English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 06/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 24/45-51/:”‘Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that wicked slave says to himself, “My master is delayed”, and he begins to beat his fellow-slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 05-06/2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: To Hell and Its Fires: A Call to Accountability for Lebanon’s Iscariots Allied with Hezbollah
Israelis threaten to destroy town of Taraya in Bekaa
Hezbollah says repelled ‘attempted’ Israeli infiltration at border village
Potential Hezbollah Leader Out of Contact Since Friday, Lebanese Source Says
Australia Starts Evacuating Nationals from Lebanon via Cyprus
Israel Conducts More Ground Raids in Southern Lebanon, Strikes Beirut Suburbs
Israel Expands Its Bombardment in Lebanon as Tens of Thousands Flee
France to Host Lebanon Aid Conference, Macron Says
A Hamas official is killed in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp
South Korea evacuates 97 people from Lebanon
Israel conducts more ground raids in southern Lebanon
Israeli strikes hammer Beirut suburbs
Trudeau repeats ceasefire call but doesn't condemn Israel sending troops into Lebanon
Canadian PM Urges Citizens to Leave Lebanon as Evacuations Top 1,000
Lebanon’s Migrant Workers Stuck in Limbo as Thousands Flee Conflict
The War in Gaza Long Felt Personal for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon. Now They’re Living It
Is this Lebanon’s last war?/Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/October 05, 2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 05-06/2024
PM Netanyahu: No country would accept the attack from Iran, and neither will Israel
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 9, including 2 children
Israel issues first Gaza evacuation warning in weeks
At least five killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza mosque
Israel orders more evacuations in central Gaza
Iran ‘ongoing threat’ to Israel, says president
Syria's Assad praises Iran's strike on Israel
European cities brace for pro-Palestinian rallies amid high alert as Oct. 7 anniversary approaches
The US Navy is battling 'the best Iranian technology' in the Red Sea and changing how it fights to beat it, admiral says
Russia is facing a 'time bomb' at the heart of its economy, economist says
Anniversary of Gaza war draws thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters around the world
‘Impossible’ for People’s Republic of China to Be Our Motherland, Taiwan President Says

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on October 05-06/2024
U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangerous and Disastrous/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/October 05, 2024
Question: “What is Israel’s role in the end times?”/GotQuestions.org/October 05/2024
The Public Relations War/Mohammed al-Rumaihi/Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
UN failing to stop wars amid Security Council ‘paralysis’ — but progressing on strengthening member states/RAY HANANIA & GABRIELE MALVISI/Arab News/October 05, 2024

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 05-06/2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: To Hell and Its Fires: A Call to Accountability for Lebanon’s Iscariots Allied with Hezbollah
Elias Bejjani/October 04/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/10/135249/
As Lebanon continues to be consumed by chaos, it is clear that many of our politicians, officials, and religious leaders have abandoned their duties. Instead of standing firm in defense of the nation, they shamefully protect and cover for Hezbollah, Iran's terrorist proxy. This failure of leadership, compounded by their lack of patriotism, has dragged Lebanon into a disastrous conflict with Israel—a war that continues with the hope of dismantling and disarming Hezbollah once and for all.
To hell with anyone who has allied themselves with Hezbollah, cowering before it and trading Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence for political gain and personal comfort. These traitors have sold the blood of our martyrs, bartering dignity for power, and shamefully surrendered to the forces destroying our Holy homeland of the Cedars.
Damn any so-called "national unity" that serves as a lifeline for Hezbollah—the terrorist organization that has hijacked our country. Equally damned are the corrupt, treasonous politicians, the false patriots who pretend to serve Lebanon while serving their own interests, and the clergy who have betrayed their sacred duty. The likes of Miqati, Berri, Jumblatt, Geagea, Aoun, and Bassil are at the forefront of this betrayal, along with a brainwashed herd of followers who blindly worship them.
And yes, the Maronite Patriarch al-Rahi, along with his cronies, bears the blame as well. His failure of leadership and refusal to take a moral stand against Hezbollah make him complicit. He is a puppet of failure, indecision, and cowardice, lacking in both faith and leadership.
Shame and disgrace to any Christian politician or religious leader who equates Hezbollah’s dead with Lebanon’s true martyrs. Our national heroes gave their lives for independence and freedom, while Hezbollah’s foot soldiers push a deadly, foreign agenda that only brings war and destruction.
The time has come to hold Hezbollah, and all those who collaborate with it, accountable in international courts. And within Lebanon, every community must rid itself of its internal filth, those who have sold their souls for power, wealth, and submission.
In particular, the Maronite leadership must be cleansed. Samir Geagea, with his silence and cowardice, has proven himself a political corpse. From his first day in politics, he has been a failure—a silent, gutless man who hides behind others and has no vision or voice. Then there’s Gebran Bassil and Michel Aoun, who sold Lebanon to the Iranians, trading its sovereignty for personal gain. To hell with them both, and to all those like them who betray our country.
And let us not forget Patriarch al-Rahi, whose resignation is long overdue. His spinelessness and indecision have rendered him an utter failure. His presence is a disaster for the Church and the nation, and he must step down immediately for the good of Lebanon.
The Maronites, in particular, must lead by example, purging their ranks of these traitors. We must be the first to cleanse ourselves of the political filth that is destroying our country. This is not only a national duty, but a moral and urgent obligation.

