea
Vladimir Putin Is Promoting A Bonkers Conspiracy Theory About Earth Yet Again
Estonia parliament backs using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine reparations

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on May 15-16/2024
The fall of the Iranian regime is inevitable...Oppressive regimes that fail to serve the interests of their people will inevitably come to an end./Erfan Fard/Jerusalem Post/May 15/2024
Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom caught in Iran-Israel shadow war/Samia Nakhoul and Suleiman Al-Khalidi/May 15, 2024
Is Terrorism the Weapon of the Weak?/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/May 15/2024
A united Arab stance is becoming increasingly vital/Dr. Khaled Manzlawiy/Arab News/May 15, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 15-16/2024
Hezbollah strikes Israel after death of senior field commander
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/May 15, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it launched dozens of rockets at military positions in northern Israel on Wednesday in response to the assassination of its senior field commander, Hussein Ibrahim Makki. Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire since the Palestinian group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. Israel claimed Makki was considered close to Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard who was assassinated by Israel in Damascus last April. Hezbollah said it attacked “the headquarters of the 91st Division in the Biranit Barracks with heavy Burkan missiles, achieving a direct hit and destroying part of it, and the headquarters of the Air Surveillance Unit at Meron Base with tens of Katyusha rockets, heavy missiles, and artillery shells, hitting its previous and newly acquired equipment, and disabling part of it completely.”The party added it had targeted “the newly established technical systems and espionage equipment at Al-Radar site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with appropriate weapons, causing direct hits and their destruction.” On Tuesday night, Israeli warplanes targeted a car in the city of Tyre with two missiles, leading to the deaths of Makki and two of his companions. Makki was described as a “massive databank” and a “strong arm” of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Syria. He was from the town of Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon. Israeli radio spoke of a “large-scale attack from Lebanese territory” and that “the rocket fire on the Meron Base does not stop.” Other Israeli media outlets said the volley of 50 rockets was the most intense attack since the beginning of the war with Lebanon. Meanwhile, Israeli artillery shelled Jabal Balat and Israeli warplanes shelled an unoccupied house on the outskirts of Aitarun. On Tuesday, Hezbollah shot down an Israeli espionage balloon over the border town of Rmeish.
Israel has stepped up its targeting of Hezbollah field commanders over the past two weeks, particularly focusing on leaders within the party’s elite Radwan Brigade. These targeted assassinations coincide with Israel’s heightened policy of the systematic destruction of border and front-line villages, part of a strategy framed as “displacing the population of the south in exchange for displacing the population of the north.” Israeli media outlets reported that the north was experiencing significant losses and damage. More than 140 houses were destroyed in the settlement of Metula, with most of the damage caused by Hezbollah anti-tank missiles. Similar destruction had been witnessed in other settlements along the Lebanese border, said media reports, and five soldiers were injured in Adamit on Tuesday. Lebanon is deeply concerned about the potential expansion of conflict in south, especially as diplomatic efforts to separate the southern front from the Gaza Strip have failed. Additionally, there is Lebanese apprehension about the ongoing presence of 2.1 million Syrian refugees on its territory. The Lebanese parliament has discussed the refugee issue and the potential acceptance of a €1 billion grant from the EU to host refugees. It unanimously approved a recommendation to form a ministerial committee that would engage with international and regional parties to develop a comprehensive plan and timed program for refugees’ return, excluding cases protected by Lebanese law, as determined by the committee. The MPs said that the issue had “become increasingly complex and dangerous, impacting Lebanon economically, financially, socially and environmentally, with growing concerns among the Lebanese people about demographic and societal changes.” They stressed Lebanon was “ill-prepared constitutionally, legally or realistically to be a country of asylum.”The MPs also mandated the Lebanese authorities to take necessary legal measures to hand over prisoners among the refugees to the  Syrian authorities, under applicable laws and principles.

Hezbollah says it launched drones at military base west of Israel's Tiberias
Reuters/May 15, 2024
Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack at a military base west of Israel's Tiberias on Wednesday, in the deepest strike into Israeli territory since the Lebanese armed group began exchanging fire with Israel in parallel with the Gaza war. Hezbollah said it was targeting part of a surveillance system used by the Israeli air force, and that the swarm of attack drones "hit its limited targets accurately and accomplished what it wanted in this limited operation." There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The attack came a day after an Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah field commander, Hussein Mekki, in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said Mekki was responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians and territory since the start of the Gaza war in October. Hezbollah said on Wednesday that its drone attack was in response to "assassinations" carried out by Israel, but did not specify that it was in retaliation for Mekki's killing. More than 260 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon over the last seven months. In April, Hezbollah said it had struck Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre with drones, which was at the time the deepest its attacks had reached.

Hezbollah Executive Eliminated, Sixty Rockets Fired at Northern Israel
This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
Hezbollah’s response to Israel’s elimination of one of its senior executives, Hussein Makki, on Tuesday evening, was swift. On Wednesday, the pro-Iranian group launched a salvo of Katyusha and Burkan rockets against Israeli positions. In a series of statements, it claimed to have targeted the headquarters of Brigade 91 at the Biranit barracks, and the air traffic control base on Mount Meron. Hezbollah also announced that it had targeted the technical systems and spy equipment installed at the so-called Radar site in the Shebaa farms, the Sammaka position on the Kfarchouba hills, and the maritime position at Ras Naqoura. According to Israeli media, more than 60 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel, causing “minor damage,” and fifteen people were injured in northern Israel, nine of whom are in critical condition. On Tuesday, at around 10 PM, Hussein Makki and two of his associates were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted their car near the city of Tyre. The Israeli army’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee, reported the operation on his X account on Wednesday. “The Defense Army succeeded in eliminating Hussein Makki, who was responsible for planning and executing terrorist operations against Israel,” he wrote on his X account, accompanying his statement with a video of the operation. https://x.com/AvichayAdraee/status/1790596780255527379
According to Israeli sources, Hussein Makki was close to Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard who was killed on April 1 in Damascus. He was considered one of Hezbollah’s major leaders, and was known as “an important data bank,” or “the strong arm” of Hezb secretary general Hassan Nasrallah in Syria. The pro-Iranian formation announced on Wednesday morning the death of Hussein Makki, specifying that he was originally from Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon. For its part, the Israeli army stepped up its bombardment of Lebanese villages, targeting Rab al-Thalathin, Yaroun, Jabal Blat, Jabal al-Labbouneh, Alam and Hamoul, as well as the outskirts of Naqoura and Alma al-Shaab. At the same time, Israeli reconnaissance aircraft flew over the area, stretching from Naqoura to Tyre. Israel also raided Aitaroun, the al-Mansouri plain, the Yaroun forests, and two buildings in Jabal Rihane and Blida. The Israeli army claimed to have targeted Hezbollah buildings in the two latter villages. On the other hand, one missile launched from Lebanon fell accidentally on a house belonging to Syrians in Mansouri. One person was killed and five others were wounded.

Quintet Committee ambassadors meet at US Embassy: Reviewing efforts to elect a Lebanese President
LBCI/May 15/2024
The Quintet Committee's ambassadors, who met at the US Embassy, reviewed the efforts and actions they undertook in the previous phase to push the Lebanese towards electing a President. The ambassadors discussed the steps they could take in the next stage, emphasizing that the responsibility for electing the president remains primarily a purely Lebanese matter, but it is not only a Lebanese necessity but also a regional need for Lebanon to be present in any future settlement.

Addressing Syrian refugee crisis: Lebanese Parliament takes action, presents comprehensive recommendations
LBCI/May 15/2024
On Wednesday, the Lebanese Parliament convened in its general assembly, where MPs and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati presented different issues, including the recent European aid package and the Syrian refugee crisis.In the meeting, the Parliament decided unanimously to issue the following recommendations: Due to the significant issues Lebanon faces with over two million displaced Syrians entering the country, impacting it in numerous ways, the Parliament is committed to the constitution, laws, and previous agreements.
To address this, the Parliament recommends that the government take steps to return illegal Syrian entrants and residents to their country within one year. These steps include:
- Form a ministerial committee chaired by the Prime Minister and several relevant ministers, as well as the heads of security agencies to actively contact international and regional bodies and various organizations, especially with the Syrian government.
They are advised to set a detailed timeline for the return of the Syrian refugees, except for special cases protected by Lebanese laws, as determined by the committee.
- Compel the UNHCR through diplomatic means to implement its provisions fully, take the necessary measures for implementation, provide statistics and files on the Syrian refugees in its possession, and request it to coordinate with its office in Syria to facilitate their return.
- Commit to enforcing existing laws regulating entry into, residence in, and exit from Lebanon, especially the law issued on 10/7/1962 and its related implementation decrees, particularly Decree No. 10188 dated 28/7/1962, as well as Lebanese labor, tax, municipal, and other laws.
- Take the necessary legal steps to hand over displaced prisoners to the Syrian authorities according to the laws and established procedures.
- Urge the international community and donor organizations to assist the government in allocating the necessary resources for the military and security apparatuses to control the land borders and coordinate with the Syrian side to assist from the opposite side, restricting movement to and from the country through legal border crossings.
- Request all UN agencies, especially the UNHCR and international and European donor entities, to adopt the payment of incentives and financial and humanitarian assistance to encourage the return of Syrian refugees to their country through the Lebanese state and its institutions or with its consent.
- Utilize UN resolutions, including its 2021 resolution on the early recovery plan, which could be a gateway to expedite the return to Syria through infrastructure assistance without subjecting donor countries to Caesar Act sanctions.
- Convey a clear message to countries and bodies involved in the Syrian refugee issue that Lebanon can no longer bear being a barrier to them moving to other countries.
"In any case, Lebanon will not bear responsibility for protecting the borders of these countries from the possibility of displaced persons wishing or attempting to leave Lebanon by any means," the Parliament said.
"The primary responsibility is to shift support towards facilitating the refugee's return and ensuring their stability in their home country, providing them with the necessary living conditions," it added.
- Ensure the government commits to this recommendation and mandates that it provides a progress report to the Parliament every three months on the implementation stages.

