Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 29-30/2024
Understanding the Risks of Hamas's Victory in Gaza/Elias Bejjani
Hezbollah is somewhere else/Jean El-Feghali//Nedda Al Watan
She fell off the bus and was run over: “Nisreen dies twice.”
Lebanese army under attack from Israeli machine guns
Lebanon backtracks on ICC jurisdiction to probe alleged war crimes
Syria says Israeli strike kills girl, wounds 10 civilians
Clashes erupt between university students and riot police outside Egyptian embassy in Beirut
Hezbollah Launches Donation Campaign to Purchase Missiles, Drones
Syrians in Lebanon Fear Unprecedented Restrictions, Deportations
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
South Lebanon: LAF Site Under Israeli Fire
Southern Lebanon: Hezbollah Attacks Israeli Army Bases
Le Drian: Political Lebanon Will Cease to Exist if No President Is Elected
Le Drian continues meetings with Lebanese leaders
Sami Gemayel to Le Drian: We Will Not Surrender the Country to Hezbollah
Geagea to Le Drian: We Will Not Accept Granting the Speaker Powers that He Does Not Have
Geagea urges govt. to reverse decision to pay compensations to southerners
Choucair: The Digitization of the Ministry of Economy Is the Beginning of Reform
German Donation to Lebanese Customs
Lebanon resorts to Interpol after Sweden refuses to extradite Meouchi
On Peacekeepers' Day, UNIFIL urges steps towards a diplomatic solution
Lebanon’s Unified Position: Can It Be Replicated?
Hazardous Materials in Zouk’s Thermal Plant: Another Ticking Bomb?

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 29-30/2024
Israel says it seizes key Gaza-Egypt corridor
US says not changing Israeli policy despite Rafah strike
Israeli strikes kill at least 37, most in tents, near Gaza's Rafah
Car ramming attack kills two Israelis in West Bank
French PM Macron urges Abbas to ‘reform’ Palestinian Authority with ‘prospect of recognition’
Blinken Urges Israel to Craft Post-war Gaza Plan, Warns of Chaos
Palestinian PM Visits Madrid After Spain, Norway and Ireland Recognize Palestinian State
US-made munitions used in deadly strike on Rafah tent camp, CNN analysis shows
World's largest humanitarian network calls for Gaza ceasefire
A senior Israeli official offers a grim prediction for the war as fighting rages in Gaza's Rafah
Brazil president withdraws his country's ambassador to Israel after criticizing the war in Gaza
Israel Denounced over Gaza Health Emergency at WHO Meeting
Another US military MQ-9 Reaper drone goes down in Yemen, images purportedly show
Iran's Khamenei seeks trusted hardliner to replace Raisi in June vote
A group of armed men burns a girls' school in northwest Pakistan, in third such attack this month
Nikki Haley Visits Israel And Signs Artillery Shells With Callous Messages
Houthis in Yemen Launch Attacks at Six Ships in Three Seas
Egypt and China deepen cooperation during el-Sissi's visit to Beijing
Police Search European Parliament over Suspected Russian Interference
Sweden Gives Radar Surveillance Planes to Ukraine Air Force

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on May 28-29/2024
Netanyahu frequently makes claims of antisemitism. Critics say he's deflecting from his own problems/Tia Goldenberg/The Associated Press
Hamas Must Be Destroyed Before Any Peace Talks Take Place/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute
Iran: Life as a Skillful Concealment of Death/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat
Arab-Chinese Relations and the Chinese-Arab States Cooperation Forum/Ahmed Abul Gheit/The Secretary General of the Arab League/Asharq Al Awsat
Why Istanbul Is Not Constantinople (Anymore)/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream
The law of unforeseen consequences: What now for Iran?/Jonathan Gornall /Arab News
Irrationality and Reckless Escalation in the Gaza Conflict/Michel Touma/This Is Beirut

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 29-30/2024
Understanding the Risks of Hamas's Victory in Gaza
Elias Bejjani/May 28, 2024
The ongoing conflict between the State of Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas has resulted in immense suffering for people in the Middle East. The devastating war has caused loss of innocent lives, and the destruction of homes and communities demands global sympathy for the victims on both sides. However, it is crucial for global and regional powers to understand the true nature and goals of Hamas and the risks associated with its continued dominance in Gaza.
Promoting wars and targeting innocent civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli, is neither acceptable nor justified by any moral or humanitarian standards. The Palestinian people are suffering immensely due to unprecedented Israeli military actions, while Hamas leaders remain indifferent, hiding in tunnels and using civilians as human shields. This organization prioritizes its jihadist agenda against Israel over the lives of defenseless Palestinian civilians.
The loss of innocent Palestinian lives is tragic and must be condemned. Hamas bears full responsibility for the suffering of its people, and its actions provide justification for Israel's military response. While it is essential to condemn Israeli actions that harm civilians, it is equally important to recognize the dangers of a Hamas victory.
Allowing Hamas to win in Gaza would strengthen it militarily, promote violent ideologies, and keep the Palestinian people under its oppressive rule. A Hamas victory would destabilize moderate Arab countries and empower other jihadist and terrorist organizations, potentially exporting terrorism to Europe, America, and beyond.
To defeat Hamas and free the Palestinian people from its tyranny, the international community must address the root causes of the conflict. This involves isolating Hamas, dismantling its infrastructure, and supporting the establishment of peaceful, democratic self-rule in Gaza and the West Bank. A future Palestinian state should be one that is reconciled with Israel and the broader international community.
Arab countries, many of which classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, must take clear and decisive stances against it. Hamas is closely aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups, as well as with the Iranian Mullahs' regime posing a significant threat to regional stability.
The free world must distinguish between legitimate self-defense and terrorism. Groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, the Houthis in Yemen, and others, often supported by the Iranian regime, are enemies of peace. Equating their actions with legitimate self-defense undermines justice and destabilizes global security.
Sympathy for the Palestinian people, who are held hostage by Hamas, is necessary. However, the international community must not overlook the dangers posed by allowing terrorist organizations to prevail. Defeating Hamas is crucial for achieving peace in the Middle East and beyond. This peace can only be realized through dialogue, reconciliation, mutual respect, and the right of all peoples to self-determination.
In conclusion, supporting the people of Gaza in their quest for a future free of terrorism and the domination of Hamas is a humanitarian duty. The forces of peace and justice must triumph over hatred and violence to ensure a stable and secure world.

Hezbollah is somewhere else
Jean El-Feghali//Nedda Al Watan/May 30, 2024 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
“He who prepares an invader has invaded.” Hezbollah borrows this sentence from “Al-Hadith” in one of its advertisements on its radio and television media, and in these advertisements it requests financial support to “equip an invader.” The announcement is signed by the “Resistance Support Authority,” and the announcement is accompanied by contact phone numbers in order to provide “a contribution to supply gas.” To make things easier for contributors, the advertisement explains to them the purpose of the contribution, talking about equipping them with a military uniform, military boots, or a military rifle. This advertisement is repeated more than once a day, so how is it viewed? Opponents of Hezbollah read that it is an invasion of the state, while its supporters consider that it comes in a “natural context of Hezbollah’s path.” Among the objectors and supporters, there is a fact that cannot be ignored or skipped over, which is that Hezbollah has become in a very advanced position inside Lebanon, and it is no longer easy at all to catch up with it, even if the state decides to do so. When Hezbollah “raises its voice” requesting financial support, this means that it is requesting support for the “war effort” with money, and specifies the direction of support, without caring about objection or resistance. And when it reaches this level of performance, this means that it does not take into consideration State, even in form. Many people may not like this reality, but their dissatisfaction does not change the reality of things at all. The difficulty of catching up with “Hezbollah” is not limited to “equipping an invader,” but rather extends to “equipping a state,” meaning carrying out tasks that only the state is supposed to do. An example of this: “Hezbollah” has factories that manufacture weapons and ammunition, both heavy and medium. From missiles and drones to ammunition, this fact is no longer exceptional news in Lebanon. Rather, discussing it has become merely less than normal news, just like the news of the meeting between the head of the Coordination and Liaison Unit in Hezbollah, Hajj Wafiq Safa, with a group of officers in the Internal Security Forces. It was said that in this meeting an end was put to the completion of the security plan in the southern suburb. “Hezbollah” has achieved its “shift,” and is waiting, without haste, for others to accept the reality resulting from this “shift,” and if they do not, then it is comfortable with its time, and can wait as long as God wills. The outside deals with “Hezbollah” as it is the decider: When the American negotiator Amos Hockstein was negotiating the maritime demarcation, he was waiting for the final word, whether rejection or acceptance, from “Hezbollah.” In the file of the presidential elections, Hezbollah named its candidate and turned its back on everyone, and to this day, it does not seem on the horizon that it will withdraw from its choice. Hezbollah imposes a fait accompli, at all levels, on everyone without exception: it arms, fights, negotiates, nominates, disrupts, collects donations, and fights in Syria. In this case, what is left for the state to do?
Hezbollah is in another place.

She fell off the bus and was run over: “Nisreen dies twice.”
Mayez Obaid/Nedda Al Watan/May 30, 2024 (Translated from Arabic by Google)
It is said that when Nisreen, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, fell; In the hole inside her school bus, she was talking to her colleague for the last time, and she was shining with her smiling face and full of energy. Suddenly, without warning, she fell to the ground and disappeared from the sight of her companions. The hole under the bus seat was large and hidden. Nisreen, the innocent child, did not know that it would be her last day at school in this difficult world. She was waiting a few days for the school year to end. But she did not expect that there would be a hole inside the bus that could cause her to fall to the ground and take her life. As for the driver, information indicates that he borrowed a friend’s bus so that the students would not be disrupted from school, because his bus was idle that day. In the end, Nisreen fell into the unknown hole (wear in the bus's iron), which neither she nor any of the bus passengers knew existed. The 13-year-old daughter passed away, leaving behind a state of sadness and sorrow hanging over the atmosphere of the city of Tripoli and the entire north, and for everyone who heard her story in the area of ​​a wounded homeland that falls into a hole every day as well.
It is the tragedy that shook the city of Tripoli yesterday and shook the entire country with it, especially since this child, who got up from her bed, picked up her books and went to her school, did not know that she would fall into a hole inside the school bus, and then she would be run over, killed twice, and that would be her fate. the last one! It's something like a fantasy. Many who heard the story did not believe it. But in the end, such pain only occurs in Lebanon, where people die with or without cause. The little girl, Nisreen Ezzedine, was the talk of the people yesterday, and everyone was wondering who is responsible for the operation of vehicles and machinery that do not meet the specifications and conditions of public safety, as well as the security and safety of their passengers, without ignoring all forms of chaos and poor planning and organization on Lebanon’s public roads. Two years between Maguy Mahmoud and Nisreen Ezzedine. The first died when the roof of a school fell, while Nisreen was a victim of the wear of the floor of her school bus. Whatever the cause of death, it is nothing but a form of recklessness, chaos, and lack of accountability, in a country whose authorities do not place any weight on people’s lives, their fate, and their future. It was reported that Nisreen's mother fell ill when she learned the news and was taken to the hospital. As for the father, who came from his work in the Western Bekaa to Tripoli, he was completely overwhelmed by the effects of astonishment, sadness, and shock.

Lebanese army under attack from Israeli machine guns
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/May 29, 2024
BEIRUT: A Lebanese army site on the outskirts of the border town of Alma Al-Shaab came under machine gun fire from the Israeli army on Wednesday. Nobody was injured in the incident. Israeli artillery also targeted the outskirts of Mays Al-Jabal, Wazzani, Jebbayn, Chihine and Kfarkela. A statement from Hezbollah said it in turn had attacked “the newly installed espionage equipment at the Al-Raheb site, hitting it directly and destroying it.” Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said air defenses had intercepted a “suspicious aerial object” in the Ras Naqoura area without activating any sirens.
“Warplanes attacked a military building containing Hezbollah members in the Naqoura area. The planes also attacked Hezbollah buildings in Ramyah and Al-Tiri in southern Lebanon,” he said. A raid on the town of Naqoura caused minor injuries to several citizens. The head of the United Nations Interim Force in southern Lebanon, Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, urged all parties to cease their fire, recommit to Resolution 1701, and begin the work toward a political and diplomatic solution, which he said was the only way to resolve the situation. The security situation in the area meant UNIFIL did not hold any celebrations to mark the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on Wednesday. In a statement, Gen. Lazaro said: “The death and destruction we have seen on both sides of the Blue Line is heartbreaking. Too many lives have been lost and disrupted. Thousands of people remain displaced and have lost their homes and their livelihoods. As peacekeepers, we recommit each day to our work to restore stability.”Peacekeepers from 49 nations are currently in the south and report regularly to the Security Council. Yesterday, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French president’s special envoy to Lebanon, met with the head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, at its office in Beirut. He arrived on Tuesday evening on his sixth mission to discuss developments in the country with Lebanese officials. Le Drian met with several officials, including caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, along with other heads of opposition Christian parties and the National Moderation bloc made up of mostly Sunni deputies. According to the leaked information, the French official insisted on the need for consultation among Lebanese powers to name a president. Le Drian warned: “Lebanon’s political feature will be gone if the crisis remains and if the presidential vacuum persists. Lebanon will save nothing but its geographical feature.”Berri assured Le Drian that he would “be adhering to calling for unconditional consultations focused on the presidential election and moving to the parliament to conduct successive voting rounds with a list of candidates until a new president of the republic is elected.”

Lebanon backtracks on ICC jurisdiction to probe alleged war crimes
REUTERS/May 29, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon has reversed a move to authorize the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes on its soil, prompting a prominent rights group to deplore what it called the loss of an “historic opportunity” for justice. Lebanon has accused Israel of repeatedly violating international law since October, when the Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah began trading fire in parallel with the Gaza war. Israeli shelling has since killed around 80 civilians in Lebanon, including children, medics and reporters. Neither Lebanon nor Israel are members of the ICC, so a formal declaration to the court would be required from either to give it jurisdiction to launch probes into a particular period. In April, Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet voted to instruct the foreign ministry to file a declaration with the ICC authorizing it to investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes on Lebanese territory since Oct. 7.
Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib never filed the requested declaration and on Tuesday the cabinet published an amended decision that omitted mention of the ICC, saying Lebanon would file complaints to the United Nations instead. Lebanon has regularly lodged complaints with the UN Security Council about Israeli bombardments over the past seven months, but they have yielded no binding UN decisions. Habib did not respond to a Reuters question on why he did not file the requested declaration.
A Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the initial cabinet decision raised “confusion” over whether a declaration would “open the door for the court to investigate whatever it wanted across different files.”The official said the request to revisit the decision came from George Kallas, a cabinet minister close to parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Shiite Muslim Amal movement that is allied with the politically powerful Hezbollah. Hezbollah and Amal have both fired rockets into Israel, killing eight civilians and displacing around 60,000 people from towns near the border since October. Contacted by Reuters, Kallas confirmed he requested a review of cabinet’s initial decision but denied it was out of fear Hezbollah or Amal could become subject to ICC arrest warrants. Human Rights Watch condemned the cabinet’s reversal.“The Lebanese government had a historic opportunity to ensure there was justice and accountability for war crimes in Lebanon. It’s shameful that they are forgoing this opportunity,” said HRW’s Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss. “Rescinding this decision shows that Lebanon’s calls for accountability ring hollow,” he told Reuters.
Information Minister Ziad Makary, the government spokesman, said that he had backed the initial decision and would “continue to explore other international tribunals to render justice” despite the reversal. Lebanon backtracked a few days after the ICC requested arrest warrants over alleged war crimes for Israel’s prime minister and defense minister and three Hamas leaders. The initial push to file an ICC declaration came from MP Halima Kaakour, who holds a PhD in public international law. She recommended the measure to parliament’s justice committee, which unanimously endorsed it. Cabinet approved it in late April. “The political parties that backed this initiative at first seem to have changed their mind. But they never explained the reason to us or the Lebanese people,” Kaakour told Reuters. “Lebanon’s complaints to the UN Security Council don’t get anywhere. We had an opportunity to give the ICC a period of time to look at it, we have the documentation — if we can use these international mechanisms, why not?”