Israelis threaten to destroy town of Taraya in Bekaa
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/October 05, 2024
BEIRUT: The Israeli military has threatened to destroy a town in Bekaa, believing it contains weapons that may be used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah. Mayors in the town of Taraya — Ali Hamieh, Ahmed Mohsen Hamieh, and Yasser Mehdi Hamieh — have received calls from Israel informing them that Hezbollah weapons are being held in their town and if they are not removed within a day, the town will be destroyed. Taraya is located in central Bekaa and is part of the Baalbek district, 74 km from Beirut. It is considered a supportive environment for Hezbollah and has been targeted by numerous Israeli airstrikes in the past two weeks. This is the first time a direct threat has been made to completely destroy an entire town. Previous threats have been limited to southern towns and neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Israeli attacks intensified on Saturday on Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern towns. According to a report by the Higher Defense Council, the death toll in the past 24 hours had reached 37, with 151 injured, raising the total number of victims in Lebanon since the confrontations began to 2,011 dead and 9,535 wounded. The scope of Israeli targeting is no longer confined to a specific area, or with any restrictions. Israeli attacks have reached the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, specifically the Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp, where a combat drone targeted an apartment in a residential building inside the camp, killing Hamas’ leader Saeed Atallah Ali and three members of his family.
Airstrikes have also resumed in Beirut’s southern suburbs, targeting the area of Mrayjeh and Ain Al-Sikka Square in Burj Al-Barajneh, killing two people and injuring others.The area had not been fully evacuated because some residents believed “there were no Hezbollah security zones,” while other people had “no other place to go.”Airstrikes for the first time have targeted the road leading to Al-Rassoul Al-Aazam Hospital in a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee told residents in neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate in preparation for further strikes.
Israeli warplanes launched a series of raids following the warning, targeting the vicinity of Al-Qaim Mosque, Burj Al-Barajneh, the Sayed Al-Shuhada Complex, Haret Hreik, Bir Al-Abd, Al-Ruwais, Al-Abyad, Choueifat Al-Ajneha, Al-Khamseh, and Al-Marija.
The Israel Broadcasting Authority said that “Israel attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut at least six times within a span of 20 minutes.”Rescue teams have not yet been able to clear the debris from a location that was targeted late on Thursday — a Hezbollah command center underground in Al-Marija — due to Israeli threats to target anyone who approaches the area.
It is believed that the target of the airstrike was Hashem Safieddine, a prominent Hezbollah leader and one of the leading candidates to succeed its former chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the party’s command center a week ago.
While Hezbollah has not provided any clarification about the fate of Safieddine and his companions, Al Arabiya quoted a Lebanese security source as saying that “contact with Safieddine has been cut off since Friday’s raids” and that “he was most likely assassinated in the raids.”
Israeli airstrikes targeted the area of the Masnaa border crossing with Syria for a second day on Saturday, with crossing now only possible on foot. Raids also targeted the road to Baalbek. A young woman lost her life due to injuries incurred during a raid on the town of Ain, located in northern Bekaa, where she was serving with the Lebanese Red Cross.
One person was killed in a raid on the Saadnayel plain in central Bekaa while two fatalities occurred as a result of a guided missile strike on a vehicle along the Marj Zebdine-Nabatieh road. Operations conducted in the southern region on Friday night resulted in the deaths of two young men in Harouf in the Nabatieh district while one person was killed and another injured in the town of Majdal Selm in Tyre. Three people lost their lives during a raid on a residence in the eastern town of Zawtar. Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbeil received intense shelling following an Israeli appeal for its evacuation. The bombardment resulted in injuries to nine members of the medical and nursing staff, with the hospital later being evacuated and medical operations suspended.
Hezbollah continued its attacks on Israeli military installations. The group said it had aimed at “enemy positions and assemblies near the Dan settlement, the city of Safed, the Karmiel settlement, and the Sasa settlement using two Falaq-2 missiles.”
The Israeli military said it had “intercepted some of Hezbollah’s missiles, while others fell in open areas,” adding that “the air force will intensify its strikes on the southern suburbs.”Hezbollah said its members were “monitoring, tracking, and responding to any hostile movements at the front line in southern Lebanon; actively pursuing Israeli soldiers in their bases and rear positions along the border in the occupied territories; (and) utilizing artillery shells and rocket barrages.”

Hezbollah says repelled ‘attempted’ Israeli infiltration at border village
AFP/October 06, 2024
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Hezbollah said its fighters pushed away Israeli troops that attempted to storm into a Lebanese border village early Sunday, in the latest clashes after Israel announced ground operations earlier this week. The fighters launched “artillery shells” at “Israeli enemy soldiers who attempted to infiltrate from... Blida... forcing (them) to retreat,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