Three Arrested in Connection With Shooting Incident Involving PSP Official
This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
The General Directorate of Internal Security Forces made significant progress in uncovering the circumstances surrounding the recent shooting incident targeting the director of the Karakol Druze branch of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and two of his companions. In a statement, the General Directorate of Internal Security Forces announced that its Intelligence Division was able to identify the perpetrators, comprised of three individuals of Lebanese nationality – the shooter and two individuals monitoring the operation. The division apprehended the shooting suspect as A. Y. Upon interrogation, he confessed to the shooting, citing vengeance for a prior arrest and assault by the victims, due to suspicion of robbery two weeks earlier. His accomplices were identified as A. Y. and H. Sh. After diligent surveillance efforts, the special forces within the division successfully located and arrested them on May 15, 2024.

Pedophile TikTokers: Arrest Warrants Against Two Lebanese Expatriates
This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
On Wednesday, the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Jamal Hajjar, sent two formal requests to the Swedish and Emirati authorities. In the first letter, he requested the arrest of Lebanese national Paul Meoushi, known as Jay, currently residing in Sweden. The second letter pertains to the arrest by the relevant authorities of another Lebanese citizen, Peter Naffah. Both men are implicated in a disturbing case of pedophilia on TikTok and are being actively sought-after by law enforcement. Meoushi and Nassar are believed to oversee the network of pedophiles on TikTok, which they are allegedly financing in Lebanon. According to a judicial source cited by our colleague Houna Loubnan, “once Lebanon is notified of the arrest of the two men, it will send detailed files to Stockholm and Dubai outlining the information and evidence gathered regarding their respective roles, based on which it will ask for their repatriation.”Meanwhile, Nicolas Mansour, the lead investigating magistrate for Mount Lebanon, has started the interrogation process with the apprehended members of the network. According to the same source, “once Judge Mansour issues arrest warrants in absentia for the fleeing suspects, particularly those abroad, the judiciary will promptly transmit these warrants via Interpol, thereby turning them to international arrest warrants.”So far, the current number of individuals arrested in the TikTok pedophile case stands at 12. The detainees include a hairstylist, the owner of a clothing store, a dentist and a young woman accused of luring children and teenagers via the TikTok application, subsequently handing them over to the network members.

Mawlawi Launches Beirut Security Plan Wednesday
This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
The security plan for Beirut, which was developed based on the recommendations of caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, was launched on Wednesday morning. “I have instructed everyone to be on the ground, and we have increased the presence of security services, following a rise in crime-related complaints, especially in Beirut and its suburbs,” Mawlawi informed MTV Lebanon. These recommendations were developed by the Interior Minister following a security meeting specifically focused on the capital city, which took place ten days ago and was attended by representatives from the army and various security agencies. As part of the security plan, strict measures have been implemented to uphold order. These include round-the-clock patrols by road traffic units in Beirut, the southern suburbs, and Jdeideh, alongside Internal Security Forces (ISF) units.
Security forces will be positioned at the entrances to the capital, as well as on its main roads and in neighborhoods, to enforce laws against offenses committed by motorcyclists, particularly those without helmets or proper documentation, and against Syrians residing illegally in Lebanon. Similarly, drivers with unregistered vehicles or lacking permits for tinted windows will be prosecuted. Syrian drivers illegally present in Lebanon will also face prosecution. Mawlawi assured that security will be increased in and around Beirut, including the airport road and the southern suburbs of the capital. Daily reports will be issued on the outcomes of the security plan, the caretaker minister said, noting that “the majority of crimes are hard to predict” and that “most of them are personal” and “non-terrorist.”“A significant portion of these crimes is also linked to the Syrian presence in Lebanon,” he added. In this regard, he emphasized the importance of “coordination between the various security services to monitor the entrances to Beirut, as many crimes are committed there by individuals who do not reside in the capital and often use motorcycles or vehicles with irregular documentation.”“The security plan succeeded in Tripoli, and will also succeed in Beirut and its vicinities,” concluded the Interior Minister.

On LBCI, MP Waddah Sadek underlines the opposition's 'limited' power, examines Syrian refugee crisis - Key statements
LBCI/May 15/2024
MP Waddah Sadek said that the opposition lacks decision-making power as they are not the majority, stating that its role is limited to trying to "correct" the situation.  He affirmed that the opposition was able to present numerous recommendations and measures. In an interview with LBCI's "Hiwar Al Marhala" talk show, MP Sadek indicated: "The parliament acts according to political and personal desires. In the recommendations passed in today's session, some clauses violate the law and the constitution, and there was no voting." He denounced the way parliamentary sessions are conducted, affirming that the one-billion-euro grant "is unconditional." During the interview, he commented that the root cause of the Syrian refugee issue is political "and much larger than Lebanon," affirming that there is a difference between a displaced person and a refugee. MP Waddah Sadek further noted that the government's primary role must be to control what is happening in Lebanon and to regulate those who "employ" Syrian refugees. He clarified that the Syrian regime is uninterested in the return of refugees because of the financial support and influx of foreign currency from Lebanon into Syria. He continued by saying that there has not been Israeli aggression at this magnitude since 2006, adding: "Israel does not link calm in Gaza to de-escalation in Lebanon, and we have 'not eased' anything on Gaza."MP Sadek reaffirmed that the army is the only institution that is still "standing on its feet," stating that "it is clear that the Quintet Committee ambassadors support nominating the army commander for the presidency."Regarding his attendance at the Maarab meeting, he explained: "I did not oppose the Sunni environment in Lebanon. Sunnis have the chance to break free from sectarian influence, which is my goal today."He expressed that the invitation to the Maarab meeting was open, but he would have preferred if it had been restricted to the opposition only. He went on to say: "The Lebanese people want the implementation of Resolution 1701, which preserves calm along Lebanon's borders," declaring that the decision for war "is in the hands of Iran, not Hezbollah."

What Does Nasrallah Want From the Syrian Refugees Dossier?
This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
Head of the National Council for Lifting Iran’s Occupation of Lebanon Fares Souhaid elaborated on what Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah wants from the Syrian refugees dossier. In a message posted on his X account, the former MP highlighted four points in which he considered that Nasrallah “is using them as a pressure card against the West until he can take over negotiations with decision-making capitals.”Souhaid also stated that this dossier constitutes an “attempt to rehabilitate Assad (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) and end his isolation.” He said that Nasrallah has been exploiting the refugees dossier to “protect Syrians from others’ racism after overseeing their displacement to Lebanon.” The fourth point according to him is “replacing the title of Iranian occupation with Syrian occupation.”
Souhaid concluded by affirming that “he (Nasrallah) will not succeed.”

Lebanon's PM Mikati leads ministerial delegation to Arab Summit in Bahrain
LBCI/May 15/2024
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in Bahrain on Wednesday. He arrived along with a ministerial delegation to participate in the Arab Summit, which is set to take place on May 16.

EU’s Aid Over Syrian Migrants: Three Questions to Migration Expert Ziad El Sayegh
Samar Kadi/This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
According to Ziad el Sayegh -expert in public policy, refugee and migration issues, the Syrian and Iranian regimes are manipulating the massive presence of Syrian migrants in Lebanon to serve their own agendas. The issue of the massive presence of Syrian migrants and refugees on Lebanese territory for more than 13 years, has been thrust to the forefront following the announcement of a European Union donation to Lebanon worth 1 billion euros. The offer triggered political and public outcry suggesting that it is meant to “bribe” Lebanon in order to keep the Syrians and prevent them from migrating to Europe. Parliament convened on Wednesday (May 15) to debate the offer, and propose recommendations to pave the way for the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland. Is Syria playing the refugee card to push the West to negotiate with it and possibly lead to the lifting of sanctions? “The Syrian regime and its ally the Iranian regime, not forgetting Russia, which launched a return plan for Syrian refugees in 2017, want to push the West to finance a plan to rebuild Syria while imposing the continuity of the Syrian regime. The two regimes, Syrian and Iranian, are playing the refugee card for different reasons. The Syrian regime would like to take advantage of this card to lift sanctions, while the Iranian regime is pushing for a change in Syria’s identity as well as a new demographic balance under the “useful Syria” agenda. It’s in this context that we need to think about the Syrian refugee crisis. “
What position should Lebanon adopt in Brussels to win serious support for a settlement of the migrant issue? “Lebanon must use proactive diplomacy to propose a public policy in which the return of Syrian refugees forms the hard core. A proactive diplomacy in collaboration with the European Union, especially that Europe is well aware of the causes behind the futility of any serious return plan. Lebanon is controlled by a non-state actor (Hezbollah) who continues to push Syrians towards Lebanon.” What should be the concrete process that should be set in motion to trigger a massive return of Syrians?“Categorizing refugees is a necessary introduction to any return plan. Also, putting pressure on Hezbollah to seriously negotiate its illegitimate presence in large areas of Syria and impose that it withdraws from these regions in order to facilitate the return of a massive (Sunni) demography of these refugees to the areas occupied by the party, and finally to give aid to the refugees in Syria, rather than in Lebanon”.