Syria says Israeli strike kills girl, wounds 10 civilians
AFP/May 29, 2024
BEIRUT: Syria’s defense ministry said an Israeli air strike Wednesday killed a girl and wounded 10 civilians on the country’s coast, with a war monitor reporting another raid killed three pro-Hezbollah fighters. “The Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Lebanon, targeting a central site and a residential building in Baniyas city in the coastal region, killing a girl and wounding 10 civilians,” a ministry statement said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the girl was killed after an Israeli missile and Syrian air defense missile exploded and then fell on the coast.
“Two explosions resonated... in the coastal city of Baniyas, killing a girl,” said the Britain-based monitor, which put the number of civilians wounded higher at 20. The Observatory said “the explosions resulted from an Israeli missile and a Syrian air defense missile falling.” The Observatory also said the Israeli strike on central Syria killed three Syrian fighters working with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. “Three Syrian fighters working with the Lebanese Hezbollah group were killed in an Israeli strike targeting a military site... in the eastern countryside of Homs,” said the Observatory. Earlier on Wednesday, state media had said air defenses intercepted Israeli “targets” over central Syria, and the Observatory reported an Israeli attack on a military site. “Syrian air defense intercepts enemy targets in the skies of the city of Homs,” the official SANA news agency reported. The Observatory said the Israeli strikes targeted “at least one military site... in the eastern countryside of Homs, causing plumes of smoke to rise.”The monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said the area also housed members of Iran-backed groups including Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah. On Saturday, an Israeli drone strike in central Syria, near the border with Lebanon, killed two Hezbollah fighters, the Observatory had said. Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in its northern neighbor, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Hezbollah.The strikes have increased since Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, when the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack against Israel. Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it erupted in 2011 after Damascus cracked down on anti-government protests.

Clashes erupt between university students and riot police outside Egyptian embassy in Beirut
Canadian Press Videos/May 28, 2024
Clashes erupted on Monday between pro-Palestinian university students and riot police outside the Egyptian embassy in Beirut. Dozens of university students gathered outside the embassy, holding Palestinian flags and calling on the Egyptian government to open the Rafah border crossing and allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah Launches Donation Campaign to Purchase Missiles, Drones
Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group did not stop at involving foreign armed parties in its fight against Israel allegedly in support of Gaza, but has moved further to involving civilians in a donation campaign in order to purchase missiles and drones to continue its fight against Israel. The Iran-backed party launched the campaign, providing telephone numbers for contact purposes, encouraging civilians to “be part of the battle” that it has waged against Israel in what it says is in support of Gaza. Some sides have interpreted Hezbollah’s move as a “weakness”, criticizing it for boasting about its military powers and ability to “change the equation to eliminate Israel”, meanwhile asking for donations to purchase weapons. The party’s campaign came in parallel with an announcement made by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who said he “opened channels” with the World Bank and friendly countries to “participate in the reconstruction of what Israel destroyed in South Lebanon during the Gaza war”.Former MP Fares Souaid, head of the Lady of the Mountain gathering, criticized Hezbollah and Berri’s “double standards”. “Double standards are extremely annoying because one side is asking the world to help rebuild the South, and another asks for donations to continue the war and prolong destruction”, said Souaid. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the MP said Hezbollah “is indirectly declaring itself in a deep political and financial crisis, which indicates that Iran has taken a decision to stop funding (Hezbollah’s) war in South Lebanon”.
Strength or Weakness?
The confrontation that Hezbollah chose to wage against Israel has so far achieved none of the party’s goals, mainly in preventing Israel from invading Gaza or preventing it from diminishing the capabilities of Hamas. Hezbollah only succeeded at driving Israeli civilians out of their settlements in northern Israel and away from Lebanon’s southern border. But, this war has caused massive destruction to more than 40 villages in south Lebanon, and has displaced its residents and left more than 500 Lebanese civilians and fighters dead. The donation campaign “raises a lot of question marks for people of the South” on whether it implies the party’s “strength or weakness”, said Souaid. He said Hezbollah has always boasted about its ability to wage a “war of that size with Israel”, and has always challenged the international will and claimed an ability to eradicate Israel, “is it possible that it begs for donations from the southerners to continue its war?” he asked. In February 2022, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that his group has been manufacturing military drones in Lebanon and has the technology to turn thousands of missiles in their possession into precision-guided munitions.
“We have started manufacturing drones in Lebanon a long time ago. Those who want to buy can fill out an application,” he had said.
Media Provocation
For his part, political analyst Qasem Qasir, told Asharq Al-Awsat the campaign could be part of an effort to engage people in the party’s warfare. He ruled out the possibility of any diminishing Iranian support. “It could be an attempt to make people feel involved in the confrontation...and to show popular support for the party at this stage”, he underlined. Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire since Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel striking deeper into Lebanese territory, while Hezbollah has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on military positions in northern Israel.

Syrians in Lebanon Fear Unprecedented Restrictions, Deportations
Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
The soldiers came before daybreak, singling out the Syrian men without residence permits from the tattered camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. As toddlers wailed around them, Mona, a Syrian refugee in Lebanon for a decade, watched Lebanese troops shuffle her brother onto a truck headed for the Syrian border.
Thirteen years since Syria's conflict broke out, Lebanon remains home to the largest refugee population per capita in the world: roughly 1.5 million Syrians - half of whom are refugees formally registered with the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR - in a country of approximately 4 million Lebanese. They are among some five million Syrian refugees who spilled out of Syria into neighboring countries, while millions more are displaced within Syria. Donor countries in Brussels this week pledged fewer funds in Syria aid than last year. With Lebanon struggling to cope with an economic meltdown that has crushed livelihoods and most public services, its chronically underfunded security forces and typically divided politicians now agree on one thing: Syrians must be sent home. Employers have been urged to stop hiring Syrians for menial jobs. Municipalities have issued new curfews and have even evicted Syrian tenants, two humanitarian sources told Reuters. At least one township in northern Lebanon has shuttered an informal camp, sending Syrians scattering, the sources said.
Lebanese security forces issued a new directive this month shrinking the number of categories through which Syrians can apply for residency - frightening many who would no longer qualify for legal status and now face possible deportation. Lebanon has organized voluntary returns for Syrians, through which 300 travelled home in May. But more than 400 have also been summarily deported by the Lebanese army, two humanitarian sources told Reuters, caught in camp raids or at checkpoints set up to identify Syrians without legal residency. They are automatically driven across the border, refugees and humanitarian workers say, fueling concerns about rights violations, forced military conscription or arbitrary detention. Mona, who asked to change her name in fear of Lebanese authorities, said her brother was told to register with Syria's army reserves upon his entry. Fearing a similar fate, the rest of the camp's men no longer venture out. "None of the men can pick up their kids from school, or go to the market to get things for the house. They can't go to any government institutions, or hospital, or court," Mona said. She must now care for her brother's children, who were not deported, through an informal job she has at a nearby factory. She works at night to evade checkpoints along her commute.
'WRONG & NOT SUSTAINABLE'
Lebanon has deported refugees in the past, and political parties have long insisted parts of Syria are safe enough for large-scale refugee returns. But in April, the killing of a local Lebanese party official blamed on Syrians touched off a concentrated campaign of anti-refugee sentiment. Hate speech flourished online, with more than 50% of the online conversation about refugees in Lebanon focused on deporting them and another 20% referring to Syrians as an "existential threat," said Lebanese research firm InflueAnswers. The tensions have extended to international institutions. Lebanon's foreign minister has pressured UNHCR's representative to rescind a request to halt the new restrictions and lawmakers slammed a one billion euro aid package from the European Union as a "bribe" to keep hosting refugees. "This money that the EU is sending to the Syrians, let them send it to Syria," said Roy Hadchiti, a media representative for the Free Patriotic Movement, speaking at an anti-refugee rally organized by the conservative Christian party. He, like a growing number of Lebanese, complained that Syrian refugees received more aid than desperate Lebanese. "Go see them in the camps - they have solar panels, while Lebanese can't even afford a private generator subscription," he said.The UN still considers Syria unsafe for large-scale returns and said rising anti-refugee rhetoric is alarming. "I am very concerned because it can result in... forced returns, which are both wrong and not sustainable," UNHCR head Filippo Grandi told Reuters.
"I understand the frustrations in host countries - but please don't fuel it further."Zeina, a Syrian refugee who also asked her name be changed, said her husband's deportation last month left her with no work or legal status in an increasingly hostile Lebanese town. Returning has its own dangers: her children were born in Lebanon and do not have Syrian ID cards, and her home in Homs province remains in ruins since a 2012 government strike that forced her to flee. "Even now, when I think of those days, and I think of my parents or anyone else going back, they can't. The house is flattened. What kind of return is that?" she said.

Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Naharnet/May 29/2024 
Hezbollah targeted Wednesday a group of soldiers in Shtula and surveillance equipment in the al-Raheb post in northern Israel. Israeli soldiers meanwhile fired machine guns at a Lebanese army position in the southern border town of Alma al-Shaab, while artillery shelled Wadi Hassan and the outskirts of al-Jebbayn and Shihine. Flare bombs and shells hit overnight into Wednesday southern towns along the border, while warplanes raided Tuesday night Jabal Blat and al-Naqoura, lightly injuring several civilians. Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has traded regular cross-border fire with Israel since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on southern Israel which triggered war in the Gaza Strip. In recent weeks Hezbollah has stepped up its cross-border attacks, which it says are in support of Gazans and its ally Hamas, while Israel has struck deeper into Lebanese territory. The violence has killed at least 440 people in Lebanon, mostly militants but also including 84 civilians, according to an AFP tally.Israel says 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

South Lebanon: LAF Site Under Israeli Fire
This Is Beirut/29 May 2024
Tensions are escalating on the southern front as a Lebanese army base at Alma al-Shaab was the target of Israeli machine gun fire, on Wednesday, with no injuries reported.
Hezbollah, in a statement, announced having “targeted the spy equipment at the Raheb site.” At the same time, sirens sounded in Shtula in the Upper Galilee at the border with Lebanon. Earlier, the Israeli army declared having “attacked a military building where Hezbollah operatives were staying in Naqoura.” The Israeli army also announced having “shot down a suspicious aerial target off the coast of northern Israel.”Moreover, Israeli media reported “numerous rockets fired from Lebanon, landing in open areas near Shtula, in the western sector.”In the morning, Wadi Hassan was shelled by Israeli artillery, in addition to the outskirts of Jebbine and Chihine, after Israeli media reported a “strong explosion in Nahariya, with no sirens triggered.”Yesterday night, Israeli warplanes raided Naqoura, resulting in minor injuries on a number of citizens. Israel also fired heavy artillery shells on the outskirts of the towns of Naqoura, Alma al-Shaab, Tayr Harfa and Dhayra.

Southern Lebanon: Hezbollah Attacks Israeli Army Bases
This Is Beirut/ 29 May 2024
Hezbollah announced targeting the Raheb, Ramia, and Shatula sites of the Israeli Army.
The faction also announced that it launched “a sequential composite attack on the Baghdad site, starting with targeting the site and its defenders and the spread of its soldiers with rocket-propelled weapons. This was followed by assault drones loaded with bombs targeting the site’s operations and observation rooms, hitting their targets accurately, causing several explosions and fires, and resulting in injuries among the soldiers.”In response, the Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli Army, Avichay Adraee, wrote in a post on his account on the platform X, “The air defenses intercepted a suspicious aerial target over the maritime area in the Ras Naqoura region without activating alarms.”He added, “During the past night, warplanes attacked a military building housing Hezbollah elements in the Naqoura area. The planes also attacked Hezbollah infrastructure in Ramia and Tayr Harfa, southern Lebanon.”Earlier in the day, an Israeli machine gun attack targeted a Lebanese army base in Alma al-Shaab, with no injuries reported.

Le Drian: Political Lebanon Will Cease to Exist if No President Is Elected
This Is Beirut/29 May 2024
On the second day of his visit to Lebanon, the French presidential envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, met Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday in Ain el-Tineh. Berri reiterated his call “to initate consultations on one subject, the election of a President of the Republic, without preconditions.” Emphasizing his adherence to the French initiative, he called for “electing, in successive sessions, a president from a list of names including a number of candidates, until the initiative culminates in the election of a new president.” Earlier, Le Drian met the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Raad, in Haret Hreik. He will also meet the head of the Kataeb party, Sami Gemayel, and the leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea. The French envoy will have lunch with the National Moderation bloc at the French Embassy before having dinner with the Quintet ambassadors (USA, France, KSA, Egypt, Qatar) at the Résidence des Pins. Le Drian will not meet Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil as he is currently out of the country. Following a series of meetings held on Monday, according to sources reported by MTV channel, Le Drian indicated that “political Lebanon will cease to exist, as long as the crisis persists and in the absence of a President of the Republic.” He pointed out that “all that will remain is geographical Lebanon.” Le Drian’s suggestion “to forget the word dialogue” and to replace it with “consultations” was met by the response that “Speaker Nabih Berri will not accept.”

Le Drian continues meetings with Lebanese leaders
Naharnet/May 29/2024 
The French President's Special Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, held separate meetings Wednesday Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah's top lawmaker Mohammad Raad, on the second day of his visit to Lebanon. “Berri reiterated his adherence to his presidential election initiative, repeating his call for consultations without preconditions before moving to parliament to elect a president in successive rounds from a list comprising a number of candidates,” al-Jadeed television said. Le Drian had met Tuesday with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh and former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat. Media reports meanwhile said that the political forces believe that domestic solutions are not possible in the near future despite Le Drian’s visit, due to the complicated regional situation. Sources informed on Mikati’s meeting with Le Drian meanwhile told al-Akhbar newspaper that the French envoy “did not talk about any invitation for dialogue in France.”Al-Joumhouria newspaper for its part quoted informed sources as saying that Le Drian is not carrying anything new, describing his visit as “exploratory and quick.”

Sami Gemayel to Le Drian: We Will Not Surrender the Country to Hezbollah
This Is Beirut/29 May 2024
On Wednesday, French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian met with Kataeb Party leader Samy Gemayel at the party’s headquarters in Saifi to discuss the presidential dossier. Gemayel stated that the meeting aimed to warn Le Drian about “some pitfalls that may be in preparation,” and to demand that certain steps in the electoral process be “guaranteed.” First, calling for a guarantee that Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri will call for successive sessions until a President is elected, regardless of the outcomes of the dialogue. Second, a guarantee that the Resistance Axis MPs will attend the session.
He stated that the candidate should be “neutral,” emphasizing that “no one can impose a President on the Lebanese people.”“The Kataeb Party is ready to engage positively, but we will not surrender by handing the country over to Hezbollah and becoming part of Iran and its allies’ axis,” Gemayel continued. “If this happens we will become part of an axis of resistance, subject to sanctions and blockades, isolated and unable to open up to the world.” He confirmed that “the Kataeb Party is determined to elect a president as soon as possible and is ready to facilitate this task, considering that institutional work cannot proceed without a president at the head of effective institutions.”

Geagea to Le Drian: We Will Not Accept Granting the Speaker Powers that He Does Not Have
This Is Beirut/29 May 2024
On Wednesday evening, the leader of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, received the French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, stating that his party is open to a third candidate, “unlike the Resistance Axis.”“The Resistance Axis wants to know the president before the election session, which is unacceptable,” Geagea stated after the meeting. “Le Drian said that his meeting with (Speaker of Parliament) Nabih Berri was positive, so let him go ahead and call for a session,” Geagea added. He concluded, “We will not accept granting the Speaker of the Parliament powers that he does not have, nor having every deadline pass through him by default. We are the first to defend the powers of the second presidency as permitted by the constitution and the law.”Le Drian was accompanied by the French ambassador Herve Magro and the accompanying delegation, in the presence of MP George Okais, member of the executive committee Joseph Jbeily, head of the foreign relations department Richard Kouyoumjian, and department member Tony Darwish.