Potential Hezbollah Leader Out of Contact Since Friday, Lebanese Source Says
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
The potential successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been out of contact since Friday, a Lebanese security source said on Saturday, after an Israeli airstrike that is reported to have targeted him. In its campaign against the Iran-backed Lebanese group, Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut's southern suburbs late on Thursday that Axios cited three Israeli officials as saying targeted Hashem Safieddine in an underground bunker. The Lebanese security source and two other Lebanese security sources said that Israeli strikes since Friday on Dahiyeh, a residential suburb and Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, have kept rescue workers from scouring the site of the attack. Hezbollah has made no comment so far on Safieddine since the attack. Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on Friday the military was still assessing the Thursday night airstrikes, which he said targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters. The loss of Nasrallah's rumored successor would be yet another blow to Hezbollah and its patron Iran. Israeli strikes across the region in the past year, sharply accelerated in the past few weeks, have decimated Hezbollah's leadership. Israel expanded its conflict in Lebanon on Saturday with its first strike in the northern city of Tripoli, a Lebanese security official said, after more bombs hit Beirut suburbs and Israeli troops launched raids in the south. Israel has begun an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon and sent troops across the border in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Hezbollah. Fighting had previously been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, taking place in parallel to Israel's year-old war in Gaza against Palestinian group Hamas. Israel says it aims to allow the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to their homes in northern Israel, bombarded by Hezbollah since Oct. 8 last year. The Israeli attacks have eliminated much of Hezbollah's senior military leadership, including Secretary General Nasrallah in an air attack on Sept. 27. The Israeli assault has also killed hundreds of ordinary Lebanese, including rescue workers, Lebanese officials say, and forced 1.2 million people - almost a quarter of the population - to flee their homes. Lebanon's health ministry said on Saturday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 25 people and wounded 127 others the day before. The Lebanese security official told Reuters that Saturday's strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli killed a member of Hamas, his wife and two children. Media affiliated with the Palestinian group said the strike killed a leader of its armed wing, naming him as Saeed Atallah. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike on Tripoli, a Sunni Muslim-majority port city that its warplanes also targeted during a 2006 war with Hezbollah. It said in a later statement that it had killed two Hamas members operating in Lebanon, but did not say where they were killed. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
ISRAEL WEIGHS OPTIONS FOR IRAN
The violence comes as the anniversary approaches of Hamas' attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and displaced nearly all of the enclave's population of 2.3 million. Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas, and which has lost key commanders of its elite Revolutionary Guards Corps to Israeli air strikes in Syria this year, launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. The strikes did little damage. Israel has been weighing options in its response to Iran's attack. Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies in Gaza. US President Joe Biden on Friday urged Israel to consider alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran. Israeli news website Ynet reported on Saturday that the top US general for the Middle East, Army General Michael Kurilla, is headed for Israel in the coming day. Israeli and US officials were not immediately reachable for comment.

Australia Starts Evacuating Nationals from Lebanon via Cyprus
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
Australia started evacuating its nationals from Lebanon via Cyprus on Saturday, in the first large-scale operation to get citizens out of the country amid an Israeli onslaught on Iran-backed Hezbollah. Some 229 people arrived on the east Mediterranean island, which lies a 40-minute flight time from Beirut, on a commercial airline chartered by Australia. A second flight is scheduled later in the day. More evacuation flights could be expected based on demand, Australian and Cypriot officials said. At Cyprus's Larnaca airport, civilians of all ages transferred from the aircraft into a terminal and then escorted onto waiting coaches. Children helped themselves to red apples and water provided by Australian military staff. "They are exhausted, exceptionally happy to be here but heartbroken because they left family behind," said Fiona McKergow, the Australian High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Cyprus. More and more countries are using close hubs like Cyprus to assist in evacuations from Lebanon. Israel has sharply escalated attacks on Hezbollah in recent weeks, with a barrage of airstrikes and a ground operation in the south of the country, after nearly a year of lower-level cross-border conflict waged in parallel with Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. In the past week, Cyprus assisted evacuations by China, Greece, Portugal and Slovakia. Britain and the United States have also moved personnel to Cyprus to assist in military evacuations, if necessary. Cyprus had been used to evacuate close to 60,000 people from Lebanon in the last serious escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. Some of those evacuated on Saturday said they did not think they would ever return to Lebanon. "Never, ever. I was traumatized, my kids were traumatized. It's not a safe country, I won't be back," said Dana Hameh, 34. She added: "I feel very sad leaving my country but I'm very happy to start a new life in Sydney. Life goes on. I wish the best for everyone."

Israel Conducts More Ground Raids in Southern Lebanon, Strikes Beirut Suburbs
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
The Israeli military said on Saturday that special forces were carrying out ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, destroying missiles, launchpads, watchtowers and weapons storage facilities. The military said troops also dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border. Israeli airstrikes also hit areas in eastern Lebanon, according to state media. At least six people were killed, according to Lebanon’s state National News Agency (NNA). Some 1,400 Lebanese, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed and some 1.2 million driven from their homes since Israel escalated its strikes in late September aiming to cripple Hezbollah and push it away from the countries’ shared border. On Tuesday, Israel launched a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon. Nine Israeli troops have been killed in close fighting in the area in the past few days, which is saturated with arms and explosives, the military said. Beirut’s southern suburbs was hit by 12 Israeli airstrikes early Saturday, including one that badly damaged a large hall Hezbollah has used to hold ceremonies, said NNA. Later in the day, more strikes hit the area, from which tens of thousands of people have fled over the past two weeks.