Political ‘Pilgrimage’ From Lebanon to Doha for Crucial Talks
This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
Leaders from Lebanon’s political parties are converging on Qatar, seeking to address pressing issues in the country’s political landscape. Druze leader Walid Joumblatt is in Doha, where he is engaging in discussions with Qatari officials, notably regarding the election of a president. The significance of this visit is underscored by Qatar’s active involvement in Lebanon’s political arena, epitomized by the multiple visits of Qatari envoy Jassim Al-Thani, “Abu Fahd,” to Beirut. Al-Thani held pivotal meetings with various political factions, aiming to catalyze progress towards the election of a president, especially given Qatar’s representation in the quintet. It seems like different political leaders will follow Joumblatt to Doha. Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces, will delegate representatives from the Strong Republic bloc to Qatar. The president of the Kataeb party, Samy Gemayel, and the chief of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Gebran Bassil, might also be visiting the Qatari capital, similarly to their counterparts. Informed sources suggest that Doha will not repeat its 2008 approach when it convened a Lebanese conference, after which General Michel Sleiman ascended to the presidency. It is important to note that the political “pilgrimage” to Doha commenced earlier, with MP Ali Hassan Khalil, political aide to Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri. Khalil, representing Berri, conveyed a message to the Emir of Qatar, signaling Lebanon’s devotion to seeking resolutions to the Lebanese political crisis.
Qatar’s proactive intervention comes amid heightened international interest, notably from decision-making capitals like Washington and Paris, underscoring the urgency of electing a president in Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s Disregard of South Lebanon’s Populace
Michel Touma/This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
“Children in southern Lebanon are in dire need of an immediate ceasefire…” This is the real alarm voiced by UNICEF – Lebanon on social media channels earlier this week. The international organization bolstered its call with statistics that are alarming to say the least, regarding the repercussions of the armed conflict sparked on October 8 by Hezbollah at the border with Israel, under the (fundamentally fallacious) pretext of relieving pressure on Hamas in its war against Israel in Gaza. UNICEF reports no fewer than 90,000 displaced individuals in southern Lebanon as a result of the combat over the past seven months, including 30,000 children, in addition to the forced closure of 70 schools, affecting over 20,000 students. In parallel to the publication of UNICEF’s figures, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, delivered his customary video conference speech in which he strongly asserted that the Hamas movement is practically “winning” (sic!) the war that it has drawn Gaza’s population into. According to the Iran-backed Shiite leader, Hamas has indeed achieved its “political objectives,” including halting the normalization process between Israel and certain Arab countries (specifically Saudi Arabia) and placing the Palestinian cause back on the international stage, notably the question of establishing a Palestinian State. In his speech, there was no mention, not even an allusion (only briefly), to the heavy loss of life and massive destruction recorded during these seven months of fundamentally futile warfare (in terms of territorial “liberation”), both in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas, the death toll exceeds 30,000, not to mention entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble.
We thus once again are faced with two totally divergent ways of thinking, two radically different political stances: on one hand, there is a total lack of any consideration that should be given to people and to humanity as an absolute value, while on the other hand, the foremost concern is for safeguarding human lives.
For Hezbollah’s leader, as indicated in his intervention, what ultimately counts is not what he seems to perceive as “collateral damage” (human lives and heavy material destruction), but rather political gains. However, he failed to recall that in this latest episode of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which erupted on October 7, it is the Islamic Republic of Iran—and not the Palestinian population or Authority—that has scored points at the current stage… In reality, it is the power of the mullahs that has been repositioned and strengthened on both the regional and international chessboards, at the cost of Palestinian blood and the destruction of Gaza, as well as Lebanese blood and the destruction of southern Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah mentions the relaunch of the Palestinian State project as an accomplishment attributable to Hamas. However, it should be stressed that this is a distortion of reality. How can we overlook the fact that it’s this same Hamas movement which, alongside the Israeli far-right, undermined the Oslo process in 1994 and 1995, which was supposed to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian State? The same Hamas that continues to obstruct the two-state solution in practice?
This point cannot be repeated enough… Now more than ever, two societal projects, two structures or ways of thinking, are in confrontation, not only within the region but increasingly worldwide. It is the “culture of death” (or martyrdom) versus the “culture of life.”

The European Union at a Critical Crossroads!
Rami Rayess/This Is Beirut/May 15/2024
The European Union (EU) faces a myriad of challenges spanning political, security, economic and monetary spheres. Debates within EU circles and among leaders often revolve around how to effectively address these challenges, ensuring the sustainability of the common union project while propelling it forward towards new directions. This includes bolstering its international presence and expanding its influence in various domains where it still falls short, considering Europe’s size, capabilities, role and potential. With the security challenge looming large following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, dealing with the persisting threat posed by Moscow to Europe, and the West in general, now demands new approaches. These could be based on the notion of “reassuring” the Russians that the West does not seek to dominate Russia or threaten its national security, and vice versa. Fostering trust between the West and Russia has grown increasingly difficult and complex following the Russian-Ukrainian war of attrition, with heavy arms manufacturers and their supporting governments emerging as primary beneficiaries, at the expense of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.
In the European context, grappling with the significant challenge posed by one of its foremost adversaries, Russia, is mirrored in the equally daunting dynamic with its “presumed strategic partner,” the United States. Historically, the US has often strived to keep the entire European continent under “its umbrella,” leveraging the political and military circumstances generated post-World War II. Departing from its previous isolationist policy, Washington gradually evolved into a potent international player – if not the most powerful one – following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. In this context, some argue that the potential return of former US President Donald Trump to the White House next fall may not favor the strengthening of historical American-European relations. Instead, they foresee Trump probably resuming his policy of bickering with many European leaders, reminiscent of his previous term. It is expected that he will prioritize direct communication with Europe’s (and America’s) sworn enemies, such as Russia and China, and possibly extend it to North Korea. The intricate complexities of the Middle East, in turn, pose a significant challenge for Europe, given the region’s complex composition. Most of its governments are not democratically elected, thus lacking popular accountability. There is also a widespread presence of numerous effective and influential non-state actors who do not belong to the traditional nations’ club, which further complicates Europe’s ability to establish direct relations with them, or ignore their presence, given their effectiveness. Internal European considerations also contribute to making the establishment of a unified European policy a more complex matter. For instance, key EU member states like France and Germany are inclined to bolster their bilateral relations with certain countries in the region. This pursuit, driven by aspirations for political, economic, or military gains – such as billion-dollar arms deals – sometimes comes at the expense of collective European relations with those countries.
All these considerations render the task of establishing a unified European policy towards the Middle East a difficult one. It weakens the Union’s ability to present itself as a unifying entity with one clear vision across various global regions. Notably, Europe views itself as deeply involved in the Middle East, more so than anywhere else, given its geographical proximity and the interconnected historical, cultural, and economic relations with many Middle-Eastern countries. Furthermore, the disparities between the US and Europe regarding several dossiers have become known to all. These differences appear, for instance, in their stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (although European and American positions almost entirely converged in the early weeks of the conflict in Gaza), the Iranian nuclear dossier, the Syrian crisis, or the assumed roles of regional players.
Finally, the internal challenge within Europe persists, characterized by the rise of populist and extremist right-wing movements. These groups espouse dangerous slogans, especially on matters like identity, asylum, economy, and other significant issues.
In conclusion, while Europe has managed to overcome the “plight” of Britain’s departure – with its historical, political and economic magnitude – from the collective project, the inability to address the current challenges exposes this project to profound upheavals, directly affecting tens of millions of Europeans from diverse nationalities.