Geagea urges govt. to reverse decision to pay compensations to southerners
Naharnet/May 29/2024 
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday called on the government to reverse its decision to pay LBP 93 billion in compensations to the southerners affected by Israel’s attacks. “We are living the suffering of the south’s residents every day and we are daily living the plight of the destroyed villages, all because of a decision taken unilaterally by Hezbollah when it started military operations in the south under the excuse of supporting Gaza,” Geagea said in a statement. “The same government that announced with the beginning of military operations that it did not take that decision has now dispensed LBP 93 billion to pay compensations to those affected by the military events in the south,” Geagea decried. “The 93 billion Lebanese pounds are taxes and fees collected from the Lebanese, but have the majority of the Lebanese people or their parliamentary representatives approved of this decision for them to bear its financial, economic, social and political consequences?” the LF leader asked. Cabinet’s decision “contradicts with the correct work of the state and with the aspirations and will of the majority of the Lebanese people,” Geagea added, noting that his rejection is “not targeted against the agonizing people or those whose homes were destroyed,” but rather against “those who are usurping the decisions of the people and the state,” in an apparent reference to Hezbollah.
He also warned that “being lenient in this matter encourages this group to wage further wars that are destructive to Lebanon.”Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has traded regular cross-border fire with Israel since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on southern Israel which triggered war in the Gaza Strip. In recent weeks Hezbollah has stepped up its cross-border attacks, which it says are in support of Gazans and its ally Hamas, while Israel has struck deeper into Lebanese territory. The violence has killed at least 440 people in Lebanon, mostly militants but also including 84 civilians, according to an AFP tally. The Israeli attacks have also caused vast material damage, especially in the border villages. Israel says 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Choucair: The Digitization of the Ministry of Economy Is the Beginning of Reform
This Is Beirut/29 May 2024
The economic organizations, led by former Minister Mohammad Choucair, held a meeting on Wednesday with the Director General of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Mohamed Abou Haidar. The meeting was dedicated to presenting the new electronic services recently launched by the Ministry’s Consumer Protection Directorate. The prospects for cooperation between the two parties regarding the digitization of various services provided by the Ministry were also discussed, to facilitate the work of businesses and citizens in transactions under the Ministry of Economy’s jurisdiction.
Choucair considered that what has been achieved represents the beginning of the desired reform for the public sector, emphasizing the economic organizations’ support for these reform projects. These projects will lead to the restructuring and development of the public sector, the automation of transactions, increased productivity and easier procedures for citizens. For his part, Abou Haidar praised the cooperation with economic organizations on various levels, calling for more collaboration to complete the digitization process of the Ministry of Economy and its transactions. He specified that such reform and development work would restore citizens’ trust in the public sector and the Lebanese state. He expressed his aspiration for the Ministry of Economy and Trade to become fully automated by 2025.

German Donation to Lebanese Customs
This Is Beirut/29 May 2024
Lebanese customs at the Port of Beirut received a donation from the German government on Wednesday, including equipment to support the work of the Port’s container control unit. The ceremony was attended by, among others, the German Ambassador to Lebanon, Kurt Georg Stöckl-Stillfried, the acting president of the Supreme Customs Council, Rima Makki, and the acting director general of customs, Raymond El-Khoury. They all stressed the importance of this support in strengthening the capacity of Lebanese customs to control borders and combat smuggling, appreciating Germany’s continued support since the start of the implementation of the container control program, which resulted in improved surveillance processes. For his part, the German ambassador praised the cooperation with customs and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, highlighting the importance of the container control program, particularly in the face of regional and national challenges. He stressed “the need to strengthen regional cooperation in this field” and thanked all project partners “for their commitment and efforts to make Lebanon safer.”

Lebanon resorts to Interpol after Sweden refuses to extradite Meouchi
Naharnet/May 29/2024 
Lebanon has issued arrest warrants in absentia for Paul Meouchi, who is in Sweden, Peter Naffah and a third person who is outside Lebanon over their involvement in the TikTok child molestation ring, a judicial source told Al-Arabiya television. The judiciary also sent Red Notices to the Interpol for the suspects who are on the run due to the presence of many of them in several countries, the source added. Meouchi, nicknamed Jay, has been described as the leader of the molestation ring, with media reports saying he used to transfer large sums of money to TikTokers in Lebanon and to sell child molestation videos on the dark web. “Sweden has refused to hand him over to the Lebanese judiciary following a request from the Lebanese public prosecution, that’s why the Interpol has been asked to bring him to justice, especially after it turned out that he has two nationalities, which would allow him to leave Sweden to another country,” the source said. “Sweden has become compelled to extradite Meouchi after a Red Notice was issued through the Interpol, especially that he is involved in money laundering after it turned out that he had made huge money transfers,” the source added. The so-called TikTokers rape case has shaken Lebanon in recent weeks and several famous TikTokers have been arrested. According to reports, the gang comprises 30 members, of whom at least 12 have been charged, while at least 30 children have been molested. A judicial official has told AFP that minors who are famous on TikTok were used to lure other minors who were allegedly "drugged, raped and blackmailed into promoting drugs."Suspects "raped them, filmed the rapes and then made them watch the videos, and blackmailed them, threatening to post the footage (online) if they spoke out," a security official said.

On Peacekeepers' Day, UNIFIL urges steps towards a diplomatic solution
Naharnet /May 29/2024
UNIFIL on Wednesday marked the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, an annual event to honor the "commitment and sacrifice of women and men serving for peace around the world," a UNIFIL statement said. On this day, UNIFIL normally hosts a gathering of peacekeepers; national, local, and religious officials; and members of the Lebanese Armed Forces and other security agencies at its Naqoura headquarters. "The mission did not hold an event today due to the security situation and the ongoing exchanges of fire in the south," UNIFIL said. “UNIFIL peacekeepers from 49 countries are on the ground in our area of operations, focused on preventing escalation of the fighting and avoiding an all-out war,” said Head of Mission and Force Commander Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro. “I am proud of the men and women who continue to carry out their mandated tasks in such difficult conditions, amidst ongoing exchanges of fire,” he added. "Peacekeepers continue to perform their duties to help implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. At the same time, they are also supporting communities and residents, ensuring humanitarian access to those most affected, providing shelter when civilians are caught in the crossfire and assisting communities in the South with medical, dental, veterinary, and educational assistance, and ensuring humanitarian access to the most affected," the UNIFIL statement said. “The death and destruction we have seen on both sides of the Blue Line is heartbreaking,” said Lieutenant General Lázaro. “Too many lives have been lost and disrupted. Thousands of people remain displaced and have lost their homes and their livelihoods. As peacekeepers, we recommit each day to our work to restore stability. We urge all parties and all actors to cease their fire, recommit to Resolution 1701, and begin the work towards a diplomatic solution, which is the only way to bring a return of stability and resolve this situation,” he added. “As we mourn those who have fallen for the cause of peace -- including Malaysian Sergeant Faridah Abd Rahman, who passed away just a few days ago -- we are grateful for their contributions, which will not be forgotten,” said the UNIFIL head. Almost 4,400 U.N. peacekeepers have lost their lives in missions around the world since 1948. Over 330 of these men and women served with UNIFIL. In 2002, 29 May was designated as the International Day of U.N. Peacekeepers to honor the "professionalism, dedication, and courage of the military and civilian peacekeepers serving in U.N. peacekeeping operations, and to remember those who lost their lives for the cause of peace."The date was chosen to commemorate the establishment of the first peacekeeping mission, the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), which has more than 50 observers currently working with UNIFIL in south Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Unified Position: Can It Be Replicated?
Rami Rayess/This Is Beirut/May 29/2024
Seldom has Lebanon faced the international community with a unified position. It was the case this time, however, regarding one of the most important and pressing matters for the country; the Syrian migrants whose presence on Lebanese soil has become a burden that requires a thorough and responsible approach, away from grudge-bearing and hasty decision-making—which is in contradiction with Lebanon’s history of respecting human rights. That being said, the approach in question should not go against the country’s national interest. Although the European Union cares very little about the countries hosting Syrian migrants and limits its actions to providing support to these migrants in the said countries, Lebanon was able to prove that it can be united over a shared vision concerning a pivotal issue if the political will is in support of that. In any case, saying that there are magical solutions to the ever-worsening crisis could not be more unrealistic. That said, one must learn from this experience, as it is an almost unprecedented one, and use it as leverage in negotiations with the European Union. The same applies to internal matters, even the simplest thereof, to give an impression of strength—which has already happened, though only occasionally—when it comes to the state, and to mitigate the general feeling of chaos. While it is true that the state is struggling and that corruption is eating away at most of its institutions, this does not mean that it cannot implement certain decisions in specific fields when it so wills. The state’s authority, both internal and external, is the most important parameter. This is why the main objective is to elect a new president, in order to breathe life back into the country’s institutions and avoid giving priority to a community’s interests over national interest, which some parties are currently doing. What is important now, as far as the Syrian migrants are concerned, is for Lebanon to keep exercising diplomacy so that it can convey its message properly and alleviate the burden. To do that, it must have a unified position and respect all laws and international charters. In this context, the first step would be to categorize Syrian migrants in order to deal with each class in conformity with legal and practical data.
The European-pledged 2.17 billion dollars is nothing but a tranquilizer that is far from solving the core of the problem. One can go as far as saying that it is liable to perpetuate the current status quo, ending in the total deterioration of the political and social situation in host countries.
The Europeans have stressed the importance of “not forgetting Syria” in light of the many international crises—the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. But that, and publicly holding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable, is not enough. The EU must be more efficient at finding a permanent settlement to the Syrian crisis, but none of this can be done as long as the relationship with Russia remains toxic—due to Europe’s and the West’s unwavering support for Ukraine, and their constant provocation of the Russian bear. It would be difficult to picture any solution to the Syrian problem without negotiating with Moscow and Tehran; both countries have direct influence over the politics and future of Syria. As we wait for such an unlikely change to happen, Lebanon and other host countries ought to solve their problems away from racism and hate, and other states should better understand the social and political complexities of each society, especially Lebanon’s. Lebanon should draw inspiration from its unified position in Brussels, for its people’s sake.

Hazardous Materials in Zouk’s Thermal Plant: Another Ticking Bomb?
Joanne Naoum/This Is Beirut/May 29/2024
In 2020, while Lebanese citizens were still reeling from the devastating Beirut port explosion, alarming news surfaced about the presence of ammonium nitrate at the Zouk Mikael thermal plant factory in Keserwan, Mount Lebanon. This revelation sparked fears of another possible deadly catastrophe.
Four years later, no official has been held accountable for the Beirut port explosion. The investigation was amputated, and the state’s neglect, under the pretense of “it is not under my responsibility,” gives a sense of déjà vu in the Zouk Mikael case. Today, the fear of hazardous products being stocked in the Zouk factory is exacerbated by the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli army in southern Lebanon. The Mayor of Zouk Mikael, Joseph Baaino, told This is Beirut that there is no ammonium nitrate in the facility. However, he pointed out that several materials are being stored there and, if kept close to each other, could be dangerous. Moreover, some of these products have expired. Baaino stated that these materials pose a risk of explosion due to sabotage, warfare or heat, estimating that 50 to 60 tons are stored. He explained that these materials, used by the electricity company, have been a concern since the Beirut port explosion four years ago. Consequently, they alerted the army directorate, the Electricité du Liban (EDL) and relevant parties. To that effect, the Lebanese army sent the ammunition directorate to plan the removal of the materials to send them abroad for destruction. However, “we discovered that the materials are still here,” Baaino said. The mayor assured that several “positive” correspondences between them and the ministries of Defense, Interior, the Prime Minister’s office and the Lebanese army have been ongoing to address the danger and seek removal. Baaino pointed out that he thought the materials were removed, which is “why he did not follow through.” However, when caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi revealed two months ago that dangerous materials were still stocked there, they discovered complications in their removal.
For his part, the Head of the Public Procurement Authority, Jean Ellieh, told This is Beirut that “the law mandates the immediate removal of hazardous materials without delay.” The Public Procurement Authority communicated to the Ministry of Energy and the media that if the materials are hazardous and cannot wait for the tender process, which takes time, the law requires immediate removal. “There are legal mechanisms for direct contracting at reasonable prices to ensure the prompt removal of these materials,” he added. Ellieh insisted that although this isn’t within the Public Procurement Authority’s direct expertise, a statement was issued to the Ministry of Energy to address the hazard. Lebanon’s Electricité du Liban (EDL) reassured the public on Wednesday that the chemicals at the Zouk Mikael thermal plant, as assessed by security authorities and the German company CombiLift, are non-flammable and non-explosive, thus posing no public safety risk. These clarifications were previously stated in March and April 2022. EDL asked the Municipality of Zouk Mikael to provide any scientific evidence proving the danger of these chemicals, but has not received a response yet.
On Friday, May 31 at 7 PM, a demonstration is scheduled by Zouk residents to ask for the immediate removal of all dangerous chemicals, “which could lead to a catastrophic outcome.” The President of the Zouk Residents’ Association, Paul Zeitoun, shared the public’s concern about preventing a disaster that could affect the region from Dora to Jbeil. “A potential escalation could be scheduled should there be no response from authorities,” he told This is Beirut. He added, “Our children, our families, all of us are in danger. We must unite and stand together to achieve our goal of removing the danger from the entire Keserwan area.” However, he expressed surprise at the sudden change in stance from the mayor of Zouk Mikael, who stated that there are no dangerous chemicals, “I wonder what caused this sudden change in opinion.”“Despite the mayor’s recent statement, the association believes there is a significant threat,” he added. The association emphasizes the need for unity and decisive action to prevent a catastrophe similar to the Beirut port explosion. While waiting for the concerned parties to assume their responsibilities, and with the belief that another catastrophe can be prevented, the hope is that a shred of conscience will prompt officials to act quickly.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 29-30/2024
Israel says it seizes key Gaza-Egypt corridor
AFP/May 29, 2024
GAZA: The Israeli army said it took control on Wednesday of a vital Gaza-Egypt corridor suspected of aiding weapons smuggling as it intensified its offensive against Hamas in the border city of Rafah. The UN Security Council was set to meet for a second day of emergency talks after a strike at the weekend ignited a fire that Gaza officials said killed 45 people and injured about 250. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was among the many leaders to voice revulsion at the bloodshed, demanding that “this horror must stop.” Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said, however, that the war could go on until the year’s end. “We may have another seven months of fighting to consolidate our success and achieve what we have defined as the destruction of Hamas’s power and military capabilities,” Hanegbi said. An Israeli military official later told reporters the army had taken “operational control” of the strategic, 14-kilometer (8.5-mile) Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border. The corridor had served as a buffer between Gaza and Egypt, but since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, there were fears it was being used to channel weapons to armed groups in the Palestinian territory.
Its seizure comes weeks after Israeli forces took the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which alleged Wednesday Israel was using claims of cross-border tunnels as cover for its Rafah offensive. “Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the operation on the Palestinian city of Rafah and prolonging the war for political purposes,” a high-level Egyptian source was quoted as saying by state-linked Al-Qahera News. In besieged Rafah, witnesses reported escalated fighting with helicopters intensifying attacks, supported by artillery and smoke grenades.
Hamas’s military wing said it was firing rockets at Israeli troops. AFPTV footage showed Palestinians with bloodied midriffs and bandaged limbs after being wounded in strikes near Khan Yunis, close to Rafah, being taken to the European Hospital on makeshift gurneys. “The rockets fell directly on us. I was hurled three meters (yards)... I don’t know how I managed to get up on my feet,” said one who did not give his name. Gaza’s civil defense said three bodies were recovered from a Khan Yunis house after it was shelled. The United States has been among the countries urging Israel to refrain from a full-scale offensive into Rafah, the last Gaza city to see ground fighting, because of the risk to civilians. However, the White House said Tuesday that so far it had not seen Israel cross President Joe Biden’s “red lines,” with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying: “We have not seen them smash into Rafah.”On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel to quickly devise a post-war strategy for Gaza, stressing: “In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won’t be a day after.”A steady stream of civilians has been fleeing Rafah, the new hotspot in the gruelling war, many carrying belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts.
Before the Rafah offensive began on May 7, the United Nations had warned that up to 1.4 million people were sheltering there. Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sunday’s strike and ensuing fire a “tragic accident.” The army said it had targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members of the group.Israel’s military said it was investigating the strike, and its spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that “our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size.”
Gaza civil defense agency official Mohammad Al-Mughayyir said 21 more people were killed in a similar strike Tuesday “targeting the tents of displaced people” in western Rafah. The army denied this, saying it “did not strike in the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,” an area it had designated for displaced people from Rafah to shelter.New fighting also hit other areas of the besieged Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people. In the north, Israeli military vehicles unleashed intense gunfire east of Gaza City, an AFP reporter said, and residents reported strikes on Jabalia. The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,171 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Nearly eight months into the deadliest Gaza war, Israel has faced ever louder opposition and cases before two Netherlands-based international courts. At the UN Security Council, Algeria has presented a draft resolution that “demands an immediate ceasefire respected by all parties” and the release of all hostages. Algeria’s UN ambassador Amar Bendjama has not specified when he hopes to put the draft to a vote. Chinese ambassador Fu Cong expressed hope for a vote this week as President Xi Jinping told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Beijing he was “deeply pained” by the situation in Gaza. French UN ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said “it’s high time for this council to take action. This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of emergency.”US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, when asked about the draft resolution, said: “We’re waiting to see it and then we’ll react to it.”Brazil, whose ties with Israel have soured over the war, on Wednesday recalled its ambassador, further raising tensions between the two.Meanwhile, the World Central Kitchen nonprofit organization said it was stopping its operations in Rafah because of “ongoing attacks” in the southern city.