Israel Expands Its Bombardment in Lebanon as Tens of Thousands Flee
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon on Saturday, hitting Beirut’s southern suburbs with a dozen airstrikes and striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters. Tens of thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza. Israel's attack on the Beddawi camp near Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli killed an official with Hamas’ military wing along with his wife and two young daughters, the Palestinian armed group said. Hamas later said another military wing member was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. Israel’s military said it killed two senior officials with Hamas’ military wing in Lebanon, where fighting has escalated in recent weeks. Israel has killed several Hamas officials there since the Israel-Hamas war began, in addition to most of the top leadership of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah. At least 1,400 Lebanese, also including civilians and paramedics, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from homes in less than two weeks.
Plumes of smoke dominated the skyline over Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah commanders and military equipment and aims to drive the group away from shared borders.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and Israel's military have traded fire almost daily.
Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in the intense ground clashes that Israel says have killed 250 Hezbollah fighters. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006.
Israel's military on Saturday said about 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Most were intercepted, but several fell in the northern Arab town of Deir al-Asad, where police said three people were lightly injured.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and in Lebanon.” The minister did not name the countries putting forward initiatives, saying they include regional states and some outside the Middle East.
Araghchi spoke a day after the supreme leader of Iran praised its recent missile strikes on Israel and said it was ready to do it again if necessary. Fleeing Lebanon on foot At least six people were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday, according to the National News Agency, a Lebanese state-run new outlet. Nearly 375,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria, fleeing Israeli strikes, in less than two weeks, according to a Lebanese government committee.
Associated Press journalists saw thousands of people continuing to cross the Masnaa Border Crossing on foot, crunching over the rubble after Israeli airstrikes left huge craters in the road leading to it on Thursday. Much of Hezbollah’s weaponry is believed to come from Iran through Syria. Other displaced families now shelter alongside Beirut’s famous seaside Corniche, their wind-flapped tents just steps from luxury homes. “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu,” said Om Ali Mcheik.
The Israeli military said special forces were carrying out targeted ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, destroying missiles, launchpads and weapons storage facilities. It said troops dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.
More evacuation orders in Gaza Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the Health Ministry there, which does not differentiate between civilian and fighter deaths. Almost 90% of Gaza’s residents are now displaced, amid widespread destruction.
Palestinian medical officials said Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza on Saturday killed at least nine people. One in the northern town of Beit Hanoun killed at least five people, including two children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Another hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four, the Awda hospital said. The Israeli military did not have any immediate comment but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas. An Israeli airstrike killed two children in Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the civil defense first responders’ group that operates under the Hamas-run government. Israel's military warned Palestinians to evacuate along the strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal. The military told people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to Muwasi, a coastal area it has designated a humanitarian zone. It’s unclear how many Palestinians are in the areas ordered evacuated. Israeli forces have often returned to areas in Gaza to target Hamas fighters as they regroup.

France to Host Lebanon Aid Conference, Macron Says
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
France will host an international conference this month to help drum up humanitarian aid for Lebanon and strengthen security in the southern part of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday. "We will hold in the next few weeks a conference to provide humanitarian aid, support the international community and support the Lebanese armed forces boost security, especially in southern Lebanon," Macron said after a meeting of French speaking countries in Paris. Israel has begun an intense bombing campaign in Lebanon and sent troops across the border in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Fighting had previously been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, taking place in parallel to Israel's year-old war in Gaza against Palestinian group Hamas. Earlier, Macron said shipments of arms used in the conflict in Gaza should be stopped as part of a broader effort to find a political solution. France is not a major weapons provider for Israel, shipping military equipment worth 30 million euros ($33 million) last year, according to the defense ministry's annual arms exports report. "I think the priority today is to get back to a political solution (and) that arms used to fight in Gaza are halted. France doesn't ship any," Macron told France Inter radio. "Our priority now is to avoid escalation. The Lebanese people must not in turn be sacrificed, Lebanon cannot become another Gaza," he added. Macron's comments come as his Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is on a four-day trip to the Middle East, wrapping up on Monday in Israel as Paris looks to play a role in reviving diplomatic efforts.

A Hamas official is killed in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp
The Canadian Press/October 5, 2024
An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in north Lebanon has killed Hamas official Saeed Atallah Ali and his family, the militant group said Saturday. The early morning strike came a day after another Israeli airstrike cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, leaving two huge craters on either side of the road. Israel began a ground incursion Tuesday into Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group. The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials. Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

South Korea evacuates 97 people from Lebanon
The Associated Press/October 05/2024
SEOUL, South Korea — A military plane evacuating 97 people from Lebanon arrived in South Korea on Saturday. South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the group on the plane includes South Korean nationals and their family members. There are about 30 South Koreans left in Lebanon besides diplomats and embassy workers who are staying.South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed officials Wednesday to send military aircraft to conflict areas in the Middle East as he called a meeting to discuss the impact of the intensified fighting in the region. There are about 480 South Korean nationals living in Israel and 110 in Iran.

Israel conducts more ground raids in southern Lebanon
The Associated Press/October 05/2024
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said on Saturday its special forces were carrying out ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, destroying missiles, launchpads, watchtowers and weapons storage facilities. The military said troops also dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border. Some 1,400 Lebanese, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians, have been killed and some 1.2 million driven from their homes since Israel escalated its strikes in late September aiming to cripple Hezbollah and push it away from the countries’ shared border. On Tuesday, Israel launched what it calls a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon. Nine Israeli troops have been killed in close fighting in the area in the past few days, which is saturated with arms and explosives, the military said. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have hit civilian areas and infrastructure including hospitals and paramedics.