How Israel can be restrained as it eyes an attack on Lebanon
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/May 15, 2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week warned of a “hot summer” with Lebanon. He said that Hezbollah had been pushed away from the border areas but it had not “disappeared.” This implies that, after Rafah, Israel will go north and hit Lebanon, hoping to weaken Hezbollah and prevent it from reconstituting itself, at least in the short to medium term. However, Hezbollah is not Hamas. It is far more powerful. Hezbollah is also far more important to Iran than Hamas. All this means that a war with Lebanon would turn into a regional war.
A war has many unforeseeable consequences. Wars are endeavors usually undertaken with a high degree of uncertainty. Regarding Hezbollah, the uncertainty for Israel is the greatest. Despite the different assessments and intelligence reports, no one really knows Hezbollah’s capabilities. It is said that the group has 200,000 missiles, many of which are precision-guided. Does anyone know how the group operates its arsenal? Can it fire them simultaneously, hence overwhelming Israel’s Iron Dome defense system? What is the range of Hezbollah’s missiles? Can they reach Haifa or Tel Aviv? No one really knows.
Waging a war would be a big risk, especially if Iran gives Hezbollah its air defenses. So far, Iran has kept its air defense system on its own territory. However, late last year, reports started emerging that Iran was planning to supply its Khordad-15 advanced medium-to-high-altitude air defense missile system to its proxies in Syria and Lebanon. If this is as effective as Iran claims it to be, this would be a game-changer in any potential fight with Israel. One thing is for sure, for Iran, Hezbollah is its first line of defense against Israel. Protecting Hezbollah means protecting Iran. Tehran will mobilize Hezbollah if attacked and will also use all its capabilities to protect the group.
A war on Lebanon would definitely not be a walk in the park. What any observer can deduct is that Hezbollah does not want war. However, parties usually go to war not because they want to or because it is in their interests to do so, but because they have no other choice.A strike on Lebanon would be very unlikely to permanently eliminate the threat posed by Hezbollah.
Iran will not watch its main deterrence get destroyed. It will mobilize. The report about the transfer of its air defense system shows that Iran will not spare any tool to defend the group. Hence, the US should make sure to tame Israel. So far, Israel has been unhinged. Despite the calls not to enter Rafah, Tel Aviv gave the US a slap in the face and is now conducting an assault. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week bluntly rebuked American President Joe Biden and said Israel would conduct the incursion with or without the US’ blessing.
A regional war would definitely not help Biden in the upcoming presidential election. A recent poll conducted by The New York Times showed that Biden is trailing Trump in five key states, as young and nonwhite voters are dissatisfied with the economy and his handling of the war in Gaza. Hence, the US should coerce Israel into stopping the war, or at least prevent a strike on Lebanon. An attack on Lebanon would lead to a regional war and would not eradicate Hezbollah. It can merely give Israel five to 10 years of peace of mind. After an Israeli strike, the group might be busy reconstituting itself and managing internal divisions, but it would not go away.
Therefore, a strike on Lebanon would have grave repercussions for the region and for the US. At the same time, it is very unlikely that it would achieve the goal of permanently eliminating the threat posed by Hezbollah.
The US should do its best to contain the situation. So far, beyond the narrative, the US is not really restraining Netanyahu. If the US is incapable of preventing Netanyahu from going into Rafah, where the civilian population is concentrated and has nowhere to go, would it be willing and able to prevent him from going into Lebanon? Maybe not. However, the stakes are really high for the US and for Biden personally.
The US should invite a strong state to be the core of any buffer between Lebanon and Israel.
Though the US and its regional allies do not want the war to spread to Lebanon, they do not want to hand a win to Iran. They definitely do not want to see Hamas or Hezbollah emerge victorious. On the other hand, the Israelis might say that they need assurance that what happened on Oct. 7 will never happen at their northern border. In this respect, the US should work hard to make sure there is a solid buffer between Israel and Hezbollah — a buffer that cannot be broken and that will restrict the freedom of Hezbollah to operate in the south of Lebanon, while also restraining Israel.
Perhaps the Kosovo model should be revisited. Kosovo was successful because it had one strong state that was ready to deploy: the US. Hence, no one wanted to mess around with the Americans. The US should invite a strong state to be the core of any buffer between Lebanon and Israel. It would also be the security guarantor. A security guarantor that can make sure Hezbollah keeps its arms in the basement and that keeps Israel from attacking Lebanon or breaching its airspace.
The risks are too high and the current arrangement, which is led by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, is not enough. If anything happened to break the status quo, who would be held responsible? The UN? The individual observers? The UN mission alone cannot make sure that both parties abide by UN Security Council Resolution 1701. There is a need for a security guarantor. I suggested in a previous article Turkiye could play this role. This would also help balance out the Iranian influence. In a nutshell, the US should make sure to impose a buffer that removes the possibility of a war on Lebanon. Again, if a war were launched on Lebanon, it would not just be Lebanon at stake but the entire region.
**Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 15-16/2024
Blinken says Israel needs a clear and concrete plan for Gaza’s future
KYIV: Israel needs a clear and concrete plan for the future of Gaza where it faces the potential for a power vacuum that could become filled by chaos, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday. Washington and its ally Israel say Hamas cannot continue to run Gaza after militants from the group ignited the conflict with attacks on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7. “We do not support and will not support an Israeli occupation. We also of course, do not support Hamas governance in Gaza... We’ve seen where that’s led all too many times for the people of Gaza and for Israel. And we also can’t have anarchy and a vacuum that’s likely to be filled by chaos,” Blinken said during a press conference in Kyiv. The US top diplomat has held numerous talks with Israel’s Arab neighbors on a post-conflict plan for Gaza since Israel vowed to root out Hamas from the Palestinian enclave more than seven months ago.But Israel says it intends to keep overall security control and has baulked at proposals for the Palestinian Authority, which governs with partial authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to take charge. “It’s imperative that Israel also do this work and focus on what the future can and must be,” Blinken said. “There needs to be a clear and concrete plan, and we look to Israel to come forward with its ideas.”

Israeli military calls for investigation after releasing video showing armed men at UN facility in Gaza
Jeremy Diamond, CNN/May 15, 2024
The Israeli military is calling on the United Nations to investigate the presence of armed militants at a UN facility in southern Gaza after releasing video that shows armed men at the facility. Drone footage published by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday, and geolocated by CNN, shows the armed men near UN-marked vehicles at an UNRWA logistics facility in Rafah, which served as a key aid distribution point. The Israeli military said the footage was filmed on May 11, three days before the IDF released it. CNN cannot independently verify the date the video was filmed.
UNRWA, the main UN agency operating in Gaza, said it is “unable to verify the authenticity or the content” of the video, but said it is “likely” that the video shows an UNRWA warehouse that was evacuated last week. “UNRWA condemns the use of UN facilities by any party to the conflict for military/fighting purposes. We have repeatedly called for independent investigations & accountability for the blatant disregard of UN staff lives, premises and operations,” UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma said in statement. “We reiterate our call on all parties to the conflict to respect the sanctity and neutrality of UN installations. Under no circumstances should anyone have or use weapons in a UN facility.” Touma said that UNRWA staff were ordered to evacuate the facility last week “for their safety” following Israeli military evacuation orders for parts of eastern Rafah. Touma said UNRWA staff left vehicles and flour at the facility. The Israeli military said COGAT, the Israeli agency charged with coordinating humanitarian aid to Gaza, shared the military’s findings with “senior officials in the international community,” including UN officials. “This is a troubling phenomenon,” IDF spokesman Maj. Nir Dinar told CNN. “It’s not the first time we are witnessing armed personnel present in UN facilities and vehicles.” Dinar said that Israeli military “didn’t strike the militants and vehicles because it was clear that they are in UN facility and are near UN personnel.” The IDF has, however, carried out strikes at UN facilities in the past, including at the same eastern Rafah facility in March, according to a video of the strike released by the IDF at the time. It’s unclear if the armed men in the IDF drone footage are part of Hamas or other militant groups in Gaza. The Israeli military released the video one day after a United Nations worker was killed and another injured when the UN-marked vehicle they were driving in was struck in Rafah. The United Nations said they believe a tank fired on the vehicle, and the Israeli military has said the incident is “under review.”

Fighting intensifies between Israel and Hamas-led militants in north and south Gaza
Nidal al-Mughrabi/CAIRO (Reuters)/May 15, 2024
Gun battles between Israel and militants from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and smaller Palestinian factions intensified overnight into some of the fiercest in months in both northern and southern Gaza, both sides said on Wednesday. Israeli tanks reached densely populated neighborhoods and narrow alleyways of the militant stronghold of Jabalia in the northeast, facing heavy resistance. Residents said the army destroyed clusters of homes there in areas where they had not invaded before. The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said its militants killed and wounded Israeli foot soldiers during fierce clashes in eastern Jabalia, the biggest of eight refugee camps built in Gaza after the 1948 Middle East Arab-Israeli war. "The invaders are trying to destroy the camp. They are bombing houses on top of their inhabitants. We know of many families being trapped inside their homes," said Abu Jehad, a resident of the camp who gave a nickname, fearing reprisals. The Israeli military said it had begun an operation overnight against "terrorist operatives and infrastructure" in the centre of Jabalia. "Over the past day, IDF troops in the area have engaged in intense battles with dozens of terrorist cells and eliminated a large number of terrorists," a statement said, including some it said had fired towards the Israeli city of Sderot on Tuesday. Gaza's Civil Emergency Service and health ministry said rescue teams have been unable to reach areas where the army was operating to respond to calls for help. Abu Jehad said the militants were putting up a fierce fight.
"Our fighters are teaching painful lessons, we hear the explosions, yes they have planes and tanks but our fighters are defending Jabalia, the cradle of the revolution as it has always been known," he told Reuters via a chat app. In Rafah - the city in southernmost Gaza where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering from fighting elsewhere, troops continued to operate in the eastern Al-Salam and Jeneina neighbourhoods and also in southeast, residents said. They said troops and tanks were trying to move towards the center of Rafah but were being met with heavy resistance from Hamas-led gunmen.Israel said its troops began targeting a Hamas training compound in eastern Rafah, killing militants in close-quarters combat and finding large amounts of weapons and  equipment intended to simulate that of the Israeli defence forces. It said earlier that a soldier had been killed in combat in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. A reporter for public broadcaster Kan said this was the first military fatality in Rafah since the start of the ground operation there last week. Israel has ordered civilians to evacuate parts of Rafah, and UNRWA, the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza, estimates some 450,000 people have fled the city since May 6. More than a million civilians had sought refuge there. They are moving to places such as Al-Mawasi, a sandy coastal area that aid agencies say lacks sanitary and other facilities to host displaced people. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Wednesday that families were being forcibly displaced again by Israeli forces evacuation orders and enhancing military operations. "Despite catastrophic humanitarian needs, access restrictions and lack of safe passage obstruct efforts of humanitarian organisations to reach people across the Gaza Strip," the agency said on X.
/May 15, 2024