US says not changing Israeli policy despite Rafah strike
Agence France Presse/May 29/2024
U.S. President Joe Biden has no plans to change his Israel policy following a deadly weekend strike on Gaza's Rafah -- but is not turning a "blind eye" to the plight of Palestinian civilians, the White House said Tuesday. Gazan health authorities said 45 people were killed as a blaze tore through a camp for displaced people following the Sunday strike by Israel. But Washington does not believe that Israel's actions in Rafah amount to a full-scale operation that would breach Biden's "red lines," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. "As a result of this strike on Sunday I have no policy changes to speak to," Kirby told a White House briefing. "It just happened, the Israelis are going to investigate it." Kirby added however that "this is not something that we've turned a blind eye to" when asked "how many charred corpses" it would take for Biden to change course on the issue. Biden has previously said he would not support a major Israeli military offensive in Rafah, from which one million civilians have fled, and earlier this month paused a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel over concerns they could be used against the southern Gazan city. Witnesses told AFP that Israeli tanks were stationed in the center of Rafah on Tuesday, after intense fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in recent weeks. But under repeated questioning Kirby insisted that the president was not "moving the stick" on how to define a major military offensive against Rafah. "We have not seen them smash into Rafah," he added. "We have not seen them go in with large units, large numbers of troops, in columns and formations in some sort of coordinated maneuver against multiple targets on the ground."
- No to ICC sanctions -
The Pentagon had earlier said that it considers Israel's assault on Rafah as "limited in scope."Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh also said the administration was waiting for the Israeli military to conclude its investigation into Sunday's strike before commenting further. "We certainly take seriously what happened over the weekend. We've all seen the images. They're absolutely horrific," Singh added. Earlier U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel's preliminary investigation suggested that the strike was carried out using "the smallest bomb in their arsenal."Israel has called the loss of life "a tragic accident" and its army said Tuesday its munitions alone could not have caused the deadly blaze, adding that it had targeted and killed two senior Hamas militants in the strike. The White House also said it did not support calls from Republicans in Congress for sanctions against the International Criminal Court after its prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We don't believe that sanctions against the ICC is the right approach here," Kirby said, although he added that the United States still did not believe the war crimes court had jurisdiction. Separately, the Pentagon said the U.S. military has suspended aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip by sea after its temporary pier was damaged by bad weather.

Israeli strikes kill at least 37, most in tents, near Gaza's Rafah
Associated Press/May 29/2024
Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday — pummeling the same area where strikes triggered a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians — according to witnesses, emergency workers and hospital officials. The tent camp inferno has drawn widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel's closest allies, over the military's expanding offensive into Rafah. And in a sign of Israel's growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday. The Israeli military suggested Sunday's blaze in the tent camp may have been caused by secondary explosions, possibly from Palestinian militants' weapons. The results of Israel's initial probe into the fire were issued Tuesday, with military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari saying the cause of the fire was still under investigation but that the Israeli munitions used — targeting what the army said was a position with two senior Hamas militants — were too small to be the source.
The strike or the subsequent fire could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp. The blaze killed 45 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials' count. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire was the result of a "tragic mishap."Israel's assault on Rafah, launched May 6, spurred more than 1 million people to flee the city, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees said Tuesday. Most were already displaced multiple times in the nearly eight-month war between Israel and Hamas. Families are now scattered across makeshift tent camps and other war-ravaged areas. The strikes over the past few days have hit areas west of Rafah, where the military had not ordered civilians to evacuate. Israeli ground troops and tanks have been operating in eastern Rafah, in central parts of the city, and along the Gaza-Egypt border. Shelling late Monday and early Tuesday hit Rafah's western Tel al-Sultan district, killing at least 16 people, the Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Seven of the dead were in tents next to a U.N. facility about about 200 meters (yards) from the site of Sunday's fire. "It was a night of horror," said Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Tel al-Sultan since December. He said he heard "constant sounds" of explosions overnight and into Tuesday, with fighter jets and drones flying above.
He said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of his neighborhood of Shijaiyah in Gaza City, where Israel launched a heavy bombing campaign before sending in ground forces in late 2023. "We saw this before," he said. The United States and other allies of Israel have warned against a full-fledged offensive in the city, with the Biden administration saying this would cross a "red line" and refusing to provide offensive arms for such an undertaking. On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller gave no indication the administration sees Israel as crossing any of the red lines for Rafah, saying the offensive is still on a "far different" scale than assaults on other population centers in Gaza. The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive last week as part of South Africa's case accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. A proposed U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a halt to the fighting in Rafah was being circulated by Algeria on Tuesday, with plans to potentially bring it to a vote this week. The U.S. has vetoed multiple Gaza cease-fire resolutions. On Tuesday afternoon, an Israeli drone strike hit tents near a field hospital by the Mediterranean coast west of Rafah, killing at least 21 people, including 13 women, Gaza's Health Ministry said. A witness, Ahmed Nassar, said his four cousins and some of their husbands and children were killed in the strike and a number of tents were destroyed or damaged. Most of those living there had fled from the same neighborhood in Gaza City earlier in the war. "They have nothing to do with anything," he said.
Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead in Rafah, saying Israeli forces must enter the city to dismantle Hamas and return hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. In its investigation of Sunday's deadly strike and fire, the Israeli military released satellite photos of what it said was a Hamas rocket launch position about 40 meters (yards) from an area of sheds that was targeted. In the photo, the alleged launcher itself did not appear to have been struck. He said Israeli warplanes used the smallest bombs possible — two munitions with 17-kilogram (37-pound) warheads. "Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size," he said. Hagari said that the fire was "a devastating incident which we did not expect" and ignited due to "unforeseen circumstances." Still, the strikes have triggered a flight of people from areas west of Rafah. Sayed al-Masri, a Rafah resident, said many families were heading to the crowded Muwasi area or to Khan Younis, a southern city that suffered heavy damage during months of fighting. "The situation is worsening" in Rafah, al-Masri said.
Gaza's Health Ministry said two medical facilities in Tel al-Sultan are out of service because of intense bombing nearby. Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charity operating throughout the territory, said the Tel al-Sultan medical center and the Indonesian Field Hospital were under lockdown with medics, patients and displaced people trapped inside. Most of Gaza's hospitals are no longer functioning. Rafah's Kuwait Hospital shut down Monday after a strike near its entrance killed two health workers. A spokesperson for the World Health Organization said the casualties from Sunday's strike and fire "absolutely overwhelmed" field hospitals in the area, which were already running short on supplies to treat severe burns. "That requires intensive care, that requires electricity, that requires high-level medical services," Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva. "Increasingly, we are struggling to even have the high-level skilled doctors and nurses because they've been displaced." The war began when Hamas and other militants burst into southern Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, allegedly killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. More than 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israel responded to the attack with a massive air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Around 80% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has been displaced and U.N. officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine. The fighting in Rafah has made it nearly impossible for humanitarian groups to import and distribute aid to southern Gaza. The Israeli military says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter through the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing since the start of its operation, but aid groups say it's extremely difficult to access that aid on the Gaza side because of the fighting. The U.N. says it has only been able to collect aid from around 170 trucks over the past three weeks via Kerem Shalom. Smaller amounts of aid were also entering through two crossings in the north and by sea through a U.S.-built floating pier, but it's nowhere near the 600 trucks a day that aid groups say are needed. And the pier is being removed for repairs.

Car ramming attack kills two Israelis in West Bank
AFP/May 30, 2024
JERUSALEM: A car ramming attack killed two Israelis near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Israeli army said. The army had earlier reported a car ramming attack near an Israeli settlement outside Nablus. It then told AFP “two Israeli citizens were killed.”According to Israeli media, the army launched a manhunt for the suspected attacker, as violence in the West Bank flares during Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza. The deadliest Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the Israeli army says are dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,171 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Hamas welcomed the attack near Nablus, saying in a statement it was a “natural response” against the “crimes of the enemy.”

French PM Macron urges Abbas to ‘reform’ Palestinian Authority with ‘prospect of recognition’
AFP/May 30, 2024
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron urged Palestinian Authority chief Mahmud Abbas to “implement necessary reforms,” offering the “prospect of recognition of the state of Palestine” during a phone call Wednesday, his office said. Macron “highlighted France’s commitment to building a common vision of peace with European and Arab partners, offering security guarantees for Palestinians and Israelis,” as well as “making the prospect of recognition of a state of Palestine part of a useful process,” Macron’s Elysee Palace said. The readout of the call with the chief of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank follows Tuesday’s official recognition for a Palestinian state by fellow European nations Spain, Ireland and Norway, which drew ire from Israel. Macron’s Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne earlier Wednesday accused France’s neighbors of “political positioning” ahead of June 9 European elections, rather than seeking a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Macron had said Tuesday that he would be prepared to recognize a Palestinian state, but such a move should “come at a useful moment” and not be based on “emotion.” France supports “a reformed and strengthened Palestinian Authority, able to carry out its responsibilities throughout the Palestinian territories, including in the Gaza Strip, for the benefit of the Palestinian people,” Macron told Abbas on Wednesday, according to the Elysee Palace readout. Abbas’s office said in a statement that he expressed the Palestinian government’s commitment to “reform” during the talks with Macron. He called on “European countries that have not recognized the state of Palestine to do so.”Current fighting in Gaza, controlled by the PA’s rival Hamas, was sparked by the militant group’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the Israeli army says are dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,171 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Macron called civilian casualties “intolerable” and offered his “sincere condolences to the Palestinian people” for the bombing of a displaced people’s camp in Rafah in southern Gaza. He told Abbas that Paris was “determined to work with Algeria and its partners on the UN Security Council” so the body “makes a strong statement on Rafah.” Algeria’s draft resolution calls on Israel to immediately halt military action in Rafah.

Blinken Urges Israel to Craft Post-war Gaza Plan, Warns of Chaos
Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday urged Israel to come up with a post-war plan for Gaza and warned that the absence of it could trigger lawlessness, chaos and a comeback by Hamas in the enclave. Blinken, speaking at a press conference in Moldova, said that while Israel has had real success in destroying the capacity of Hamas to repeat an attack such as the one that occurred on Oct. 7, the Israeli government now had to ask whether further gains against Hamas would be durable without a post-war plan. He cited the added difficulty of Hamas being closely embedded with civilians. "And I think this underscores the imperative of having a plan for the day after because in the absence of a plan for the day after there won't be a day after," Blinken said. "If not, Hamas will be left in charge, which is unacceptable. Or if not, we'll have chaos, lawlessness, and a vacuum." Israel's three-week-old Rafah offensive stirred renewed outrage after an airstrike on Sunday ignited a blaze in a tent camp in a western district, killing at least 45 people. Israel said it had targeted two senior Hamas operatives in a compound and had not intended to cause civilian casualties. Blinken said on Wednesday he could not verify whether US-supplied weapons were used by Israel in its latest deadly attack in Rafah, adding that what weapons were used and how would have to be the object of an investigation into the attack.

Palestinian PM Visits Madrid After Spain, Norway and Ireland Recognize Palestinian State
Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and leading officials from several Middle Eastern countries in Madrid on Wednesday after Spain, Ireland and Norway recognized a Palestinian state. The diplomatic move by the three western European nations on Tuesday was slammed by Israel and will have little immediate impact on its grinding war in Gaza, but it was a victory for the Palestinians and could encourage other Western powers to follow suit. Mustafa was joined by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and the foreign ministers for Türkiye and Jordan, members of the group called the Foreign Ministerial Committee of Arabic and Islamic countries for Gaza. They also met with Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state — more than two-thirds of the United Nations. With Spain and Ireland, there are now nine members of the 27-nation European Union that officially recognize a Palestinian state. Norway is not an EU member but its foreign policy is usually aligned with the bloc.Slovenia, an EU member, will decide on the recognition of a Palestinian state on Thursday and forward its decision to parliament for final approval. The move to recognize a Palestinian state has caused relations between the EU and Israel to nosedive. Madrid and Dublin are pushing for the EU to take measures against Israel for its continued attacks on southern Gaza’s city of Rafah. The decision by Spain, Ireland and Norway comes more than seven months into an assault waged by Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack in which fighters stormed across the Gaza border into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. Israel’s air and land attacks have since killed 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilian.

US-made munitions used in deadly strike on Rafah tent camp, CNN analysis shows
Allegra Goodwin, Avery Schmitz and Kathleen Magramo, CNN/May 28, 2024
At least 45 people were killed and more than 200 others injured after a fire broke out following the Israeli military’s strike on the outskirts of Gaza’s southernmost city, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinian medics. Footage obtained by CNN showed swathes of the camp in Rafah in flames, with scores of men, women and children frantically trying to find cover from the nighttime assault. Burned bodies, including those of children, could be seen being pulled by rescuers from the wreckage. Israel’s escalating assault in Rafah – where some 1.3 million Palestinians were taking shelter before Israel began its operation there – has drawn swift international condemnation, with United Nations agencies, aid groups and multiple governments calling on Israel to immediately halt its offensive. Israeli tanks were seen advancing further into Rafah on Tuesday for the first time in Israel’s seven-month war against Hamas, signaling a new phase Israel pressing on with its controversial and destructive offensive. However, US President Joe Biden is not altering his policy towards Israel, suggesting the deadly Rafah strike had not yet crossed a red line that would force changes in American support, despite him saying in a CNN interview earlier this month he wouldn’t allow certain US weapons to be used in a major offensive in Rafah.
CNN geolocated videos showing tents in flames in the aftermath of the strike on the camp for internally displaced people known as “Kuwait Peace Camp 1.” In video shared on social media, which CNN geolocated to the same scene by matching details including the camp’s entrance sign and the tiles on the ground, the tail of a US-made GBU-39 small diameter bomb (SDB) is visible, according to four explosive weapons experts who reviewed the video for CNN.The GBU-39, which is manufactured by Boeing, is a high-precision munition “designed to attack strategically important point targets,” and result in low collateral damage, explosive weapons expert Chris Cobb-Smith told CNN Tuesday. However, “using any munition, even of this size, will always incur risks in a densely populated area,” said Cobb-Smith, who is also a former British Army artillery officer.
Trevor Ball, a former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member who also identified the fragment as being from a GBU-39, explained to CNN how he drew his conclusion. “The warhead portion [of the munition] is distinct, and the guidance and wing section is extremely unique compared to other munitions. Guidance and wing sections of munitions are often the remnants left over even after a munition detonates. I saw the tail actuation section and instantly knew it was one of the SDB/GBU-39 variants.”Ball also concluded that while there is a variant of the GBU-39 known as the Focused Lethality Munition (FLM) which has a larger explosive payload but is designed to cause even less collateral damage, this was not the variant used in this case.
“The FLM has a carbon fiber composite warhead body and is filled with tungsten ground into a powder. Photos of FLM testing have shown objects in the test coated in tungsten dust, which is not present [in video from the scene],” he told CNN.
Serial numbers on the remnants of the munitions also matched those for a manufacturer of GBU-39 parts based in California – pointing to more evidence the bombs were made in the US. Two additional explosive weapons experts – Richard Weir, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch, and Chris Lincoln-Jones, a former British Army artillery officer and weapons and targeting expert – identified the fragment as being part of a US-manufactured GBU-39 when reviewing the video for CNN, though they were unable to comment on the variant used. Asked for comment on the munitions used in the Rafah strike at Tuesday’s briefing, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters: “I do not know what type of munition was used in that airstrike. I’d have to refer you to the Israelis to speak to that.”CNN has also reached out to the US National Security Council.
Main weapons supplier
The US has long been the biggest supplier of arms to Israel, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and that support has continued despite the growing political pressure on the Biden administration over the Gaza offensive. Last month, Biden signed a foreign aid bill that included $26 billion for the Israel-Hamas conflict — including $15 billion in Israeli military aid, $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and $2.4 billion for regional US military operations. CNN’s identification of the munition is consistent with a claim made by IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a briefing about the tragedy on Tuesday. Hagari told reporters the strike – which he said targeted senior Hamas commanders – used two munitions with small warheads containing 17 kilos of explosives, adding these bombs were “the smallest munitions that our jets could use.” The traditional GBU-39 warhead has an explosive payload of 17 kilos. Hagari said the deadly fire which occurred following the strike was not caused solely by weapons used by the Israeli military. “Our munitions alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,” Hagari said, adding the IDF was investigating “what may have caused such a large fire to ignite.”He added that Israel is looking into whether the strike was “unintentionally set off possible stored weapons in a nearby compound.”Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deadly airstrike in Rafah was a “tragic error,” but said Israel has vowed to press on with its operation despite international outrage and a US warning not to proceed. CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.