Israeli strikes hammer Beirut suburbs
The Associated Press/October 05/2024
BEIRUT — Beirut’s southern suburbs was hit by 12 Israeli airstrikes early Saturday, including one that badly damaged a large hall Hezbollah has used to hold ceremonies, Lebanon’s state news agency said. Later in the day, more strikes hit the area, from which tens of thousands of people have fled over the past two weeks. Israeli airstrikes also hit areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to state media. At least six people were killed, according to NNA.

Trudeau repeats ceasefire call but doesn't condemn Israel sending troops into Lebanon
Nojoud Al Mallees/The Canadian Press/October 5, 2024
PARIS — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pleaded for peace in the Middle East Saturday, as he decried a civilian death toll he blamed on Hamas, Hezbollah and Israel. But Trudeau stopped short of outright condemning Israel for beginning a ground war days after the Israeli military crossed the border into southern Lebanon. "We need to see peace in the region," Trudeau said from Paris where he is attending the final day of the Francophonie summit. The gathering of leaders of French-speaking countries takes place every two years to promote and protect French language and culture around the world.
But the war in the Middle East has been a dominant factor in this year's meeting, particularly as Lebanon is one of the organization's 88 member countries.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, in Paris with Trudeau, was scheduled to meet with a Lebanese government minister later Saturday.
Violence in the region escalated in recent weeks, nearly a year after the Hamas attack on Israel that set off the latest war with Hamas in Gaza and between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
About 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 others taken hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Gaza health authorities say nearly 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the year since.
Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily in the last year.
In late September Israel stepped up its airstrikes aimed at Hezbollah targets in suburban Beirut, which local health officials say have killed nearly 2,000 people. Israel also began a ground incursion last week. Iran, which helps arm and finance both Hamas and Hezbollah, launched at least 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, an attack Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday was a “shining” job by Iran’s armed forces. He said they would do it again if needed.
Trudeau condemned the Iranian missile attacks last week but on Saturday, when asked he if he condemned Israel for moving troops by land into Lebanon, he didn't use the word.
"The terrorist organizations, Hezbollah and Hamas have caused countless deaths, but so has the response of Israel," he said in response. "We need to make sure that we see de-escalation and we need to continue to hold Iran to account for its funding and organizing behind the scenes of Hamas, of Hezbollah, of the Houthis." Israel has a legitimate right to respond to Iran's attacks, Trudeau said, "but at the same time, we have to be mindful about not letting the situation get further in claimed inflamed, not allowing or seeing further escalation of violence or spreading of conflict through the region." Trudeau said peace includes a two-state solution for both Israel and a Palestinian state.
Joly said Saturday about 1,000 Canadians have now been able to flee the violence on flights chartered by Canada from Beirut to Istanbul. More flights have been added on Monday and Tuesday, she said. Canada believes nearly 45,000 citizens and close family members were in Lebanon when the violence began escalating last month. Joly said 6,000 Canadians have registered to get more information about the flights being offered. However many seats are not being taken when those registered are being called back and offered a ticket. Joly said she knows things are difficult but pleaded for people to take a seat if offered it. Trudeau was asked about the safety of asking people to do so, given an airstrike that got close to the Beirut airport Friday and the two Canadians who were killed trying to flee violence in southern Lebanon on Sept. 23.
"The risks in the region have been known for a long time, which is why for the past many months we have been exhorting Canadians to get out of Lebanon," Trudeau said. "The tragedy of the two Canadians killed is something that weighs heavily on us but we know we need to continue to offer opportunities for people to leave to safety and we will continue to do that work." He also said that critical infrastructure including the port and the airport in Beirut, must not be targeted.

Canadian PM Urges Citizens to Leave Lebanon as Evacuations Top 1,000
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadian citizens still in Lebanon on Saturday to sign up to be evacuated on special flights which have already helped more than 1,000 leave as security there deteriorates. Canada has 6,000 signed up to leave and officials are trying to reach another 2,500 over the weekend, an official in Trudeau's office said, adding that more flights were being added for Monday and Tuesday. "We've still got seats on airplanes organized by Canada. We encourage all Canadians to take seats on these airplanes and get out of Lebanon while they can," Trudeau said at a summit of leaders from French-speaking countries in France. Canada has not been able to fill flights with its citizens and has offered seats to people from the Australia, New Zealand, the United States and some European countries, the official in his office said. Israel has expanded its strikes on Lebanon in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Lebanon's Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. Fighting had been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, taking place in parallel to Israel's year-old war in Gaza against Hamas. Trudeau said an immediate ceasefire from both Hezbollah and Israel was needed so the situation could be stabilized and United Nations resolutions could begin to be respected again.