Israel’s defense minister says government must decide post-war Gaza rule
Reuters/May 15, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was publicly challenged over post-war plans for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday by his own defense chief, who vowed to oppose any long-term military rule by Israel over the ravaged Palestinian enclave. Netanyahu said later on Wednesday that any move to establish an alternative to Hamas as the government of Gaza required that the Palestinian militant group first be eliminated, and demanded this goal be pursued “without excuses.” His remarks, in a video statement posted online, followed the public challenge by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who accused the government of having avoided a serious discussion of a proposal for a non-Hamas post-war Palestinian administration. For the latest updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict, visit our dedicated page. Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz voiced support for public dissent aired by the country’s defense chief at Netanyahu’s approach to post-war Gaza planning. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “spoke the truth,” Gantz said in a video statement. “The responsibility of leadership is to do right thing for the country, at any price.”In a televised news conference, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that, since soon after the conflict erupted with a shock Hamas attack on Oct 7, he had tried to promote a blueprint for an alternative Gaza administration made up of Palestinians. Those efforts “got no response” from various decision-making cabinet forums under Netanyahu, said Gallant, who comes from the prime minister’s Likud party. “I call on the prime minister to announce that Israel will not rule over Gaza militarily,” Gallant said. “An alternative to Hamas governance should be established ... Indecision will erode the military gains (of the war).”There was no immediate response from Netanyahu, who earlier on Wednesday issued a statement that appeared to be a riposte to similar remarks aired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Netanyahu has said Israel, if it achieves its war goal of dismantling Hamas’ government and military apparatus in Gaza, would retain overall security control over the territory. He has stopped short of describing this scenario as an occupation. He has also balked at proposals for the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), which wields some governance in the occupied West Bank, to move back into a post-war Gaza. Netanyahu has accused the PA of being hostile to Israel, but his governing coalition also relies on ultra-nationalist partners which want the PA dismantled and for Jewish settlements to be expanded to Gaza.

Palestinians flee heavy fighting in Gaza on Nakba anniversary
AFP/May 15/2024
Tens of thousands of civilians fled heavy fighting in Gaza as Palestinians on Wednesday marked 76 years since their mass displacement during Israel’s wartime creation which they call the Nakba or “catastrophe.”Israeli forces have battled and bombed Hamas militants around Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah, but clashes have also flared again in northern and central areas which Israeli troops first entered months ago. The upsurge in urban combat in besieged Gaza has fueled US warnings that Israel risks being bogged down in a counterinsurgency operation for years as guerrilla fighters stage hit-and-run attacks. US President Joe Biden has threatened to withhold some arms deliveries over Netanyahu’s insistence on attacking Rafah, the last Gaza city so far spared a ground invasion, which is packed with civilians. But Biden’s administration has also stressed it will continue to support Israel’s security and informed Congress on Tuesday of a new $1 billion weapons package for Israel, official sources told AFP. The European Union urged Israel to end its military operation in Rafah “immediately,” warning that failure to do so would “inevitably put a heavy strain” on ties with the bloc, which is Israel’s biggest trade partner and the main aid donor for the Palestinian territories. UN agencies warn that the latest fighting has newly displaced nearly one quarter of the Gaza Strip’s population this month -- including about 450,000 people from Rafah and 100,000 from northern Gaza. The sight of desperate families carrying their scant belongings through the ruins of war-scarred cities has evoked for many the events of 1948, when around 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes. “Your Independence Day is our catastrophe,” protesters chanted in Israel on the eve of Nakba Day at a rally joined by many Arab-Israelis, descendants of Palestinians who stayed on their land and now live as a minority in Israel.
‘Cycle of violence’
The decades-long conflict exploded into the deadliest-ever Gaza war after Hamas militants launched their attack on Israel on October 7, sparking a military response that has devastated the coastal territory. Hamas declared in a Nakba Day statement that “the ongoing suffering of millions of refugees inside Palestine and in the diaspora is directly attributed to the Zionist occupation.” The militant group said that “their legitimate right to return to their homes from which they were displaced cannot be compromised or relinquished.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring home the hostages the militants are still holding in defiance of warnings from top ally the United States. An ardent supporter of Israel, Biden has clashed with right-wing hawk Netanyahu as a wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests have heightened election-year political pressure on the Democratic president.
Washington has also repeatedly urged Israel to work on a post-war plan for Gaza and supports the goal of a two-state solution, which Netanyahu and his far-right allies strongly oppose. US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said that, without a political plan for the future, Palestinian militants “will keep coming back” trapping all sides in “this continued cycle of violence.” The war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack killed more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. The militants also seized about 250 hostages, 128 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 36 the military says are dead. Israel’s military retaliation has killed at least 35,173 people, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and an Israeli siege has brought dire food shortages and the threat of famine in parts of Gaza.
‘Close-quarters combat’
The Israeli military said Wednesday that its aircraft had “struck and eliminated approximately 80 terror targets” including military compounds, missile launchers and weapons depots. It also said its forces fighting in eastern areas of Rafah had succeeded in “eliminating terrorists in close-quarters combat and locating large amounts of weapons.” “Intense battles” also raged amid the ruins of Gaza City in the north, where troops had killed “a large number of terrorists” in Jabaliya and were also fighting in the Zeitun area, the army said. Hamas’s armed wing also reported that its fighters were clashing with troops in the Jabaliya area, much of which has been reduced to a hellscape of bombed-out buildings. At least five people were killed, including a woman and her child, in two Israeli air strikes on Gaza City overnight, Gaza’s civil defence agency said. At the the city’s Al-Ahli hospital, a wounded man, his bare chest smeared with blood, lay on a hard cot while outside several men placed a shrouded corpse in the shade of a tree. Air raid sirens blared in areas of southern Israel near the Gaza border before the army gave the all-clear, saying it had intercepted a projectile fired from the Jabaliya area.
‘Civilians are starving’
US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have pushed for a truce and hostage release deal for months, but the talks are now close to “a stalemate,” said Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. Sporadic aid deliveries into Gaza by truck have slowed to a trickle since Israeli forces took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt last week. Another convoy carrying humanitarian relief goods was ransacked by Israeli right-wing activists on Monday after it had crossed from Jordan through the occupied West Bank. Washington and London condemned the attack, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “outraged” about the assault at a time “hundreds of thousands of civilians are starving.”In order to ship more aid into Gaza, the US military pledged that a temporary floating platform and pier it is building for maritime deliveries from Cyprus will be operational “in the coming days.”

EU urges Israel to end Rafah military operation ‘immediately’
AFP, Brussels/May 15/2024
The European Union on Wednesday urged Israel to end its military operation in Gaza’s Rafah “immediately,” warning that failure to do so would undermine ties with the bloc. “Should Israel continue its military operation in Rafah, it would inevitably put a heavy strain on the EU’s relationship with Israel,” said the statement issued in the EU’s name by its foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. “The European Union urges Israel to end its military operation in Rafah immediately,” the statement said, warning it was “further disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and is leading to more internal displacement, exposure to famine and human suffering.” The bloc - the main aid donor for the Palestinian territories and Israel’s biggest trading partner - said more than a million people in and around Rafah had been ordered by Israel to flee the area to other zones the UN says cannot be considered safe. “While the EU recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself, Israel must do so in line with International Humanitarian Law and provide safety to civilians,” it said. The law requires Israel to allow in humanitarian aid, the statement stressed. The EU also condemned a Hamas attack on the Kerem Shalom border crossing which blocked humanitarian relief supplies. “We call on all parties to redouble their efforts to achieve an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas,” it said. Israel’s military operations in Gaza were launched in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israeli which killed more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 hostages taken, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel’s military has conducted a relentless bombardment from the air and a ground offensive inside Gaza that has killed more than 35,000, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel’s main allies, the United States and the EU, as well as the United Nations, have all warned Israel against a major operation in Rafah given that it would add to the civilian toll.

Egypt warns against consequences of Israeli escalation in Gaza
GOBRAN MOHAMED/Arab News/May 15, 2024
CAIRO: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has warned of dire consequences as a result of Israel escalating its activities in the Gaza Strip. During talks with his Jordanian and Iraqi counterparts, Ayman Al-Safadi and Fuad Hussein, he also said there would be negative repercussions for the security and stability of the whole region. The discussion in Manama on Wednesday took place on the sidelines of an Arabian foreign ministers’ meeting being held in preparation for the Arab Summit. Shoukry talked about Egypt’s efforts to reach an immediate, comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and its call for allowing immediate delivery of humanitarian aid. He also stressed his country’s categorical rejection of any attempts to displace Gazans or kill the Palestinian cause. He underlined the need to stop targeting civilians, halt Israeli settler violence, and allow aid access in adequate quantities “that meet the needs of our Palestinian brothers.”During the meeting, Shoukry also reaffirmed Cairo’s support for the stability of Iraq and Jordan and emphasized the importance of implementing directives from the three countries’ leaders to boost cooperation within the framework of the tripartite mechanism. He said Egypt viewed tripartite cooperation as a way to link the interests of the three countries and maximize common benefits. The discussion also underlined the importance of putting into effect agreed joint projects as soon as possible. During a separate meeting with Iraqi minister Hussein, Shoukry reiterated the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to develop relations between the two countries in various fields. The Iraqi minister highlighted close historical ties with Egypt that required continued coordination on the various challenges plaguing the region. Hussein also hailed the key role played by Egypt to bring about an end to the crisis in Gaza.