World's largest humanitarian network calls for Gaza ceasefire
Karen Lema/MANILA (Reuters) /May 29, 2024
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) called on Wednesday for a ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, where millions of people face worsening hunger. The war-torn enclave is suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe nearly seven months after Israel launched a devastating offensive in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks that killed 1,200 people in Israel. "We desperately need a political solution that will allow us to have a ceasefire to get aid in," IFRC President Kate Forbes told Reuters in an interview in the capital, Manila.
"We're ready to make a difference. We have to have access, and to have access there has to have a ceasefire," said Forbes, who in December became the second woman to ever hold the top job at the world's largest humanitarian network.
The IFRC president is a volunteer position and oversees a network that unites 191 organisations working during and after disasters and wars, such as the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which has ambulance crews in Gaza. Forbes said she had seen the "atrocious" situation in Rafah during a visit in February, months before Israel launched a military assault on the southern Gaza city, which had been sheltering more than a million Palestinians who fled assaults on other parts of the enclave. "There was no not enough housing. There was no water, there weren't enough sanitation toilets. We had a hospital with no equipment... and unfortunately what I was afraid of has happened, and that there wasn't going to be enough food," Forbes said. Prospects for a resumption of mediated Gaza ceasefire talks grew over the weekend, even as Israel pressed on with its offensive in Gaza to eliminate the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas after the top United Nations court ordered Israel on Friday to stop attacking Rafah. Hamas has denied reports that talks would resume earlier this week. Both sides have blamed the other for the deadlock. Israel has said it cannot accept Hamas' demand to end the war, while the Palestinians want Palestinian prisoners to be released. "I plead with the governments on all sides to negotiate a ceasefire so that we can get aid in," Forbes said. "My job is to ensure that when it (ceasefire) happens, we can give the aid that's necessary. And so they need to do their jobs so I can do my job," she added.

A senior Israeli official offers a grim prediction for the war as fighting rages in Gaza's Rafah
Melanie Lidman, Wafaa Shurafa And Samy Magdy/TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) /Wed, May 29, 2024
Israel’s war with Hamas is likely to last through the end of the year, a top Israeli official said Wednesday, a grim prediction for a war already in its eighth month that has killed tens of thousands, deepened Israel’s global isolation and brought the region repeatedly to the brink of a wider conflagration.
National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi's remarks were made as Israel was expanding its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which has been the scene of intense fighting over recent days that has killed dozens, including displaced Palestinians. The military said three Israeli soldiers were killed on Tuesday, reportedly by a booby-trap that exploded inside a building. Hanegbi told Kan public radio that he was “expecting another seven months of fighting” to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group. “The army is achieving its objectives but (it) said from the first days it was presenting its plan to the Cabinet that the war will be long,” he said. “They have designated 2024 as a year of war.” Hanegbi’s remarks raise questions about the future of Gaza and what kind of role Israel will play in it. Already top ally the United States has demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decide on a postwar vision for the Palestinian territory and his defense minister and a top governing partner have warned that he must take steps to ensure that Israel isn’t bogged down in Gaza indefinitely. The war has already devastated Gaza’s urban landscape, displaced most of the territory’s population and sparked a humanitarian catastrophe and widespread hunger. It has opened Israel up to international legal scrutiny, with world courts faulting it over its wartime conduct, sparked disagreements with the White House, and prompted three European nations to recognize a Palestinian state against Israel’s wishes. Israel says it must dismantle Hamas' last remaining battalions in Rafah. It has also said it will seek indefinite security control over the Gaza Strip, even after the war ends. Israel has yet to achieve its main goals of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.
Beyond Rafah, Israeli forces were still battling militants in parts of Gaza that the military said it wrested control of months ago — potential signs of a low-level insurgency that could keep Israeli troops engaged in the territory. The fighting in Rafah has displaced 1 million people, the United Nations says, and Palestinians on Wednesday reported heavy fighting in different parts of the city. Most of the people who had been in Rafah had previously been displaced from elsewhere in Gaza. Residents said fighting was underway in the city center and on the outskirts of Tel al-Sultan, a northwestern neighborhood where an Israeli strike over the weekend ignited a fire that swept through an encampment for displaced people, killing dozens. The military says it is investigating the strike and said the blaze may have been caused by a secondary explosion. An expensive floating pier built by the U.S. to surge aid into the territory was meanwhile taken out of service by bad weather, in another setback to efforts to bring food to starving Palestinians. Gaza's land crossings are now entirely controlled by Israel.
Palestinians in Rafah said thousands were still streaming out of the city, joining a mass exodus bound for crowded tent camps and areas devastated by earlier rounds of fighting. Many have already been displaced multiple times since the start of the war. Saeed Abu Garad, a father of five living in the city center, said he had seen Israeli soldiers and tanks a few hundred meters (yards) from his home. “We are leaving today. The situation is extremely dangerous,” he said, adding that his neighbors have already left. Ramadan al-Najjar, who fled to Rafah from northern Gaza earlier in the war and has been sheltering outside Tel al-Sultan for the past five months, said the fighting has intensified there in recent days. “After heavy airstrikes, they began advancing, and tanks are now at the district entrances,” he said. Overnight and into Tuesday, Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents outside Rafah, according to witnesses and health officials. The strikes occurred in the same area as the tent camp inferno, which has drawn widespread international outrage.
The Israeli military suggested Sunday’s blaze in the tent camp may have been caused by secondary explosions, possibly from Palestinian militants’ weapons. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, said the munitions used — targeting what the army said was a position with two senior Hamas militants — were too small to be the source of the blaze. The strike or the subsequent fire could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp. The blaze killed 45 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Netanyahu said the fire was the result of a “tragic mishap.”The strikes over the past few days have hit areas west of Rafah, where the military had not ordered civilians to evacuate. Israeli ground troops and tanks have been operating in eastern Rafah, in central parts of the city, and along the Gaza-Egypt border. The U.S. and other allies of Israel have warned against a full-fledged offensive in Rafah, with the Biden administration saying this would cross a “red line” and refusing to provide offensive arms for such an undertaking. On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller gave no indication the administration sees Israel as crossing any of the red lines for Rafah, saying the offensive is still on a “far different” scale than assaults on other population centers in Gaza.
Last week, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive as part of South Africa’s case accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, a charge Israel vehemently denies. A proposed U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a halt to Rafah fighting was being circulated by Algeria on Tuesday, with plans to potentially bring it to a vote this week. The U.S. has vetoed multiple Gaza cease-fire resolutions. The war began when Hamas and other militants burst into southern Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 civilians and taking around 250 hostage. More than 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israel’s offensive in response to the attack has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Israel says it has killed 13,000 militants.

Brazil president withdraws his country's ambassador to Israel after criticizing the war in Gaza
Eleonore Hughes And David Biller/AP/Wed, May 29, 2024
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva withdrew his ambassador to Israel on Wednesday after months of tensions between the two countries over the war in Gaza. The move was announced in Brazil’s official gazette. There was no immediate response from Israel. Lula has been a frequent critic of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which he compared to the Holocaust earlier this year. That led Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz to summon the Brazilian ambassador to the national Holocaust museum in Jerusalem for a public reprimand. The removal of Brazil’s Ambassador Frederico Meyer comes in response to that humiliating action by the Israeli top diplomat, according to a person at Brazil’s foreign ministry with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. Meyer has been transferred to Geneva and will join Brazil's permanent mission to the United Nations and other international organizations. The latest war in Gaza, now in its eighth month, began when the Palestinian militant Hamas group burst into southern Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 civilians and taking around 250 hostage. Israel’s offensive in response to that attack has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Israel says it has killed 13,000 militants. In February, Brazil's Lula said that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”Israel says its war in Gaza is a defensive action triggered by Hamas' unprecedented assault and rejects any comparisons of its offensive to the Holocaust.
Eleonore Hughes And David Biller, The Associated Press

Israel Denounced over Gaza Health Emergency at WHO Meeting
More than 30 countries condemned Israel's attacks on hospitals in Gaza and demanded more scrutiny of its role in the enclave's health crisis at a World Health Organization meeting on Wednesday, and some blamed Israel for a growing risk of famine. The WHO has recorded hundreds of attacks on health facilities in the occupied Palestinian territories, which includes Gaza, since the Oct. 7 Israel-Hamas conflict began, but does not attribute blame. The latest phase of the conflict this month has seen Israel launch a military operation against Rafah, blocking patient transfers, all but cutting off medical supplies and threatening its last functioning hospital. A group of countries are backing a proposal at the WHO's annual assembly in Geneva that would mandate the UN health agency to boost documentation of the "catastrophic humanitarian crisis" in Gaza and report on "starvation" amid UN warnings of famine and disease after nearly eight months of conflict. The motion is supported by over 30 countries mostly from Africa and the Gulf region but also Russia, Türkiye and China but even more spoke in favor of it. A vote is expected later on Wednesday. "The healthcare system of Gaza is devastated. Israel has targeted hospitals in Gaza, completely destroying treatment facilities. This also means a war against the fundamental right to health," said Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca. He also accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war and said its actions against hospitals amounted to a war crime. Palestine's ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi urged countries to support the motion. "We cannot allow Israel to destroy everything, to destroy health care facilities and to allow this to happen," he told the crowded meeting room. Israel's ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar blamed Hamas for "deliberately putting the safety of patients at risk" by using health facilities for military purposes. It submitted an amendment to include a reference to the 250 hostages seized during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks which killed 1,200 people and to condemn the use of hospitals by armed groups. Israel denies responsibility for delays in getting aid into Gaza and says the UN and others are responsible for its distribution once inside. Ireland was one of just a handful of countries to call for the release of the hostages in a speech where it also asked Israel to cease its Rafah operation.

Another US military MQ-9 Reaper drone goes down in Yemen, images purportedly show
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates/AP/May 29, 2024
) — Another U.S. military MQ-9 Reaper drone went down in Yemen, images online purported to show Wednesday, as Yemen's Houthi rebels continued attacks on shipping around the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war. It wasn't immediately clear what brought down the drone, but the U.S. military's Central Command acknowledged seeing “reports” of the aircraft being downed in a desert region of Yemen's central Marib province. It marked potentially the third such downing this month alone. Images published online and analyzed by The Associated Press showed the MQ-9 on its belly in the barren desert, its tail assembly disconnected from their rest of its body. At least one hatch on the drone appeared to have been opened after it landed there, though the drone remained broadly intact without any clear blast damage. One image included Wednesday's date. Authorities in Marib, which remains held by allies of Yemen's exiled government, did not immediately acknowledge the drone. Nor did the Houthis, who previously have shot down MQ-9 drones during the war. Located 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Sanaa, Marib sits on the edge of the Arabian Peninsula’s Empty Quarter Desert at the foot of the Sarawat Mountains running along the Red Sea. The province has seen U.S. drones previously brought down there, in part because the region remains crucial for the outcome of Yemen's yearslong war. Since Yemen’s civil war started in 2014, when the Houthis seized most of the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels. This month alone, there's been two others suspected shootdowns of Reapers that the American military hasn't confirmed. Reapers cost around $30 million apiece. They can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (about 15,000 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The Houthis in recent months have stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostage. The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. On Wednesday, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree acknowledged the rebels attacked the bulk carrier Laax on Tuesday. Saree also claimed a number of other attacks on vessels that have not reported assaults without offering any evidence to support his claim. Saree in the past has exaggerated Houthi attacks.

Iran's Khamenei seeks trusted hardliner to replace Raisi in June vote
Parisa Hafezi/Reuters/May 29, 2024
Iran fires the starting gun this week on an election to replace President Ebrahim Raisi, whose death in a helicopter crash could complicate efforts by the authorities to manage a task of even greater consequence - the succession to the supreme leader.
Once seen as a possible successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ageing ultimate decision-maker, Raisi's sudden death has triggered a race among hardliners to influence the selection of Iran's next leader. Khamenei, 85, seeks a fiercely loyal president in the June 28 election to run the country day-to-day and be a trusted ally who can ensure stability, amid manoeuvring over the eventual succession to his own position, insiders and analysts say. "The next president is likely to be a hardliner unwaveringly loyal to Khamenei with a background in the Revolutionary Guards. Someone with an unblemished background and devoid of political rivalries," said Tehran-based analyst Saeed Leylaz. Registration for candidates opens on Thursday, although that is only the beginning of a process that will see hopefuls vetted by the Guardian Council, a hardline watchdog body that disqualifies candidates without always publicising the reason.
Three insiders familiar with the thinking at the top level of the Iranian establishment said there had been discussions among the leadership about the merits of various ways of handling the presidential contest. "The prevailing outcome was that the primary (goal) should be securing the election of a president who is intensely loyal to the supreme leader and his ideals. A low voter turnout will inevitably secure it," said one of the sources, who like the others declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the topic. That goal -- victory for a hardline president able to shape a smooth transition at the pinnacle of power when Khamenei eventually dies -- nevertheless presents a conundrum for the ruling clerics managing the vote next month. To ensure the winner is a diehard Khamenei loyalist, it is likely the upcoming election will be dominated by hardliners with outlooks similar to his, the insiders and analysts say.
LIMITED CHOICE FOR VOTERS
But restricting the choice on the ballot is likely to dampen voters' interest and keep turnout low, dealing an unwelcome blow to the prestige of the 45-year-old Islamic Republic. The quandry is a familiar one in Iran. In a race where those who run are carefully reviewed, typically the challenge for the clerical establishment is securing a high turnout. The Guardian Council will publish the list of qualified candidates on June 11. Raisi clinched victory in 2021 on a turnout of about 49% - a significant drop from the 70% seen in 2017 and 76% in 2013 - largely amid widespread voter apathy after the Guardian Council eliminated heavy-weight conservative and moderate rivals. Critics say the turnout also reflected discontent over economic hardship and social and political restrictions which drove months of protests ignited by the death of a young woman arrested by the morality police in 2022. Including low-key moderate candidates on the ballot might be a way to attract a larger turnout, some analysts say. Currently sidelined from power, reformists remain faithful to Iran's theocratic rule but advocate improved relations with the West, and gradual moves towards more freedom of expression and a loosening of strict Islamic dress code. Reformist former senior official Mohammad Ali Abtahi said the pro-reform camp would contest the election if its candidate was permitted to stand, although he added it was not clear how much political space reformists would be allowed. "This cycle of low voter turnout, which has ensured hardliner victories in past parliament and presidential elections, can be changed .... But I have my doubts about any potential political opening," he said.
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
However, the reformists' electoral strength remains unclear, as some voters believe they failed to bring greater freedoms in the periods when they were in power in the past decade. Moreover, the 2022 protests exposed a widening rift between the reformists and demonstrators demanding "regime change". "Even allowing a few known moderates to stand ... might not be enough to get people to turn out. Voters have been repeatedly misled by the idea that reform-minded candidates ... would produce real change," said Eurasia group analyst Gregory Brew. A new president would be unlikely to make any change to Iran's nuclear or foreign policy, both of which are controlled by the supreme leader. The registration of candidates could include Parviz Fattah, a former Guards member who heads an investment fund linked to the leader, and Saeed Jalili, a former chief nuclear negotiator who in 2001 ran Khamenei's office for four years, the insiders said. Fattah will make his final decision "after meeting some senior authorities on Wednesday", a third insider said. Interim President Mohammad Mokhber and former parliament speaker and a Khamenei adviser, Ali Larijani, have also been mentioned in Iranian media as possible candidates. Larijani was barred from standing in the 2021 presidential race.

A group of armed men burns a girls' school in northwest Pakistan, in third such attack this month
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP)/May 29, 2024
A group of armed men used kerosene to set fire to a girls’ school in a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold, destroying furniture, computers and books, police said Wednesday, in the latest in a series of such attacks. No one was hurt in the overnight attack in North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police official Rehmat Ullah said. Two other girls' schools in the region were bombed earlier this month. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Police said they suspect the involvement of a man who recently had a dispute with the owner of the school and are seeking to arrest him. Authorities had earlier suspected militants, who targeted girls’ schools years ago, saying that women should not be educated. North Waziristan is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, who are also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. It is a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban.

Nikki Haley Visits Israel And Signs Artillery Shells With Callous Messages
Paige Skinner/HuffPost/May 29, 2024
Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley visited Israel over Memorial Day weekend and signed her name on Israeli artillery shells as a show of support for the country’s war with Gaza, where an estimated 35,000 Palestinians have been killed so far. Haley, a former U.N. ambassador, traveled with Danny Danon, a member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to an Israel Defense Forces post and interacted with soldiers serving on the northern border with Lebanon. Danon posted photos on social media of Haley signing the artillery shells and including the messages “Finish them!” and “America loves Israel!”“This is what my friend, the former ambassador, Nikki Haley wrote today about a shell during a visit to an artillery post on the northern border,” Danon wrote on social media, according to Google Translate. Though it’s not totally clear where the bombs are intended to be used, the move was decried as insensitive as Israel attacks Rafah in its ongoing campaign in Gaza. Airstrikes on Sunday killed an estimated 50 refugees who were sheltering in tents in Rafah after being evacuated from other parts of the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the airstrikes “a tragic mistake.”On Tuesday, Haley posted photos of the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel on social media with the caption, “No other country would accept this, Israel should not either.” Haley also met Monday with Israeli survivors of the Oct. 7 attack, which left an estimated 1,190 people dead and about 240 taken hostage. She told reporters in Israel that America should not withhold weapons from the nation. “America needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war,” Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, said. “Until you’ve lived it, you can’t say how to fight it. You’re either a friend or you’re not a friend.”After dropping out of the 2024 presidential race in March, Haley endorsed former President Donald Trump last week, despite earlier having called Trump “unhinged,” “diminished” and not fit to be president.