Lebanon’s Migrant Workers Stuck in Limbo as Thousands Flee Conflict
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
Migrant worker Fajima Kamara came to Lebanon three years ago from Sierra Leone, but when Israeli jets started pounding her neighborhood with airstrikes last month, her employers left her jobless and homeless. The 28-year-old mother-of-three had been working as a domestic helper for a Lebanese family in the eastern city of Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold. As a nearly year-long cross-border conflict between Israel and the armed Shiite movement sharply escalated in late September, Kamara's employers sought refuge in Dubai and told her she could not stay in their home while they were away. Instead, they told her to go and find her "fellow African sisters" in the capital, Beirut, Kamara said. With her phone and passport still confiscated by her employers and no time to pack, Kamara left Baalbek with nothing but the clothes she was wearing and made her way among the thousands of other displaced people to Beirut, where she hoped to find somewhere to stay. Turned away by local shelters that were taking in displaced Lebanese, she soon found herself homeless and living on the city streets. "I slept on the street for two days. Now I have fever," Kamara told Reuters between sneezes. UN officials said on Friday most of Lebanon's nearly 900 shelters were full, voicing concern for tens of thousands of mostly female, live-in domestic workers being "abandoned" by their employers. Kamara eventually found refuge at a shelter hurriedly opened by Lebanese volunteers on Oct. 1, but is worried about her future as the conflict intensifies. For now, she hopes to stay on and find another job to avoid having to go home penniless. About 100 migrant workers and some of their children are staying at the same crowdfunded shelter, sleeping on thin cots on a cement floor and eating on wooden pallets.
Dea Hage-Chahine, who helped lead the project, said she and her team were working around the clock to expand the shelter by adding power generators and a makeshift kitchen. Their ultimate goal is to help repatriate workers who want to return to their home countries - although most, like Karama, are without a passport. "For now, for those who told us they want to travel, we initiated the process. For those who want to stay, for now, we have the shelter open for them, providing any needs they require. But we don't know what's next," Hage-Chahine said.In a country historically wrought by conflict and where a devastating economic crisis has crippled state institutions, grassroots efforts have stepped in across the country to help the displaced. Lebanese authorities say Israel's escalated offensive has displaced about 1.2 million people - almost a quarter of the population - and killed more than 2,000.

The War in Gaza Long Felt Personal for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon. Now They’re Living It
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
The war in Gaza was always personal for many Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Many live in camps set up after 1948, when their parents or grandparents fled their homes in land that became Israel, and they have followed a year's worth of news of destruction and displacement in Gaza with dismay. While Israeli air strikes in Lebanon have killed a few figures from Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, the camps that house many of the country's approximately 200,000 refugees felt relatively safe for the general population. That has changed. Tens of thousands of refugees have fled as Israel has launched an offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah amid an ongoing escalation in the war in the Middle East. For many, it feels as if they are living the horrors they witnessed on their screens. Terror on a small screen becomes personal reality Manal Sharari, from the Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the southern coastal city of Tyre, used to try to shield her three young daughters from images of children wounded and killed in the war in Gaza even as she followed the news "minute by minute."In recent weeks, she couldn't shield them from the sounds of bombs dropping nearby. "They were afraid and would get anxious every time they heard the sound of a strike," Sharari said. Four days ago, the Israeli military issued a warning to residents of the camp to evacuate as it launched a ground incursion into southern Lebanon — similar to the series of evacuation orders that have sent residents of Gaza fleeing back and forth across the enclave for months. Sharari and her family also fled. They are now staying in a vocational training center-turned-displacement shelter run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, in the town of Sebline, 55 km (34 mi) to the north. Some 1,400 people are staying there. Mariam Moussa, from the Burj Shamali camp, also near Tyre, fled with her extended family about a week earlier when strikes began falling on the outskirts of the camp. Before that, she said, "we would see the scenes in Gaza and what was happening there, the destruction, the children and families. And in the end, we had to flee our houses, same as them."
The world is bracing for more refugees
Israeli officials have said the ground offensive in Lebanon and the week of heavy bombardment that preceded it aim to push Hezbollah back from the border and allow residents of northern Israel to return to their homes. The Lebanese armed group began launching rockets into Israel in support of its ally, Hamas, one day after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel and ensuing Israeli offensive in Gaza. Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling, and the two sides were quickly locked into a monthslong, low-level conflict that has escalated sharply in recent weeks.
Lebanese officials say that more than 1 million people have been displaced. Palestinian refugees are a relatively small but growing proportion. At least three camps — Ein el Hilweh, el Buss and Beddawi — have been directly hit by airstrikes, while others have received evacuation warnings or have seen strikes nearby. Dorothee Klaus, UNRWA’s director in Lebanon, said around 20,000 Palestinian refugees have been displaced from camps in the south. UNRWA was hosting around 4,300 people — including Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees as well as Palestinians — in 12 shelters as of Thursday, Klaus said, "and this is a number that is now steadily going to increase." The agency is preparing to open three more shelters if needed, Klaus said. "We have been preparing for this emergency for weeks and months," she said.
Refugees are desperate and making do.  Outside of the center in Sebline, where he is staying, Lebanese citizen Abbas Ferdoun has set up a makeshift convenience store out of the back of a van. He had to leave his own store outside of the Burj Shemali camp behind and flee two weeks ago, eventually ending up at the shelter. "Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians, we’re all in the same situation," Ferdoun said. In Gaza, UN centers housing displaced people have themselves been targeted by strikes, with Israeli officials claiming that the centers were being used by fighters. Some worry that pattern could play out again in Lebanon. Hicham Kayed, deputy general coordinator with Al-Jana, the local NGO administering the shelter in Sebline, said he felt the international "response to the destruction of these facilities in Gaza was weak, to be honest," so "fear is present" that they might be similarly targeted in Lebanon. Sharari said she feels safe for now, but she remains anxious about her father and others who stayed behind in the camp despite the warnings — and about whether she will have a home to return to. She still follows the news obsessively but now, she said, "I’m following what’s happening in Gaza and what’s happening in Lebanon."