Biden's move to send $1 billion in weapons to Israel could backfire
Mikhaila Friel,Tom Porter/Business Insider/May 15, 2024
The US is set to send more than $1 billion in additional arms to Israel.
President Joe Biden last week withheld a shipment of bombs to Israel.
Experts say the deal sends mixed messages and undermines Biden's influence.
The US plans to send more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel despite growing tensions between President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Officials said the weapons package will consist of around $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million worth of military vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds, The Wall Street Journal reported. Getting the weapons to Israel could be a lengthy process. As CNN noted, the sale needs to be officially notified to Congress and receive congressional approval. It comes days after Biden withheld a shipment of bombs to Israel amid rising concerns that the country was gearing up for a major military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Biden later warned he would withhold additional weaponry if Israel went ahead with a widespread ground assault on the city. But it could backfire. Seth Binder, an expert on US weapons sales with the Middle East Democracy Center, told the Journal that Biden's apparent U-turn weakens his influence over Netanyahu. "This is just another example of them muddying their message and undermining any real strength behind the hold," he said. Sen. Chris Van Hollen told The Washington Post that the deal "undercuts the president's earlier decision and should not go forward." The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request by Business Insider for comment.
Biden has long faced a dilemma with Israel
On the one hand, Biden pledged "ironclad" support for Israel in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks, in which Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240. The US sent warships to the Israeli coast last October to deter potential attacks by Hamas allies Iran and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militia. And when Iran in April retaliated to an Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, with the first direct attack on Israel in its history, US forces helped to shoot down hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles. The US has provided huge sums of military aid to Israel since the start of the conflict, including weapons sales passed by Congress valued at around $250 million. But Biden has also been desperate to prevent the war in Gaza from spiraling into a broader regional conflict that could pull in US energy and military resources at a time when they're already stretched.
As the war in Gaza drags on and the civilian death toll mounts, he is also facing escalating domestic and political costs for his support for Israel. Protests against Israel's Gaza campaign have swept US campuses, and Biden is attracting declining support among the younger voters who helped propel him to victory in 2020. Analysts say that Biden's handling of the Gaza war is among the issues corroding his support among them. The Biden administration is seeking to help wind the conflict down. US officials want to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and secure a deal for the release of the surviving Israeli hostages.
But Netanyahu has his own political priorities, with hardline members of his cabinet pushing him not to accept a cease-fire and press on with the mission to destroy Hamas. Meanwhile, any sign of Biden backing away from his support for Israel leads to accusations from conservatives that he's emboldening Iran, long the US' main enemy in the region. So whichever way Biden turns, the choices are grim. Experts agree on one thing: the president's authority is waning. Dave Harden, a former mission director at the US Agency for International Development in the West Bank and Gaza, told the BBC in March that Netanyahu "almost treats Biden as some kind of inconsequential second secretary of a low-ranked European power." "The gap between Israel and the US just deepens," he said. MOSCOW (Reuters)/May 15, 2024
Russia on Wednesday warned the European Union that if the bloc imposed restrictions on Russian media then Western reporters in Russia would feel a swift, harsh and painful response from the Russian state. European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said that the EU would sanction Voice of Europe, along with Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Ria Novosti and Izvestia, Bloomberg reported on May 6. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Western correspondents in Moscow would feel response if the European Union took action against Russian media. "If these measures are taken against the Russian media, Russian journalists, then, despite the fact that Western correspondents will not want to, they will also have to feel our retaliatory measures," Zakharova said. "They felt our love before, but now they will have to feel the response," Zakharova said. "We will respond with lightning speed and extremely painfully for the Westeners."Zakharova said that any move to put any Russian media outlet put under restriction, would immediately lead to a response in Russia against Western correspondents. "If just one Russian media outlet is subjected to unjustified restrictions, then it will ricochet off their colleagues here in Russia, I mean, Western journalists," Zakharova said.

Erdogan says Israel will ‘set sights’ on Turkiye if Hamas defeated
AFP/May 15, 2024
Istanbul: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday claimed that Israel would “set its sights” on Turkiye if it succeeded in defeating Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory following Hamas’s attack on October 7, has often expressed support for the Palestinian group as defenders of their homeland.Hamas is classed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, among others. “Do not think that Israel will stop in Gaza,” Erdogan told his party lawmakers in the parliament in the capital Ankara. “Unless it’s stopped... this rogue and terrorist state will set its sights on Anatolia sooner or later,” he said, referring to the large Turkish peninsula also called Asia Minor that comprises more than half of Turkiye’s territory. “We will continue to stand by Hamas, which fights for the independence of its own land and which defends Anatolia,” added Erdogan. The Turkish leader on Monday said more than 1,000 members of Hamas were being treated in Turkish hospitals amid the ongoing war in Gaza. The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also seized some 250 hostages, 128 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 36 the military says are dead. Israel’s bombardment and offensive in Gaza have killed more than 35,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Houthis claim 2 attacks on ships in Red Sea
SAEED AL-BATATI/Arab News/May 15, 2024
AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed responsibility on Wednesday for two drone and missile attacks on a US warship and a commercial ship in the Red Sea, vowing to continue striking ships in international seas, mostly near Yemen’s borders, in support of Palestinians. In a televised broadcast, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said that the militia’s naval forces launched an “accurate” missile strike on the US Navy destroyer USS Mason in the Red Sea, as well as a combined attack on the Destiny in the Red Sea. Sarea did not specify when Houthis forces assaulted the two ships, or if the militia caused any human casualties or damage. The statement comes a day after US Central Command said that the USS Mason shot down an incoming anti-ship ballistic missile launched by the Houthis from areas under militia control in Yemen on Monday evening. According to marinetraffic.com, which provides information on ship locations and identities, the Destiny is a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier that left Bangladesh’s Port of Chittagong on March 31 and landed at the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah on April 17. The Houthis said they attacked the ship when it reached Israel’s Eilat on April 20, defying militia warnings to ships sailing the Red Sea to avoid the port. The Houthis have sunk one ship, seized another and launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones, and explosive-laden drone boats at International commercial and naval ships in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and, more recently, the Indian Ocean. The militia claimed its strikes were intended to push Israel to cease its blockade of the Gaza Strip, and that they targeted US and UK ships after the two nations blasted Houthi-controlled regions of Yemen. On Tuesday, Houthi media said that jets from the US and the UK had launched four strikes on Hodeidah airport in the Red Sea city, the second round of airstrikes on the same airport this week. The US and UK replied to the Houthi Red Sea campaign by unleashing hundreds of airstrikes on Sanaa, Saada, Hodeidah and other Houthi-controlled Yemeni regions. According to the two nations, the strikes prevented many Houthi missile, drone, or drone boat assaults on ships in international seas while significantly weakening Houthi military capabilities. The US-led Combined Maritime Forces said on Tuesday that Lebanon and Albania joined the international marine coalition as the 44th and 45th members, respectively. “It is a pleasure to welcome both Lebanon and Albania to the Combined Maritime Forces,” US Navy Vice Admiral George Wikoff, the CMF commander, said in a statement. The Bahrain-based CMF is made up of five task teams that protect major maritime waterways such as the Red Sea and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait.

Vladimir Putin Is Promoting A Bonkers Conspiracy Theory About Earth Yet Again
Kate Nicholson/HuffPost UK/May 15, 2024
Vladimir Putin has once again pulled out his favourite conspiracy theory in a new interview with a Chinese outlet to bash the West. Speaking to news agency Xinhua last night, the Russian president said: “Earth is the cradle of humanity, our common home, and we are all equal as its inhabitants.
“I am convinced that this view is shared by most people on the planet. “However, the countries that affiliate themselves with the so-called ‘golden billion’ do not seem to think so.” According to NPR, the “golden billion” is a conspiracy theory that Putin has often referred to in his public speeches, although it dates back to the last few years of the Soviet Union. The theory claims there is a secret faction of one billion global elites looking to hoard the world’s money and resources, while depriving everyone else. Putin has regularly deployed this theory as a means to attack the West, and has previously described the supposed plot of the “golden billion” as “racist and neocolonial in its essence”. Putin, an authoritarian leader who held a sham presidential election in March after eliminating all feasible opponents, is reportedly very wealthy, although it’s not clear how he has made his millions. The Russian president also told the Chinese outlet that Moscow and its partners “reject Western attempts to impose an order based on lies and hypocrisy, on some mythical rules of no one knows whose making”. He said: “We advocate for the primacy of international law, equal, indivisible, comprehensive and sustainable security at both the global and regional level with the UN’s central coordinating role.”Putin overlooked his own role in causing international disruption by invading Ukraine more than two years ago in a conflict he rarely acknowledges as a fully-blown war. The UN has openly criticised Russia’s illegal invasion, accusing Moscow of “unspeaking suffering and destruction”. Naturally, Putin also took a direct pop at the US in his interview, saying: “US-led Western elites refuse to respect civilisational and cultural diversity and reject centuries-old traditional values.”The interview was published just before Putin’s state visit to China, which the president called Russia’s “good neighbour and trusted friend”.