Houthis in Yemen Launch Attacks at Six Ships in Three Seas
Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen launched attacks at six ships in three different seas, including the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Laax that was damaged after reporting a Houthi missile strike off the coast of Yemen, the militias said on Wednesday. The Laax was attacked on Tuesday. The Houthis also launched attacks against the Morea and Sealady vessels in the Red Sea, the Alba and Maersk Hartford in the Arabian Sea and the Minvera Antonia in the Mediterranean, military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised speech. The Laax, which was carrying a cargo of grain, was hit by five missiles fired from Yemen, but the vessel was still able to sail to its destination and the crew were safe, the ship's security company, LSS-SAPU, told Reuters on Wednesday. "The vessel has sustained damage, she is not taking water, she is not tilting and there are no wounded onboard," a LSS-SAPU spokesperson said. "She is proceeding to her destination with a normal speed."The spokesperson with LSS-SAPU, which was responsible for evacuating the crew from the Rubymar ship which sank after being hit by a Houthi missile earlier this year, said Laax's Greece based owner had no connection with Israel or the United States. The vessel last reported its position on May 28 with a destination of Bandar Imam Khomeini in Iran, LSEG shipping data showed. The Houthis, who describe their attacks as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's war in Gaza, have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea region since November, later expanding to the Indian Ocean. They promised to attack any ships sailing towards Israeli ports, even in the Mediterranean. The group has managed to sink one ship, the Rubymar, seized another vessel, killed two crew members and disrupted global shipping by forcing vessels to avoid the nearby Suez Canal and reroute trade around Africa.

Egypt and China deepen cooperation during el-Sissi's visit to Beijing
CAIRO (AP)/May 29/2024
Egypt and China on Wednesday signed agreements deepening their cooperation during President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's visit to Beijing. El-Sissi, accompanied by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, witnessed the signing together with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a ceremony that coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Egypt-China comprehensive strategic partnership. The Egyptian delegation discussed bilateral relations and bringing stability to the Middle East in light of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, according to a statement released by the Egyptian presidency. It gave no details. The agreements include collaboration in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which brings Chinese companies to build Chinese-funded transportation, energy, and infrastructure projects overseas.China invested billions of dollars in Egyptian state projects, including the Suez Canal Economic Zone and the new Administrative Capital east of Cairo. Investments between Egypt and China amounted to around $14 billion in 2023, compared to $16.6 billion in 2022, according to the latest data released by Egypt’s statistics agency.

Police Search European Parliament over Suspected Russian Interference
Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that police carried out searches at the residence of an employee of the European Parliament and at his office in the Parliament’s building in Brussels over suspected Russian interference. According to The Associated Press, prosecutors said in statement that the suspect’s office in Strasbourg, where the EU Parliament’s headquarters are located in France, was also searched in partnership with the EU’s judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust, and French judicial authorities. The raids took place less than two weeks before Europe-wide polls on June 6-9 to elect a new EU parliament. The investigation was announced last month by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who said his country’s intelligence service has confirmed the existence of a network trying to undermine support for Ukraine. “The searches are part of a case of interference, passive corruption and membership of a criminal organization and relates to indications of Russian interference, whereby Members of the European Parliament were approached and paid to promote Russian propaganda via the Voice of Europe news website,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they believe the employee played “a significant role in this.”
De Croo said last month that the probe showed that members of the European Parliament were approached and offered money to promote Russian propaganda.
“According to our intelligence service, the objectives of Moscow are very clear. The objective is to help elect more pro-Russian candidates to the European Parliament and to reinforce a certain pro-Russian narrative in that institution,” he said. EU nations have poured billions of euros into Ukraine, along with significant amounts of weaponry and ammunition. They’ve also slapped sanctions on top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, banks, companies and the energy sector since Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Sweden Gives Radar Surveillance Planes to Ukraine Air Force
Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
Sweden will donate two radar surveillance and command aircraft to Ukraine to boost its defenses in the war with Russia, the Swedish government said on Wednesday, its largest aid package to Ukraine so far, worth about 13.3 billion Swedish crowns ($1.3 billion). The Saab Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASC) 890 aircraft allows easier long-range target identification and will help Ukraine with the planned introduction of F-16 fighter jets donated by other Western countries, Sweden said. "They will complement and reinforce the F-16 systems," Defense Minister Pal Jonson told a press briefing in Stockholm. Ukraine's air force, which relies on a relatively small fleet of old, Soviet-era jets, wants F-16s to help enhance its air defenses amid regular Russian air strikes and to push back against advanced Russian fighter jets. Earlier this week, Ukraine's defense minister said he hoped the first F-16 fighter jets would be delivered to Ukraine "very soon". The Swedish government said last week it planned to give military support to Ukraine totaling 75 billion Swedish crowns ($7.1 billion) over three years. Sweden will now speed up orders for S 106 Global Eye aircraft to replace the donated planes, Jonson said.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on May 29-30/2024
Netanyahu frequently makes claims of antisemitism. Critics say he's deflecting from his own problems
Tia Goldenberg/The Associated Press/May 29, 2024
After the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister and top Hamas officials, the Israeli leader accused him of being one of “the great antisemites in modern times.” As protests roiled college campuses across the United States over the Gaza war, Netanyahu said they were awash with “antisemitic mobs.”
These are just two of the many instances during the war in which Netanyahu has accused critics of Israel or his policies of antisemitism, using fiery rhetoric to compare them to the Jewish people's worst persecutors. But his detractors say he is overusing the label to further his political agenda and try to stifle even legitimate criticism, and that doing so risks diluting the term's meaning at a time when antisemitism is surging worldwide.
“Not every criticism against Israel is antisemitic,” said Tom Segev, an Israeli historian. “The moment you say it is antisemitic hate ... you take away all legitimacy from the criticism and try to crush the debate.”
There has been a spike in antisemitic incidents since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, according to researchers. And many Jews in North America and Europe have said they feel unsafe, citing threats to Jewish schools and synagogues and the pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations in the U.S., although organizers deny that antisemitism drives the protests. The war has reignited the long debate about the definition of antisemitism and whether any criticism of Israel — from its military's killing of thousands of Palestinian children to questions over Israel's very right to exist — amounts to anti-Jewish hate speech. Netanyahu, the son of a scholar of medieval Jewish persecution, has long used the travails of the Jewish people to color his political rhetoric. And he certainly isn't the first world leader accused of using national trauma to advance political goals.
Netanyahu’s supporters say he is honestly worried for the safety of Jews around the world. But his accusations of antisemitism come as he has repeatedly sidestepped accountability for not preventing Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, which many in Israel’s defense establishment acknowledge they shoulder the blame for. Netanyahu has continued to face criticism at home and abroad throughout the war, which has killed 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between fighters and noncombatants. The fighting has sparked a humanitarian catastrophe, and ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has accused Netanyahu and his defense minister of using starvation as a “method of warfare,” among other crimes. Segev, the historian, acknowledged there is a rise in “violent hate” toward Israel and, speaking from Vienna, said he wasn’t sure if speaking Hebrew in public was safe. But he said Netanyahu has long used Jewish crises to his political benefit, including invoking the Jewish people's deepest trauma, the Holocaust, to further his goals.
At the height of the campus protests, Netanyahu released a video statement condemning their “unconscionable” antisemitism and comparing the mushrooming encampments on college greens to Nazi Germany of the 1930s.
“What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific,” he said.
In response to Khan seeking the arrest warrants, he said the ICC prosecutor was “callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world,” comparing him to German judges who approved of the Nazis' race laws against Jews.
Those comments drew a rebuke from the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. “The prosecutor of the court has been strongly intimidated and accused of antisemitism — as always when anybody, anyone does something that Netanyahu’s government does not like,” Borrell said. “The word antisemitic, it’s too heavy. It’s too important.”Netanyahu has compared accusations that Israel’s war is causing starvation in Gaza or that the war is genocidal to blood libels — unfounded centuries-old accusations that Jews sacrificed Christian children and used their blood to make unleavened bread for Passover. “These false accusations are not levelled against us because of the things we do, but because of the simple fact that we exist,” he said at a ceremony marking Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day earlier this month.
Netanyahu previously made repeated allusions to the Holocaust while trying to galvanize the world against Iran’s nuclear program.
Israeli leaders and the country's media also made such comparisons about Oct. 7, describing the Hamas attackers as Nazis, comparing their rampage to the historic violence inflicted on Eastern European Jews, and referring to the images of Jewish victims' burned bodies as a Shoah — the Hebrew word for Holocaust. Israelis have been jarred by the global rise in antisemitism, and many view the swell of criticism against Israel as part of the rise. They see hypocrisy in the world's intense focus on Israel's war with Hamas while other conflicts get much less attention.
Moshe Klughaft, a former advisor to Netanyahu, said he believes the Israeli leader is genuinely concerned over rising antisemitism.
“It is his duty to condemn antisemitism as prime minister of Israel and as head of a country that sees itself as responsible for world Jewry,” he said.
Many Israelis view the war in Gaza as a just act of self-defense and are befuddled by what many think should be criticism directed at Hamas — blaming the group for starting the war, using Palestinian civilians as human shields and refusing to free the hostages. The ICC warrant requests have likely bolstered such feelings. When Netanyahu leans on accusations of antisemitism, he is doing so with the Israeli public in mind, said Reuven Hazan, a political scientist at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.
Hazan said Netanyahu has leveraged the campus protests, for example, to get Israelis to rally around him at a time when his public support has plummeted and Israelis are growing impatient with the war. He said Netanyahu has also used the protests as a scapegoat for his failure so far to achieve the war’s two goals: destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages.
“He deflects blame from himself, attributing any shortcomings not to his foreign policies or policies in the (Palestinian) territories, but rather to antisemitism. This narrative benefits him greatly, absolving him of responsibility,” Hazan said.
Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem think thank, rejects the notion that Netanyahu stifles criticism by calling it antisemitic, pointing to just how much criticism the country receives. But he said using the antisemitic label to achieve political ends could cheapen it.
"I’d be more selective than the government of Israel in choosing the people and bodies they tag ‘antisemitic,’” he said.

Hamas Must Be Destroyed Before Any Peace Talks Take Place
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/May 29, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/130201/130201/
Do Ireland, Norway and Spain not see how appeasing terrorists anywhere only emboldens the militants in Europe? Last month, in Germany, more than 1,000 demonstrators took to the streets demanding that Germany become a Caliphate with sharia law.
Is [Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez] ready to grant the Catalans in Spain, who for years have been fighting for their independence, a State of Catalonia?
In Ireland, even at its most violent, there were never calls to take over Scotland, England and Wales to displace the British.
The capitulation of Ireland, Norway and Spain also reveals a deliberate misinterpretation of the root causes of Israel's long-running conflict with the Palestinians, in which the constant refusal of successive generations of Palestinian leaders to renounce terrorism as the primary means of achieving their political objectives has made the concept of a lasting peace between the two sides impossible.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called by Andrew Roberts "The Churchill of the modern Middle East," remains bitterly opposed to Palestinian independence as a "prize for terrorism". "A reward for terror will not bring about peace," said Netanyahu, "and also will not stop us from winning over Hamas."
Hamas have repeatedly used their own people as human shields and shot at them to prevent them from fleeing to safety.
While the Biden administration's stance towards Israel in the Gaza conflict has often been hostile, its rejection of the joint declaration by Norway, Ireland and Spain is most welcome.
If Israel could be allowed to succeed in "freeing Palestine from Hamas," it would significantly improve the prospects of both Israelis and Palestinians.
The announcement by Ireland, Norway and Spain that they are to recognise a Palestinian state only highlights a breathtaking naivety about the fundamental reality of the long-standing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the move was "in favour of peace and coexistence." Is he ready to grant the Catalans in Spain, who for years have been fighting for their independence, a State of Catalonia?
The announcement by Ireland, Norway and Spain that they are to recognise a Palestinian state this week only highlights a breathtaking naivety about the fundamental reality of the long-standing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
In fact, the announcement is likely to extend the violent conflict currently taking place in Gaza: it sends a clear message to terrorist groups such as Hamas that carrying out brutal attacks against innocent Israeli civilians will be rewarded by supporting their demand for statehood.
Norway, the country that helped to sponsor the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, which set out a framework for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, was the first country to announce its decision, with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre declaring, "There cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition."
Do Ireland, Norway and Spain not see how appeasing terrorists anywhere only emboldens the militants in Europe? Last month, in Germany, more than 1,000 demonstrators took to the streets demanding that Germany become a Caliphate with sharia law.
The Norwegian prime minister's comments were echoed by Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, who said that Ireland had announced "our unambiguous support for the equal right to security, dignity, and self-determination for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples."
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, meanwhile, said the move was "in favour of peace and coexistence."
Is he ready to grant the Catalans in Spain, who for years have been fighting for their independence, a State of Catalonia?
In Ireland, even at its most violent, there were never calls to take over Scotland, England and Wales to displace the British.
No mention, though, was made in the joint announcements, which followed months of discussions between the country's governments, about precisely how recognising a Palestinian state in the midst of the war in Gaza is going to help resolve the dispute.
On the contrary, the declaration is far more likely to exacerbate tensions in the region, as its main achievement has been to further anger the Israeli government, which roundly condemned the move and responded by withdrawing its ambassadors from the three countries involved.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz summoned up his government's total rejection of the initiative by stating, "History will remember that Spain, Norway, and Ireland decided to award a gold medal to Hamas murderers and rapists."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called by Andrew Roberts "The Churchill of the modern Middle East," remains bitterly opposed to Palestinian independence as a "prize for terrorism." He claims it ultimately rewarded Hamas for launching its devastating attack against Israel on October 7. "A reward for terror will not bring about peace," said Netanyahu, "and also will not stop us from winning over Hamas."
The decision by these three countries to pre-emptively recognise a Palestinian state, before the direct negotiations that the Israelis and Palestinians agreed upon to resolve the conflict have even begun, is all the more provocative from Israel's perspective given that it took place the same week that the chief prosecutor at International Criminal Court in The Hague announced he wanted to seek arrest warrants for both Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The willingness of Western governments and international institutions to indulge in such dangerous virtue-signalling not only exposes their wilful misrepresentation of Israel's right to defend itself in the aftermath of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
The capitulation of Ireland, Norway and Spain also reveals a deliberate misinterpretation of the root causes of Israel's long-running conflict with the Palestinians, in which the constant refusal of successive generations of Palestinian leaders to renounce terrorism as the primary means of achieving their political objectives has made the concept of a lasting peace between the two sides impossible.
During the early years of the Palestinians' quest for statehood, it was the insistence of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat of relying on acts of terrorism to achieve his goals that constantly undermined international peace efforts.
More recently, the PLO, which today controls the Palestinian Authority, headed by PLO veteran Mahmoud Abbas, has been effectively replaced by Hamas, the Islamist terrorist movement which helped destroyed the Oslo Accords by conducting a deadly wave of terrorist attacks against Israelis starting in the 1990s. Hamas's reliance on murderous acts of terrorism to achieve its goals means that any future attempt to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians is doomed to failure so long as the terrorist organisation remains in a position of power, an argument that is accepted by both Israelis and the majority of Palestinians. Since coming to power in Gaza in 2006, Hamas has, apart from building a terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, violently suppressed all political opposition to its dictatorial rule in the enclave.
The widespread disaffection of the majority of Palestinians to Hamas's authoritarian conduct has increased significantly since the start of the Gaza conflict, after Hamas terrorists have regularly used Gaza's civilian population as human shields, with no regard for their safety.
These inhumane tactics, moreover, have contributed significantly to the high death toll in the Gaza conflict, in which Hamas have repeatedly used their own people as human shields (such as here, here and here) and shot at them to prevent them from fleeing to safety (here, here and here).
In such circumstances, Israel's declared ambition of removing a deadly terrorist organisation such as Hamas from the face of the earth is entirely justified, especially if there is to be any realistic prospect of lasting peace in the region.
The notion that an organisation that wilfully murders innocent civilians still retains ambitions to become the undisputed leaders of the Palestinian people is totally unacceptable, a consideration meddling European nations such as Norway, Ireland and Spain would be well-advised to take on board before they indulge in their ill-judged calls for Palestinian statehood.
The idea that Hamas could one day emerge as the leaders of an independent Palestinian state is clearly a prospect no civilised nation should accept, and is the reason why it is vital that major world powers, such as the US, continue to resist calls to recognise a Palestinian state.
While the Biden administration's stance towards Israel in the Gaza conflict has often been hostile, its rejection of the joint declaration by Norway, Ireland and Spain is most welcome.
In its official response to the countries' initiative, the White House repeated its view that the only way to resolve the conflict was by "direct negotiations", a policy supported by the Palestinians themselves, as well as European powers such as the UK and France.
The best way to create the circumstances in which such negotiations can take place is for Israel to be allowed to fulfil its military campaign to destroy the ability of Hamas to wage more mass-murders like October 7 – referred to as the equivalent of "50 9/11s." -- as Hamas has sworn to do.
If Israel could be allowed to succeed in "freeing Palestine from Hamas," it would significantly improve the prospects of both Israelis and Palestinians.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20670/hamas-must-be-destroyed-before-peace