Is this Lebanon’s last war?
Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/October 05, 2024
A friend of mine from Canada asked: “Please give me one piece of good news, even if it is fake.” There is no good news in what is happening in Lebanon right now so any optimism needs to be about what we might find when the dust settles: Whether the destruction that is happening now could be the final conflict that unites the country, rather than leading to another civil war and even more chaos. If that sounds like an unrealistically hopeful fantasy, blame my Canadian friend’s challenge. It is all the more surreal to be writing an optimistic analysis accompanied by the sound of huge explosions in Beirut. But what I hope to illustrate is the fact that after every crisis, no matter how divisive, the Lebanese identity emerges stronger and its society more cohesive. When Greater Lebanon was established in 1920, it was generally viewed as a Maronite project and opposed by the majority of its population. Just over a century later, we could finally be on the verge of reaching consensus. A hundred years ago, the prospect of consensus among the nation’s communities was not promising. The majority of Sunni, Shiite, Orthodox, and Druze were, to say the least, unconvinced at the prospect. In fact, about half of the Maronites were dead set against it and preferred to remain a majority population in Mount Lebanon rather than joining with others in a larger state, especially given that the various groups had nationalist aspirations that generally did not match the intentions of this new entity carved out of former Ottoman districts and provinces.
The newly created borders isolated many people in annexed areas from their historic hinterland. The people of southern Lebanon, for example, had family in — and trade relations with — northern Palestine, Galilee and the cities of Acre, Haifa and Safad. Tripoli had served as the port for Homs and Hama, now in Syria, and Beirut was the port for Damascus. Sidon linked naturally to the fertile plains of the Houran in southern Syria.
The political system that was established did not help. While other newly created states in the region imposed a solid and coherent national identity on a supposedly homogeneous population, Lebanon recognized its multitude of identities in a power-sharing formula, the aspiration being that a cohesive structure would emerge naturally from the mix; Lebanon was a fruit salad, hoping to become a smoothie.
It is true that unity and cohesion in the country has emerged stronger from the many crises it has faced. During periods of war and other times of hardship, the Lebanese tend to forget their differences and go out of their way to show solidarity. This is happening now on an impressive scale; people displaced by the conflict are being accepted in the most unexpected areas, and volunteers and nongovernmental organizations are doing some amazing work with very few resources. In times of crisis even the use of language changes, as people become less confrontational and show more empathy and understanding for their fellow citizens. This view might sound unrealistic, all the more so since my writing was just interrupted by what felt like the mother of all air raids. But look at the results of previous turmoil. Between the 1950s and 1980s, and during two civil wars, Lebanese politics was dominated by the question of the country’s Arab identity and its participation in the Arab-Israeli conflict alongside the Palestine Liberation Organization, which became a key participant in the civil war with the support of about half the population. There were some Lebanese nationalists among the Sunnis but they were the exception.
Lebanon was a fruit salad, hoping to become a smoothie
The entire region was driven by a wave of Arab nationalism, the hero of which was President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. My mother thought he was the most handsome man in the world. When he gave a speech, I could hear it without interruption even while walking through the souq in Saida; all the shops had the broadcast playing at full blast. The civil war was a complex affair but broadly speaking the two opposing sides were a Sunni-Druze alliance and a Maronite-led grouping, with external players involved in various roles. It was not exactly sectarian in nature but let us just say that if you drove through an area you would find posters and graffiti that left no doubt about its dominant sectarian and political affiliations. Dissent was rarely tolerated within communities; Prime Minister Sami El-Solh’s house was burned in 1958 and he had to move to the other side of the city.
Let us just say that it would have been hard to convince anyone in the mid-1970s that Rafik Hariri would emerge as a leading Lebanese nationalist in the 1990s, or that the son of Kamal Jumblatt would be one of the main leaders of the Cedar Revolution against the Syrian presence in Lebanon, alongside Samir Geagea and his followers.
These developments were the result of a complex process through which the experiences of the civil war were internalized and new accepted wisdom emerged. Sometimes it is difficult to believe one’s ears as politicians begin to sound like their historical rivals, while maintaining their own specific narratives about the past. Slogans can be powerful tools, and in Lebanon we have had slogans of reconciliation after each crisis, such as: "What is past is past," "No winner no loser," "One Lebanon, not two." There are also family and regional ties that will always transcend sectarian and political divisions.
The path to consensus is marked by heroes and martyrs from each community: Kamal Jumblatt for the Druze, Bachir Gemayel for the Maronites, Riad El-Solh and Rafik Hariri for the Sunnis, and Moussa Al-Sadr for the Shiites.
The assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah leaves a huge power vacuum; he was a divisive figure who at one stage became an icon for the broader Arab and Muslim world and will remain such to his followers. They are bereaved and confused, feeling betrayed and defeated.
The consensus that will emerge from the current tragedy unfolding in Lebanon is unpredictable. There are a multitude of mixed signals and it is too early to interpret them. There is perhaps some hope that the Hezbollah constituency might assimilate with the wider population if it draws the right conclusions and finds a way to reconcile a tragic history and join the post-Taif consensus. The divisions that remain mainly involve relations with Israel, with an armed guerrilla force linked to the “Axis of Resistance” on one side versus the prospect of a negotiated border settlement and a broader regional peace on the other. Authorities in Israel are indirectly helping to bring the two sides closer together, with the prospects for peace looking more distant as a result of the brutality of the Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. Michel Chiha, the father of the Lebanese constitution who is credited with — and sometimes blamed for — creating the nation’s political system, once wrote that Lebanon would need 10 years of peace and stability before all of its population would see the benefits of the Maronite project and endorse it. It turns out he was wrong; it did not take years of peace, it took several crises — and they did join in.
• Nadim Shehadi is an economist and political adviser. X: @Confusezeus