Estonia parliament backs using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine reparations
Andrius Sytas/TALLINN/Reuters/May 15, 2024
Estonia's parliament has approved a proposal allowing the use of frozen Russian assets to pay compensation for war damage in Ukraine. Last week European Union ambassadors agreed to use windfall profits from Russian central bank assets frozen in the EU for Ukraine's defence. The decision could be formally adopted next week. "We took a big step towards creating a precedent Europe could follow," Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said. The Group of Seven countries (G7) froze around $300 billion worth of Russian financial assets soon after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, the EU and other G7 countries have debated how and whether to use the funds to help Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said the U.S. intends to use its power to seize Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, and is working with G7 to establish this. Two thirds of 101-member Estonian parliament supported the law, it said in a statement. The Estonian law would allow frozen assets of individuals and companies which contributed to Russian illegal actions to be used as "an advance payment for the damages Russia owes Ukraine", the parliament said. To do that, Estonia would need to receive a request to use the assets, the connection of their owner to illegal acts must be sufficiently proven. The asset owner can challenge their use for Ukraine in Estonian courts.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on May 15-16/2024
The fall of the Iranian regime is inevitable...Oppressive regimes that fail to serve the interests of their people will inevitably come to an end.
Erfan Fard/Jerusalem Post/May 15/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/129790/129790/
In the contemporary discourse of Middle Eastern politics, two contrasting narratives are becoming increasingly apparent. On one side, there stands Israel, a nation consistently thriving amid adversity, its democratic institutions and technological advancements positioning it as a beacon of stability and innovation in a volatile region. This resilience is not just a testament to its robust internal policies but also to its adept handling of external threats and challenges.
On the other side of the spectrum, the supreme leader of Iran’s regime and his theocratic governance are evidently in a decline, marred by internal discontent and international condemnation. The regime in Tehran faces mounting challenges, from crippling sanctions and a deteriorating economy to widespread protests demanding civil liberties and government accountability. This stark contrast between a thriving democratic state and a theocratic regime in decline underscores the shifting dynamics of power and influence in the Middle East, painting a complex picture of resilience and resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.
Misguided narratives in Western academia: Currently, American universities are witnessing a disturbing trend where Islamic lobbies, subtly infused with communist ideologies, manipulate emotional and adventurous students. These groups orchestrate vulgar and meaningless spectacles against Israel and global Jewry. The essence of these orchestrated movements is not to enlighten or educate but to exert undue pressure on Israel, with the ultimate aim of isolating and demonizing the nation.
Khameini is treated with undue respect
The global silence on Hamas and Iranian regime aggression: It is notably concerning that while these academic protests flourish, global responses to Hamas’ provocations and the broader terrorist network supported by Iran are tepid at best. International forums and media largely overlook the egregious actions of Hamas and fail to hold the Islamic Republic accountable for its continued sponsorship of terrorism. This selective outrage is a stark reflection of misplaced priorities in global diplomacy and media, where the voices that should advocate for peace and justice are paradoxically silenced.
The predominantly leftist media outlets have played a pivotal role in shaping a narrative that often favors the oppressor under the guise of fighting imperialism. The dangerous ideologies of radical Islam and the nefarious activities of groups like the Quds Force, part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) are routinely underreported. This bias extends to the portrayal of figures like Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Khamenei, who despite their clear support for global terrorism, are treated with undue respect and legitimacy by international media.
History and current events suggest that Khamenei’s rule is unsustainable. By August 6, Khamenei will have been in a position of power for exactly 35 years, neither elected by the people’s vote nor removed from office. This tenure eerily mirrors the ominous 36-year reign of the Qajar Sultan Mohammad Ali Mirza Kajdar. Just as the late period of Fath-Ali Shah’s rule brought severe economic troubles that pushed Iran to the brink of collapse, Khamenei’s era has seen similar challenges.
The regime’s lack of legitimacy and popularity among Iranians, coupled with severe economic downturns and environmental crises, point towards an impending collapse.
Its stubborn adherence to a foreign policy marked by terrorism further alienates it globally, setting the stage for its eventual downfall. This forecasted decline draws parallels to historical declines, where prolonged mismanagement and disconnect from the populace inevitably led to regime change following leadership crises.
WHILE IRAN grapples with the consequences of its actions under Khamenei’s regime, Israel continues to solidify its place as a permanent and stable fixture in the Middle East. The stark contrast between the progressive endurance of Israel and the regressive governance of Iran underscores a broader geopolitical shift, signaling a realignment of power and influence in the region.
Israel, with its commitment to democratic principles and technological innovation, exemplifies adaptability and foresight in governance. In contrast, Iran’s adherence to a rigid and oppressive system results in economic stagnation and societal unrest.
The young generation of Israel watching this unfold is likely to witness the dismantling of the outdated and oppressive caliphate envisioned by Iran’s current leaders. This unfolding scenario offers a lesson in the resilience and triumph of progressive governance over authoritarianism. The fate of groups aligned with Khamenei’s ideologies will likely mirror the ignoble end of figures such as former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, serving as a stark reminder of the inevitable failure of oppressive regimes that fail to serve the interests of their people.
By observing these unfolding events, the international community must recalibrate its perceptions and recognize the resilience of Israel amidst the tumultuous landscape of Middle Eastern politics.
It is imperative for global actors to understand the long-term implications of these shifts and support the processes that foster stability and peace in the region.
**The writer is a counterterrorism analyst and Middle East studies researcher based in Washington, with a particular focus on Iran and ethnic conflicts in the region. His newly-published book is The Black Shabbat, published in the US. Follow him on X @EQFARD and at erfanfard.com

Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom caught in Iran-Israel shadow war
Samia Nakhoul and Suleiman Al-Khalidi/May 15, 2024
Jordan has foiled a suspected Iranian-led plot to smuggle weapons into the U.S.-allied kingdom to help opponents of the ruling monarchy carry out acts of sabotage, according to two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the matter.
The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan that has links to the military wing of Palestinian group Hamas, the people told Reuters. The cache was seized when members of the cell, Jordanians of Palestinian descent, were arrested in late March, they said.The alleged plot and arrests, reported here for the first time, come at a time of sky-high tensions in the Middle East, with an American-backed Israel at war in Gaza with Hamas, part of Iran's "Axis of Resistance" network of proxy groups built up over decades to oppose Israel.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas said it had "no ties to any acts targeting Jordan" and that it only sought to target Israel. The two Jordanian sources, who requested anonymity to discuss security matters, declined to say what acts of sabotage were allegedly being planned, citing ongoing investigations and covert operations. They said the plot's aim was to destabilize Jordan, a country that could become a regional flashpoint in the Gaza crisis as it hosts a U.S. military base and shares borders with Israel as well as Syria and Iraq, both home to Iranian-backed militias. The sources didn't specify what weapons were seized in the March raid, though said in recent months security services have thwarted numerous attempts by Iran and its allied groups to smuggle in arms including Claymore mines, C4 and Semtex explosives, Kalashnikov rifles and 107mm Katyusha rockets.
Most of the clandestine flow of arms into the country has been bound for the neighbouring Israeli-occupied West Bank Palestinian territory, according to the Jordanian sources. However, some of the weapons - including those seized in March - were intended for use in Jordan by the Brotherhood cell allied to Hamas militants, they said. "They hide these weapons in pits called dead spots, they take their location via GPS and photograph their location and then instruct men to retrieve them from there," said one of the sources, an official with knowledge of security matters, referring to the modus operandi of the smugglers.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Islamist movement, of which Hamas is an offshoot founded in the 1980s. The movement says it does not advocate violence, and Jordan's Brotherhood has operated legally in the kingdom for decades. Jordanian authorities believe Iran and its allied groups like Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah are trying to recruit young, radical members of the kingdom's Brotherhood to their anti-Israel, anti-U.S. cause in a bid to expand the Tehran's regional network of aligned forces, according to the two sources.
A senior representative of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood confirmed that some of its members were arrested in March in possession of weapons but said whatever they did was not approved by the group and that he suspected they were smuggling arms to the West Bank rather than planning acts in Jordan. "There is dialogue between the Brotherhood and the authorities. They know if there are mistakes it's not the MB, only individuals and not MB policy," said the representative, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. Another senior figure in Brotherhood, who also requested anonymity, told Reuters the arrested cell members had been recruited by Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri, who masterminded the Palestinian group's operations in the West Bank from exile in Lebanon. Arouri was killed by a drone strike in Beirut in January in an attack widely attributed to Israel.
Spokespeople for the Jordanian government and the U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment for this article, while the Iranian foreign ministry wasn't immediately available. Israeli officials from the prime minister's office and foreign ministry didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Over the past year, Jordan has said it has foiled many attempts by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria who it says have crossed its borders with rocket launchers and explosives, adding that some of the weapons managed to get through undetected. Iran has denied being behind such attempts.
Most of his 11 million people are of Palestinian origin, because Jordan took in millions of Palestinian refugees fleeing their homeland in the turbulent years following the founding of Israel. The Gaza crisis has put him in a tough position, struggling to reconcile support for the Palestinian cause with a long-standing U.S. alliance and decades-old recognition of Israel. The war has sparked widespread public anger, with calls by protesters to cut ties with Israel and street demonstrations erupted in recent week. Last month, after Jordan joined a U.S.-led effort to help Israel in downing salvos of drones and missiles fired by Iran, critics posted concocted images on social media of the king wrapped in an Israeli flag with comments such as "traitor" and "Western puppet". The disconnect between the government's position and public sentiment has never been more pronounced in the wake of the shooting down of the drones, according to Jordanian journalist Bassam Badari. "There was discontent," he said. "Jordan used to skilfully stand at an equal distance from all the countries in the region, but with its intervention Jordan aligned itself with the American axis."Adding to Abdullah's concerns, any tension with the Brotherhood could also carry risks, said two Jordanian politicians who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. The group commands wide popular support in the country. Jordanian authorities have not spoken publicly about the alleged weapons plot and the arrests. One of the two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the alleged plot said intelligence officials had called in 10 senior Brotherhood figures to inform them that they arrested a cell that acted as a bridge between their movement and Hamas.
'NO SUCH THING AS A JORDAN OPTION'
The Jordanian decision to join Western powers in the downing of Iranian drones bound for Israel was partly driven by fears among officials that the kingdom could be sucked into Iran's strategic struggle against Israel, according to Saud Al Sharafat, a former brigadier-general in the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate."The Iranians have instructions to recruit Jordanians and penetrate the Jordan arena through agents," he added. "Their recruitment efforts span all segments of society."Another motivating force for Jordan, according to many officials and diplomats in the region, was the unprecedented attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan in January by Iran-aligned groups based in Iraq, which left three U.S. soldiers dead and 40 injured. The attack was reportedly in support of Hamas in its war with Israel. A diplomat close to Tehran said the Iranian ambition to establish a proxy foothold in Jordan went back to Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards who was assassinated by the U.S. in 2020. Soleimani believed that given Jordan's strong ties with the U.S. and the West, building up an allied group there capable of fighting Israel was crucial to Tehran's strategic ascendancy in the region, the diplomat told Reuters. The hostility between Iran and Jordan dates back to 2004, in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, when King Abdullah accused Iran of trying to create a "Shi'ite crescent" to expand its regional power. King Abdullah defended his decision to shoot down the drones as an act of self-defence, not carried out for the benefit of Israel. He warned that "Jordan will not be a battlefield for any party".The military intervention also aimed to signal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government that Jordan was a crucial buffer zone for regional security, according to the two Jordanian politicians.
The Jordanian monarchy supports the establishment of a Palestinian state. While some right-wing politicians in Israel have envisaged Jordan becoming an alternative Palestinian state, King Abdullah has repeatedly warned that there is no such thing as a "Jordan option".
"The official position is that a two-state solution is not only in Palestinians' interest," said Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister who is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think-tank. "It is also in Jordan's interests because it will establish a Palestinian state on Palestinian soil rather than a state on Jordan's soil."