Iran: Life as a Skillful Concealment of Death
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
When a child grows up and is sent to school, he becomes in need of a good teacher, not the good nurse who had assisted in his birth.
That is the analogy Arthur Schopenhauer drew to argue that Europe had outgrown Christianity and the need for it.
The problem with the Iranian regime, and similar regimes clinging to survival despite everything, is that although the "child" has now reached the age of 45, the nurse continues to tend to him.
After reflecting a little on the recent accident that claimed the lives of Ebrahim Raisi, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and their companions, the repercussions of leaving the "child" in the nurse’s care become evident. It is not hyperbolic to assert that the announcement of the deaths of these leaders announced many other deaths that had been portrayed as signs of life and vitality. The second death, whose announcement is being pillowed by silence and opacity, is tied to the regime’s political facade, and by extension, the Iranian conception of elections that created this facade.
Indeed, with or without the President and the Foreign Minister, everything proceeds normally, as real power is firmly in the grip of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC. This renders much of the current analysis we have seen about potential changes to Tehran's policy futile speculation. As for analysts less prone to futile exercises, they focused on the real issue: the race to succeed the Supreme Leader, that is the heart of the matter.
The second death that has been announced is also tied to Iran’s civilian scientific technology, and it comes after efforts to hide its wretched state behind Iran’s relatively advanced military technology. Iran can call its science “resistance” science, thereby overcoming (as it has a habit of doing) its absence rhetorically and turning this absence into a virtue. However, the truth is that, with or without resistance, the country seemed frail and decrepit, much like the Soviet Union during the last few years of Leonid Brezhnev’s time in power, which was followed by the Chernobyl blast that exposed just how far behind the USSR had fallen scientifically and technologically. Under Mikhail Gorbachev, it became evident that hitting the structure once with a pickaxe sufficed to bring the whole thing down.
As for the third death that was announced, its theme is what the population is allowed to know. In this secretive country, obtaining information that clears up obscurity and suspicions is like searching for light under the pillow. Leaking information that contradicts the official narrative, or leaking it before “the right time,” as it is defined by the authorities, is inevitably seen as part of a conspiracy. In the age of social media, when information is widely available, such behavior has become inherently scandalous.
These three announcements of death, which were all triggered by a single event, add to many other famous deaths. Some are tied to the country’s crumbling economy, while others are tied to the status of women, with the fates of Mahsa Amini and, before her, Neda Agha-Soltan, starkly attest to this death. Additionally, Iran executes more people per capita than any other country in the world, and there is a deep-seated sense that the roles Tehran plays outside its borders only thrive amid tensions and that every development that promotes peace in the region sets Iran’s influence back. The image of political and military leaders assembled at the feet of the Supreme Leader sitting on a platform above them, remains a unique spectacle without parallel anywhere else in the world.
This does not mean that Iran is dead. It is very much alive: it can oversee a nuclear program and force all other actors to factor it into their regional and international equations. It mobilizes massive crowds whom it can anger at the push of a button, impelling to distribute "deaths" left and right in unison as they raise their clenched fists. It also has the capacity to build serious influence over four Arab capitals and to occupy a significant segment of Syria, territorial and politically.
Thus, Iran’s model is a shining example of turning life into a successful effort to conceal death, and then keeping it hidden for either a long or brief time. Meanwhile, many have sought to emulate this model. Some claim to seek some sort of liberation and others a sort of freedom; some stress that they want to live as their ancestors had, though there are deep doubts that our ancestors had actually lived in that way. The Iranian model is increasingly being portrayed as relevant and valid as the West and its paradigm confront the most severe challenges they have ever faced and skepticism of them grows. While African countries expel the last vestiges of Western influence, protesters in US universities are rallying the world against colonialism, which they hold responsible for suffocating all the peoples of the world.
We know that the Iranian revolution of 1979 was and remains the most comprehensive response to the Western model as a whole, with both its imperialism and enlightenment, which suggests every loss incurred by the West is an unmitigated win for its model.
In spite of all that, however, it seems Iran and its followers are walking into an immense labyrinth. The crisis of the Western model will not be enough to give it clarity and a sense of direction. This labyrinth is evident from the many deaths buried beneath the surface of artificial life. Precisely because the strength it claims is fleeting, even though it managed to survive for a long time, the Iranians are forced to remain children tended to by their nurse who never set foot in school.

Arab-Chinese Relations and the Chinese-Arab States Cooperation Forum
Ahmed Abul Gheit/The Secretary General of the Arab League/Asharq Al Awsat/May 29/2024
Arab-Chinese ties are deeply rooted in history. The Arabs have always recognized China as a nation with a rich and ancient civilization. For their part, the ancient Chinese were familiar with Arab civilization, with the historic Silk Road playing an important role in this regard. The Silk Road was not merely a trade route but also a bridge for cultural exchange and engagement between civilizations. These ties have fostered fruitful engagements over the centuries. Arab travelers, geographers, and historians, who wrote of their voyages and shared their observations after returning, played a particularly significant role in enhancing mutual understanding between the two peoples by visiting China. A prime example is the renowned Arab traveler “Ibn Battuta.” He provided a detailed account of his time in China, speaking very highly of the respect Muslims were met with in various Chinese cities, which he noted in his famous work, "The Masterpiece of the Spectators of the Wonders of Lands and Oddities of Travels."In modern times, the two sides have remained in solidarity and supported one another on matters of mutual concern. Diplomatic relations were established between the People's Republic of China and the Arab states as soon as it was founded in 1949 and the Arab countries successively gained their independence. Arab states also helped the People's Republic of China secure its seat at the United Nations.
However, cooperation between the two sides has seen significantly vitalized in the 21st century. Enhancing relations with the People's Republic of China has become a central focus of collective Arab diplomacy. Indeed, the establishment of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum twenty was among the most significant milestones in Arab-Chinese relations in the past fifty years. The Forum was announced during the historic visit of former Chinese President Hu Jintao to the headquarters of the Secretariat General of the League of Arab States on January 30, 2004, and the founding document was then signed on September 14, 2004, in Cairo.
The creation of this forum marked the beginning of a major shift in the trajectory of Arab-Chinese relations. It created a crucial institutional framework for joint cooperation that brought China together with all Arab countries for the first time in history. The Forum was established at a time when global interest in the Asian continent was increasing, and the Arab League recognized the importance of diversifying its partnerships by strengthening its engagement with the East and strengthening cooperation with influential countries in Asia, most notably China.
Arab-Chinese cooperation has boomed since the establishment of the Forum. The frameworks for cooperation it laid out have expanded to encompass various fields, including political, economic, cultural, media, and developmental domains. The many meetings and events that have been held through the Forum reflect the deepening and broadening of these relations.
The first Arab-Chinese Summit, which was held on December 9, 2022, in Riyadh, was another milestone for cooperation between the two sides. The first of its kind in the history of relations between the two sides, the Summit yielded important outcomes. Three key documents were signed: the Riyadh Declaration, the Outline of the Comprehensive Cooperation Plan between the People’s Republic of China and the Arab States, and the Document on Deepening the Sino-Arab Strategic Partnership for Peace and Development.
The main reason for this Forum’s success is the political will shown on both sides to ensure that it thrives, as well as their mutual commitment to implementing the provisions of the Forum’s executive programs. The gradual approach to expanding the forum and developing its mechanisms has also helped, allowing for the achievement of tangible results. These efforts have significantly contributed to enhancing communication and cooperation between China and the Arab states in various fields, including political, economic, social, media, and other matters.
The evolution of this relationship has contributed strongly to the growth and expansion of trade relations between the Arab countries and China. China has become one of the Arab nations’ leading trading partners, as the volume of trade between China and the Arab countries has increased more than tenfold since the establishment of the Forum, rising from $36.7 billion in 2004 to $400 billion in 2023. This Forum is expected to continue to evolve steadily, given the promising opportunities presented by Arab-Chinese cooperation and the mutual commitment of both sides to continue along this path.
Arab-Chinese cooperation is founded on their respect for the principles and objectives of the United Nations Charter and the Charter of the League of Arab States, as well as their commitment to peaceful coexistence. Both sides strive for peace and stability across the globe through the diplomatic resolution of international disputes, and they both reject the use of force or threat to use force in managing international relations. Their cooperation is also founded in upholding the principle of sovereign equality, as well as mutual respect for the independence, unity, and territorial integrity of states, and opposition to interference in other states’ domestic affairs.
The Arab and Chinese sides have also sought, through joint meetings, to coordinate their responses to regional and international issues of common concern, supporting one another’s efforts to safeguard their independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. China supports the Arab countries in their just and legitimate pursuits and their actions to secure their national interests, while the Arab countries affirm their support for the One China principle.
In this context, China has repeatedly affirmed its support for the Palestinian people’s efforts to retain their legitimate national rights, establish an independent Palestinian state along the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and advance the peace process within the framework of United Nations Resolutions, the principle of land for peace, and the Arab Peace Initiative. China has also consistently provided large amounts of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.
In his speech at the first Arab-Chinese summit held in Riyadh on 12/9/2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed his country’s support for the Palestinian cause. “The historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people cannot continue indefinitely, and the legitimate national interests cannot be traded. The demand for an independent state cannot be vetoed... the Chinese side firmly supports the establishment of an independent state of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. China supports granting Palestine full member status at the United Nations, and it will continue to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.”
These positions in support of the Palestinian cause, along with China’s humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and UNRWA, have been highly appreciated by the Arab side. The nations of the Arab world look forward to seeing this support continue and have endorsed China's efforts to back the Palestinian cause at the United Nations. This role is particularly significant given China's status as a permanent member of the Security Council. The stance that China has taken during the brutal assault on the Gaza Strip exemplifies this commitment. It has stood by truth and justice, expressing its clear support for the just cause of the Palestinian people. It has been twenty years since the establishment of the Chinese-Arab States Cooperation Forum. Both sides are eagerly anticipating the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum that will be held in Beijing late this month, and they both expect it to yield positive results. The Conference is expected to meet the aspirations of the Arab and Chinese peoples and to reflect their shared cultural heritage and high hopes for a promising future.

Why Istanbul Is Not Constantinople (Anymore)
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/May 29/2024
Precisely 571 years ago today — May 29, 1453 — the Turks sacked the ancient Christian kingdom of Constantinople, slaughtering and raping thousands of people simply because they were Christians and then, transforming their city into Muslim Istanbul. And, as they do every year, Turks — from their president on down — are saber rattling today in commemoration of that “glorious” event.
No doubt, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who regularly refers to the conquest as being “among the most glorious chapters of Turkish history,” is again extolling this bloodbath. Because most Westerners are today totally unaware of the history between Muslim Turkey and Christian Byzantium—a history that continues to reverberate today —some background is necessary.
War in the Heart
Toward the end of the first millennium, the Turks, whose origins lay in Asia’s eastern steppes, became Muslim and then began to raid and conquer portions of Asia Minor, which was then and had been for a millennium Christian. By the end of the fourteenth century they had conquered it entirely and began eying Constantinople, just across the Bosphorus Strait. Although generations of Turks repeatedly besieged it, it would fall to Ottoman sultan Muhammad II (pronounced “Mehmet”), Erdoğan’s personal hero.
But why did Muhammad II and his predecessors attack Constantinople in the first place? What made it an enemy to the Turks?
The same thing that made every non-Muslim nation an enemy: it was non-Muslim, and therefore in need of subjugation. That was the sole “grievance” that propelled the Turks to besiege it (as their Arab counterparts had done in the seventh and eighth centuries).
From the start, deceit was part of Muhammad’s arsenal. When he first became sultan and was busy consolidating his authority, Muhammad “swore by the god of their false prophet, by the prophet whose name he bore,” a bitter Christian contemporary retrospectively wrote, that “he was [the Christians’] friend, and would remain for the whole of his life a friend and ally of Constantinople.”
Although they believed him, Muhammad was taking advantage of “the basest arts of dissimulation and deceit,” wrote Edward Gibbon. “Peace was on his lips while war was in his heart.”
‘Women, Handsome Boys, and Virgins’
Once the siege commenced, Muhammad also exhorted his Muslim army with jihadist ideology, unleashing throngs of preachers who cried throughout the Muslim camp surrounding Constantinople,
Children of Muhammad, be of good heart, for tomorrow we shall have so many Christians in our hands that we will sell them, two slaves for a ducat, and will have such riches that we will all be of gold, and from the beards of the Greeks we will make leads for our dogs, and their families will be our slaves. So be of good heart and be ready to die cheerfully for the love of our [past and present] Muhammad.
“Recall the promises of our Prophet concerning fallen warriors in the Koran,” Sultan Muhammad himself exhorted: “the man who dies in combat shall be transported bodily to paradise and shall dine with [prophet] Muhammad in the presence of women, handsome boys, and virgins.”
The mention of “handsome boys” was not just an accurate reference to the Koran’s promise (e.g., 52:24, 56:17, and 76:19); Muhammad II was a notorious pedophile. His enslavement and rape of Jacob Notaras — a handsome 14-year-old nobleman’s son in Constantinople, whom Muhammad forced into becoming his personal catamite for seven years before the boy eventually escaped — was only one of the most infamous.
If You’ve a Date in Constantinople …
Then there was the lecherous behavior of Muhammad’s army once they breached the walls of Constantinople. (The following quotes are all from contemporary sources and eyewitnesses):
When they had massacred and there was no longer any resistance, they were intent on pillage and roamed through the town stealing, disrobing, pillaging, killing, raping, taking captive men, women, children, old men, young men, monks, priests, people of all sorts and conditions.… There were virgins who awoke from troubled sleep to find those brigands standing over them with bloody hands and faces full of abject fury.… [The Turks] dragged them, tore them, forced them, dishonored them, raped them at the cross-roads and made them submit to the most terrible outrages.… Tender children were brutally snatched from their mothers’ breasts and girls were pitilessly given up to strange and horrible unions, and a thousand other terrible things happened besides.
Because thousands of citizens had fled to and were holed up in Hagia Sophia — which at that time was one of the Christian world’s grandest basilicas and was only recently transformed into a mosque again under Erdoğan — it offered an excellent harvest of slaves once its doors were hewn down:
One Turk would look for the captive who seemed the wealthiest, a second would prefer a pretty face among the nuns. … Each rapacious Turk was eager to lead his captive to a safe place, and then return to secure a second and a third prize. … Then long chains of captives could be seen leaving the church and its shrines, being herded along like cattle or flocks of sheep.
…She’ll Be Waiting in Istanbul
The slavers sometimes fought each other to the death over “any well-formed girl,” even as many of the latter “preferred to cast themselves into the wells and drown rather than fall into the hands of the Turks.”
Having taken possession of the Hagia Sophia, the invaders “engaged in every kind of vileness within it, making of it a public brothel.” On “its holy altars” they enacted “perversions with our women, virgins, and children,” including “the Grand Duke’s daughter.”
Next “they paraded the [Hagia Sophia’s main] Crucifix in mocking procession through their camp, beating drums before it, crucifying the Christ again with spitting and blasphemies and curses. They placed a Turkish cap … upon His head, and jeeringly cried, ‘Behold the god of the Christians!’”
Practically all other churches in the ancient city suffered the same fate. “The crosses which had been placed on the roofs or the walls of churches were torn down and trampled.” The Eucharist was “thrown to the ground and kicked.” Bibles were stripped of their gold or silver illuminations before being burned. “Icons were without exception given to the flames.” Patriarchal vestments were placed on the haunches of dogs; priestly garments were placed on horses.
“Everywhere there was misfortune, everyone was touched by pain” when Sultan Muhammad finally made his grand entry into the city. “There were lamentations and weeping in every house, screaming in the crossroads, and sorrow in all churches; the groaning of grown men and the shrieking of women accompanied looting, enslavement, separation, and rape.”
Finally, Muhammad had the “wretched citizens of Constantinople” dragged before his men during evening festivities and “ordered many of them to be hacked to pieces, for the sake of entertainment.” The rest of the city’s population — as many as 45,000 people — were hauled off in chains to be sold as slaves.
‘Little Left’ To Do
This is the man, and this is the event, that Turkey and its president are currently celebrating. The message is clear: Jihadist ideology permeates if not dominates every rung of Turkish society. Hating, invading, and conquering neighboring peoples not due to any grievances but simply because they are not Muslim, with all the attending atrocities, rapes, destruction, and mass slavery is apparently the ideal, to resume once the sunset of Western power is complete — which, according to Erdoğan’s own daughter is any day now. Before last year’s celebrations she tweeted, “There is little left for the Islamic crescent to break the Western cross” — an assertion more befitting of ISIS than the daughter of a president who works as a “sociologist.”
Meanwhile, because Americans have grown used to seeing statues of their own nation’s heroes toppled for no other reason than because they were white and/or Christian, and therefore “inherently evil,” the significance of Erdoğan’s words and praise for Muhammad II — who as a non-European Muslim is further immune from Western criticism, as that would be “racist” — remains lost to them.
Put differently, while Muslim leaders such as Erdoğan openly venerate their ancestors for giving them a “legacy of conquest” worth emulating, here is the West falling all over itself to disavow any “conquest” its ancestors may have engaged in, such the conquest of the Americas initiated by the “genocidal” Christopher Columbus.
The significance of this dichotomy bodes ill for the West, to say the least.
**Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum. All historic quotes in this article were sourced from and are documented in Chapter 7 of his book Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West.
Syrian refugee crisis continues to haunt EU ahead of European Parliament elections
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/May 29, 2024
If you ask any of the more than 5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq or Turkiye about the likely chance they will be able to return home any time soon, the answer is a unanimous “zero.”I am sure also that a majority of the millions who are displaced internally within Syria would want to leave the country if possible. For the 13 years since the protests against the regime in Damascus escalated into a civil war, most of the displaced have been actively trying to seek refuge elsewhere, preferably in EU countries where, if they were lucky, welfare might be provided by the state.
On the streets of major European cities, the sight of Syrians, mainly, but also Iraqis, Afghans and people from other countries, has become a source of discomfort, bordering on racism, among large sections of native populations, not all of whom look favorably on what some describe as an “invasion,” and what they describe as “no-go areas” in neighborhoods now heavily populated by foreigners.
You hear it from taxi drivers and people in coffee shops. One elderly German asked me in a Berlin cafe recently whether I had “arrived in the UK swimming,” referring to the waves of asylum seekers arriving from Turkey, North Africa or via Calais in France.
There is no doubt that migration, and the increasing numbers of refugees on Western streets, has been taking its toll. And there is a risk the situation might be further exacerbated if political figures from the ascendant hard right and hard left use the issue as a way to justify extreme political narratives that promise voters improved domestic social and health services and prosperity, while pledging to enhance security by blocking the arrival of more refugees, vetting those who are already in the country, and deporting those who fail integration or language tests. Amid the near-total geostrategic discord between the big powers, this week’s EU donor conference is unlikely to provide much more than symbolic traction It is no exaggeration to say that the European Parliament elections, which will take place from June 6 to 9, are being fought not through ideas for social and economic renewal or who might best provide security for EU nations facing an existential threat from Russia, but instead on a narrow agenda of anti-immigration fears that could disrupt the entire EU project. Europe is undoubtedly facing a major test and on the brink of lurching further to the right as it tries to remain true to its ethos of protecting human rights and sharing among its community of nations the burden of providing refuge for those in need. The EU’s latest donors’ conference for Syria took place this week, but preventing divisions within its membership while also offering dwindling levels of assistance to Syrians might now be an impossible balancing act for the bloc to maintain. Syria undoubtedly has become a “forgotten crisis” that nobody wants to address amid the Israel-Hamas war, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the near-total geostrategic discord between the big global powers in which some actors do not shy from weaponizing migration flows in an attempt to squeeze concessions from their rivals or enemies. The result of all this is that the refugee and asylum-seeker crisis might have long-lasting repercussions as it continues to divide societies across the 27-country union.
During this week’s donors’ conference in Brussels, €7.5 billion ($8.1 billion) was pledged, of which the EU promised to commit €2.12 billion ($2.3 billion) for 2024 and 2025. This could be useful as many Syrians continue to seek ways to reach Western countries, primarily, by hazardous land and sea routes because their instincts tell them, correctly, that their frozen conflict is not high on the list of priorities for the major global powers. But as the economic and social burdens associated with refugees mount, the bloc is increasingly divided and unable to find solutions to adequately address the issue.
International funding for efforts to support Syrians is in decline in general, with the likes of the World Food Programme reducing the amount of aid it provides. Difficulties associated with hosting refugees are increasingly surfacing in neighboring nations, most notably Lebanon, where the economic situation is already perilous because of a long-running financial crisis, and the call for Syrians to be sent home is one of the rare issues that can unite most of the country’s fragmented communities.
Such growing calls for repatriation come despite the general, widely held assessment that the quest to find a “political solution to the conflict in Syria remains at an impasse,” with no safe, voluntary or dignified process for the return of refugees, as the EU’s chief diplomat and security commissioner, Josep Borrel, put it. The level of participation at donor conferences has fallen over the past few years. The likes of Russia, a key backer of President Bashar Assad’s regime, is in no mood to lend a hand, even a humanitarian one, that might put pressure on Damascus to meet some political conditions that could pave the way for refugees to return. Meanwhile, divisions within the EU on the issue are on the rise. Countries such as Italy and Cyprus are more open to some form of dialogue with Assad to at least discuss possible ways to step up the voluntary return of refugees, in conjunction with and under the auspices of the UN.
These divisions were highlighted last week when eight countries — Austria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta and Poland — issued a joint statement following talks in Cyprus in which they broke ranks with the bloc’s position. They argued that the dynamics had changed in Syria and that while political stability does not yet exist, the situation had evolved sufficiently to “reevaluate the situation” in an attempt to find “more effective ways of handling the issue,” curb the flow of refugees, and work to send some of them home. As it stands, more than one in four Syrians are extremely poor, according to a recent report by the World Bank. The UN humanitarian response plan for 2024 requires more that $4 billion of funding but so far donations are only in the millions.
And amid the near-total geostrategic discord between the big powers, this week’s EU donor conference is unlikely to provide much more than symbolic traction. In our increasingly conflicted world, peace efforts for Syria will be swept under the carpet for another while, leaving desperate Syrians with no choice but to resort to whatever means they can find to feed their loved ones, whether that is the crumbs provided by international organizations, or through mass migration to less-than-welcoming societies in the West. Their presence in those European countries might be shaking some host communities to the core, resulting in the magnification of intolerant narratives driving wedges between people in otherwise tolerant countries, and indirectly increasing the chances that previously marginal, anti-immigrant voices could be elected across Europe next month.
**Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.

The law of unforeseen consequences: What now for Iran?
Jonathan Gornall /Arab News/May 29, 2024
The sudden, unexpected death this month of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and the feverish speculation about the effect it will have on his country’s immediate future, is a reminder that the consequences of geopolitical events can rarely be predicted.
Iranians will go to the polls on June 28 to elect Raisi’s successor. But his death also prompted widespread guesswork about who might be Iran’s next supreme leader, the ultimate architect of the nation’s political direction.
Raisi was in the running to succeed 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who has been supreme leader since 1989. Following Raisi’s death, many now consider Khameini’s son, 55-year-old Mojtaba, the most likely successor.
But whoever becomes president, and whoever ultimately succeeds Khameini, Iran and its relations with the rest of the Middle East stand at a crossroads — and, as the origin story of the Islamic Republic demonstrates, the direction it takes next is as likely to be determined by external as well as internal forces.
Iran has been a Shiite theocracy, at odds not only with the West but also its Muslim neighbors, since the Islamic Revolution swept to power in 1979, catching the region and the wider world by surprise.
The immediate causes of the revolution, and the end of centuries of monarchical rule in Persia, were a growing sense of unhappiness among the Iranian people with the Shah’s perceived personal profiteering from the country’s oil wealth and the activities of the SAVAK, his hated secret police, and alarm among the conservative clerical class at his secular, pro-Western program of modernization.
Before the Hamas attacks on Oct.7 last year, some progress had been made toward finally bringing Iran back into the family of nations. But it was events set in motion by external forces two decades earlier that laid the groundwork for the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that created the Iran we know today and condemned the Middle East to decades of murderous meddling by Tehran. In 1950, 12 years after oil was struck in Saudi Arabia, US-owned concession-holder the Arabian American Oil Company agreed, reasonably, to share its profits 50-50 with the Kingdom. Today, Aramco, which has been fully owned by the Saudi state since 1976, is one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. Across the Gulf in Persia, however, an inexplicably different story unfolded, with disastrous consequences.
At about the same time that the four US oil companies that originally owned Aramco agreed to share all profits evenly with Riyadh, in Persia the British government, the majority shareholder in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, rejected outright a request from Tehran for similarly fair treatment. That alone was bad enough, and represented a strangely ill-considered provocation at a time when the UK’s status as a world power was visibly shrinking, along with its once-dominant empire.
Britain’s humiliating invasion of Egypt in 1956, a last, desperate throw of the imperial dice, is seen as the moment the sun finally set on the British Empire. However, its all-but-forgotten meddling in Iran two years earlier would ultimately have even more far-reaching consequences.
In 1951, the democratically elected government of Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mosaddegh announced that, in the absence of a fair deal from the British, it would nationalize the country’s oil industry. Britain’s reaction was the very definition of imperial highhandedness. The main concern of the UK government, struggling at the time to cope with the vast debts and costs of rebuilding it had inherited in the wake of the Second World War, was the loss of revenue from Iranian oil fields. To get the US on side, it preyed on Washington’s Cold War paranoia and talked up the specter of the Soviet Union, Iran’s neighbor to the north, potentially infecting the country with its ideology of Communism.
The tactic worked. In 1953, Britain’s MI6 and America’s CIA engineered a plot to overthrow Mosaddegh and his government. As a result of Operation Ajax, hundreds were killed during fighting between the two sides, and the Western-backed Shah was installed to rule supreme. It was a spectacularly rash decision that would disfigure the landscape of the Middle East for generations, and to this day serves as a case study for students of politics in the perils of the law of unintended consequences.
In time, the Shah dismissed parliament and in 1963 introduced a series of unpopular reforms that led to widespread poverty and overcrowding in cities and were condemned as anti-Islamic by Iran’s clerics. A leading critic was Ayatollah Khomeini, one of the leaders of the Shiite community in the country. In 1963 he was jailed for a year before being exiled, settling first in Iraq and later in France. It was from Paris that he returned to Iran in triumph on Feb. 1, 1979, welcomed by delirious crowds as the leader of the revolution that had driven the Shah into exile. The rest, as they say, is history; a history that is still playing out as the world watches anxiously.
Before the Hamas attacks on Oct.7 last year, some progress had been made toward finally bringing Iran back into the family of nations. Decades of Western-led sanctions had merely provoked Tehran, hurting the Iranian people and strengthening the resolve of its leadership to persist with its destructive ideology of perpetual revolution.
It fell to Saudi Arabia, so often on the receiving end of the activities of Tehran’s regional proxy militants, to seek a different path in March last year by extending the hand of peace and friendship and restoring diplomatic ties with Iran, in a Chinese-brokered deal that promised to end years of mutually energy-sapping enmity.
The events of Oct.7 and Israel’s subsequent rampage of death and destruction in Gaza has doubtless stalled the conversation in the region, at least in the short term. But it was a matter of more than merely diplomatic propriety that present among the mourners at Raisi’s funeral last Wednesday were the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Iran potentially is at a great tipping point. It is in the interests and, perhaps, within the power of the leading Gulf Cooperation Council nations to bring persuasion to bear, in the hope that Tehran takes a path that will lead it out of the wilderness. Certainly, the heavy-handed meddling in Iran’s affairs in 1953 led to nothing but decades of suffering.
Whoever succeeds Raisi as president and, ultimately, Khameini as supreme leader, it is to be hoped that those who might seek to bring undue pressure to bear upon them will instead consider the lessons of Iran’s history, and the law of unforeseen consequences.
**Jonathan Gornall is a British journalist, formerly with The Times, who has lived and worked in the Middle East and is now based in the UK.

Irrationality and Reckless Escalation in the Gaza Conflict
Michel Touma/This Is Beirut/May 29/2024
The Israeli-Arab conflict has endured for more than three-quarters of a century. Throughout these 75 years, certain Arab regimes and Palestinian organizations have tried to advance on the path of “liberating Palestine.” Or so they pretended to do, yet their endeavors were limited to theatrics and eloquent speeches, failing to materialize into a concrete, genuine strategy for liberation. Consequently, these regimes found themselves essentially regressing rather than advancing on this path. To break free from the vicious cycle and shatter sterile warlike gesticulations, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israeli Labor Party, led by Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin respectively, exhibited great political courage in 1993. They laid down the rational and robust groundwork for an authentic, lasting peace process aimed at establishing a Palestinian State. This marked the inception of the 1993 Oslo process, founded upon what later became known as the two-state solution. However, the Oslo mechanism was sabotaged in 1995 following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli far-right activist, coinciding with terrorist actions perpetrated as early as 1994 by the Hamas movement, and on several occasions. Nearly three decades later, these same protagonists—the Palestinian extremist organization and the Israeli far-right—are key players in the ongoing Gaza conflict. This conflict starkly exemplifies the cynical strategy of irrationality and reckless escalation endured by the Palestinian and Lebanese populations for long decades…
How can we not mention irrationality and cynicism when we discover that Hamas had constructed dozens of tunnels solely for military purposes across the entire Gaza territory? Among them, approximately 50 tunnels crossed the border with Egypt near Rafah. These militarized underground passages necessitated substantial logistical and technical efforts to execute impressive infrastructure and civil engineering works spanning several years.
An essential question arises in this regard: why did Israeli governments, predominantly right-wing ones, not react to the construction of these extensive fortified military infrastructures? This question gains even greater significance considering that since 2007, Hamas has maintained firm control over the entire Gaza Strip, having violently ousted Fatah from the region. With such free rein, the extremist organization later morphed into the armed wing of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, all without provoking any Israeli reaction to this significant development.
The Israeli government’s laissez-faire attitude or indifference can only raise suspicion, particularly when one remembers that the right-wing in Israel supported and empowered Hamas. They relied on the fundamentalist movement to weaken the Palestinian Authority and torpedo the project that aimed to establish a Palestinian State, which they perceived—and continue to perceive—as a “threat” to Israel.
The same question arises regarding Egypt. Throughout these years, for what obscure reason did Cairo turn a blind eye to the construction of tunnels along its border with Gaza? Through these tunnels, weapons, ammunition, military equipment, militiamen, as well as various goods and consumer products transited with total impunity for many years. The tragedy unfolding in Gaza today, for which Hamas had not prepared any shelters, is a direct consequence of this dual laissez-faire approach by Israel and Egypt. In essence, the situation amounted to supporting, reinforcing and arming Hamas with the intention of… later combating it more effectively, thus triggering a cycle that could compromise any lasting political solution! This enabled Hamas to wage “war for the sake of war” (endlessly, devoid of clear objectives or horizons), while providing the Israeli right-wing the opportunity to destroy Gaza and sabotage the Palestinian State project. Why, then, should we be surprised that the terrorist attack orchestrated by Hamas on October 7 unfolded seamlessly, despite extensive preparations involving over 2,000 militants and significant military resources, without arousing any suspicions within Israeli intelligence services?
The whole Israeli-Arab conflict narrative is marked with a strategy of irrationality, absurdity and reckless escalation within certain Arab regimes. This has taken a heavy toll on the Palestinian and Lebanese populations over 75 years, with no clear or realizable objectives in sight. How could it be otherwise when the two extremes, mutually reinforcing each other, effectively master the game on the regional chessboard and sporadically plunge into sterile yet deadly and destructive wars? In the shadow of this feverish escalation, Western powers now bear the historic responsibility of breaking this infernal and vicious cycle of war by compelling, against all odds, the adoption of a worthwhile Oslo 2 agreement…