Is Terrorism the Weapon of the Weak?
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/May 15/2024
The “Muslim grievance” mantra is back. Israel’s war in Gaza, we are again being told, is going to prompt aggrieved Muslims the world over to resort to terrorism — the “weapon of the weak.”
Thus, during a recent U.S. Senate hearing on global security threats, the top American intelligence official, Avril Haines, “warned that the war in Gaza could embolden terrorist groups, which are aligned in their opposition to the United States for its support of Israel.”
Similarly, Reuters reports that:
European security officials are seeing a growing risk of attacks by Islamists radicalised by the Israel-Hamas war, with the biggest threat likely to come from ‘lone wolf’ assailants who are hard to track.
This view that the majority of Muslim terrorism is a product of Muslim rage at Israel and its supporters — the U.S. in particular — goes back decades and has been championed by a broad array of politicians, academics, journalists, and the media in general. According to this logic, because the Jewish state is stronger than the Palestinians and Muslim neighbors in general, the latter, who are often depicted as frustrated “underdogs,” tend to respond any which way they can — namely, terrorism — in an effort to achieve “justice,” or at least revenge.
Bullies of the World
Yet, as with all false narratives, the survival of this one relies on concealing the bigger, more complete picture, as captured by the following question: If Muslims get a free pass when their violence and terrorism is directed against those stronger than them, how does one rationalize away their violence and terrorism when it is directed against those weaker than them — for example, against millions of indigenous Christians living in the Muslim world?
According to reliable statistics published annually, nearly 40 of the 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted are Muslim. Eleven of the 13 absolute worst nations, where Christians experience “extreme persecution,” are also Muslim.
Is this, too, Israel’s fault? No, the rationalizations used to minimize Muslim violence against Israel simply cannot work here, for now Muslims are the strong majority — and they are the ones violent and oppressive to their minorities. In other words, Christian persecution is perhaps the most obvious example of a phenomenon the mainstream media wants to ignore out of existence: Islamic supremacism, which guarantees that the Arab-Israeli conflict will go on in perpetuity.
‘Peaceful Coexistence’?
Vastly outnumbered and politically marginalized Christians in the Islamic world simply wish to worship in peace, and yet they are still hounded and attacked; their churches are banned or burned; their women and children are kidnapped, raped, and enslaved. These Christians are often identical to their fellow Muslim citizens in race, ethnicity, national identity, culture, and language; there is generally no political or property dispute on which the violence can be blamed. The only problem is that they are Christian — they are non-Muslims, the same category Israelis fall under — and therefore they must be brought into subjugation, one way or another. From here it also becomes clear why the genocide of Christians in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, and Pakistan at the hands of Muslims who could care less about Israel and Palestinians is one of the most dramatic but least known stories of our times. The media simply cannot portray Muslim persecution of Christians as a “land dispute” or a product of “grievance” (if anything, it is the ostracized and persecuted indigenous Christian minorities who should have grievances).
And because the media cannot articulate such Islamic attacks on Christians through the “grievance” paradigm that works so well in explaining the Arab-Israeli conflict, their main recourse is not to report on them at all. Such is the way for all apologists of Islam: to ignore or whitewash Muslim aggression — and then, in that vacuum, distort and present non-Muslim actions as the origins of the conflict. This is especially prevalent in the portrayal of history. Thus Georgetown University’s John Esposito claims that: [f]ive centuries of peaceful coexistence [between Islam and Europe] elapsed before political events and an imperial-papal power play led to [a] centuries-long series of so-called holy wars [the Crusades] that pitted Europe against Islam and left an enduring legacy of misunderstanding and distrust. In reality, these “five centuries of peaceful coexistence” saw Muslims terrorize and conquer more than three-fourths of Christendom; but this inconvenient fact is seldom mentioned, for knowledge of it ruins the “Muslim-grievance” narrative, just as knowledge of modern-day Muslim persecution of Christians also ruins it.

A united Arab stance is becoming increasingly vital
Dr. Khaled Manzlawiy/Arab News/May 15, 2024
The Arab League, a union of Arab states, collaborates on political and economic issues to foster Arab solidarity. Continuous efforts are needed to develop and revitalize joint Arab action. The Arab League plays a crucial role in enhancing cooperation among its members, particularly at the economic level, to address the challenges stemming from international crises. Against this backdrop, the Arab League Summit that will be held in Manama on Thursday aims to bolster Arab fraternal partnerships and complementarity and find comprehensive solutions to current crises and challenges, notably the Palestinian cause. It is essential for the summit to establish a unified Arab stance on the conflict in Gaza and reflect the Arab people’s yearning for unity, security, stability, peace and sustainable development.
The agenda of the summit in Bahrain will have to accommodate developments in the region and elsewhere in the world. Overall, the Arab League Summit could be an opportunity for leaders to take steps to turn the organization from a symbolic regional bloc to a more influential one. This could involve increasing collaboration and coordination between Arab states in more concrete terms and strengthening and expanding the league’s institutional capabilities.
However, the most crucial step could be revisiting the Arab League’s founding principles and mission to ensure its relevance in the current geopolitical climate. This action is of the utmost importance and urgency, as it could shape the future of the organization and its role in the region. It remains to be seen whether the Arab League can become an effective platform for regional collaboration or if it continues struggling to coordinate a common approach to the region’s most pressing challenges.
The most crucial step could be revisiting the Arab League’s founding principles and mission to ensure its relevance
The dire situation in the Gaza Strip underscores the significance of Israel’s partners and allies applying pressure on it to halt its military operations targeting innocent civilians. These actions not only violate international laws, treaties and agreements but also underscore the international community’s failure to secure a ceasefire or curb Israeli aggression.Amid growing global unpredictability, it is imperative for the Arab world to confront its challenges and shape its destiny. In a region where conflict and its aftermath threaten stability, a united Arab stance becomes increasingly vital to navigate the turbulent landscape.
The challenges facing our region have subjected Arab peoples to unprecedented threats to their security and safety, causing widespread anxiety about the present and the future. In such turbulent times, the unity of the state and the fortification of its institutions are not merely obligatory but a sacred duty. Allowing the hopes of the Arab people to be jeopardized by chaos and external interventions that exacerbate unrest and impede conflict resolution efforts will lead to further destabilization. It falls upon us to ensure the stability and prosperity of our nation. A crucial aspect is the imperative to endorse solutions based on political consensus for resolving crises in certain Arab countries. This necessitates promoting inclusive dialogue and national reconciliation, while vehemently opposing any meddling in the internal affairs of states. Upholding their sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity is paramount in this endeavor.
Amid growing global unpredictability, it is imperative for the Arab world to confront its challenges and shape its destiny
Furthermore, safeguarding peace and stability in the Arab region is paramount for the well-being of nations and populations within the area. This not only contributes to global peace but also underpins economic growth worldwide and secures the stability of the energy supply.
The most effective remedy for these challenges lies in establishing a robust Arab regional order. With mounting issues in the region, Arab states face an escalating need to shield their populations from internal strife and detrimental foreign influences.
Amid the escalating challenges, divisions are deepening and geopolitical tensions are on the rise. It is imperative for the Arab League to enhance its regulations to foster collaboration on global public goods, ensure fair competition and provide adequate protection for the most vulnerable. In navigating the evolving global landscape, Arab states must draw lessons from both successful and unsuccessful endeavors of the past.
In conclusion, as the region undergoes a profound reevaluation, it is essential to address the existential global threats, including significant disruptions to economic and financial systems, trade relations and the imperative to avert unchecked fragmentation. Arab states must prioritize unity and collaboration to effectively address the Palestinian cause and work toward a future where Palestinians can enjoy peace, security and self-determination in their own independent state.
*Dr. Khaled Manzlawiy is assistant secretary-general for international political affairs at the Arab League. X: @khaledManzlawiy