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 05-06/2024
PM Netanyahu: No country would accept the attack from Iran, and neither will Israel
Jerusalem Post/October 05/2024
IDF Chief Spokesperson Daniel Hagari also addressed the IDF's response to Iran, saying, "The IDF will respond to Iran in the time and manner that it sees fit.""We have an obligation to respond to Iran - and we will," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded message broadcasted on Israeli media channels on Saturday night. "No country in the world would have accepted such an attack, and neither will Israel," he added. Netanyahu began his statement by recounting Israel's progress in the war over the last month. "About a month ago, towards the end of the destruction of the Hamas battalions in Gaza - we began to fulfill the promise I gave to the residents of the north." "We eliminated Nasrallah and the top echelon of Hezbollah. We eliminated the commanders of the Radwan force who planned to invade the Galilee and carry out a greater and more terrible massacre of our citizens than the one on October 7," he added. "Twice already, Iran has fired, and we have intercepted hundreds of missiles from the largest ballistic missile attack in history. No country in the world would have accepted such an attack, and neither will Israel, and we will respond to these attacks," he concluded. IDF addresses response to Iran. Netanyahu's comments came roughly half an hour after Chief IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari also made a statement to the press to update the IDF's progress over the long holiday and Shabbat.Hagari also addressed the IDF's response to Iran, saying, "The IDF will respond to Iran in the time and manner that it sees fit, and the public security guidelines will be updated when it happens.

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 9, including 2 children
The Associated Press/October 05/2024
CAIRO — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza early Saturday have killed at least nine people, including two children. One strike hit a group of people in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, killing at least five people, including two children, according to the Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency service. Another strike hit a house in the northern part of Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four people, the Awda hospital said. The strike also left a number of wounded people, it said. The Israeli military did not have any immediate comment on the strikes, but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas. Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the almost year-long war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.

Israel issues first Gaza evacuation warning in weeks
AFP/October 05, 2024
GAZA: The Israeli army warned residents to evacuate part of central Gaza on Saturday, saying the military was preparing to use “great force” against Hamas fighters in the area. The evacuation call is the first in weeks for Gaza as the Israeli military has largely shifted its focus to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Hamas and the terrorist organizations continue their terrorist activities within your area and, as a result, the IDF (military) will act with great force against these elements,” the evacuation order posted by the Israeli army said, with an attached map listing the blocks to be evacuated. Palestinians living in areas near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza have been warned to evacuate under the latest order posted on X. Israel has destroyed large swathes of Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly pledging to secure total victory over the militants.
A year later, the confirmed death toll from the Hamas attack — including hostages killed in captivity — has reached 1,205 on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants abducted 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military has said are dead. In Gaza, nearly all of its 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once. At least 41,825 people have been killed, most of them women or children, according to the territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged the figures as reliable.
The Israeli military has often returned to areas where it has previously conducted operations in response to reports of resurgent Hamas activity.

At least five killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza mosque
REUTERS/October 06, 2024
GAZA: At least five people were killed and 20 others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a Gaza mosque early on Sunday, medics said. The strike on the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, came as the Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave approaches its first anniversary. Eyewitnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people. The Israeli military said in a statement it “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded in a structure that previously served as the ‘Shuhada Al-Aqsa’ Mosque in the area of Deir al Balah.”The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. It has also displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million people, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

Israel orders more evacuations in central Gaza
The Associated Press/October 05/2024
CAIRO — The Israeli military on Saturday warned residents in parts of central Gaza to evacuate, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian militants.
The warnings cover areas along a strategic corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal earlier this summer. The military warned Palestinians in areas of Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, located along the Netzarim corridor, to evacuate to an along Gaza's shore called Muwasi, which the military has designated a humanitarian zone. It’s unclear how many Palestinians are currently living in the areas affected by the order, parts of which were evacuated previously. Less than an hour after the evacuation order, Palestinians reported Israel’s artillery shelling and smoke bombing in the northern areas of Nuseirat camp. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza where they fought earlier battles against Hamas and other militants since the start of the war one year ago. The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been displaced in the war, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps.Others have remained in their homes despite being ordered to leave, saying nowhere in the isolated coastal territory feels safe.

Iran ‘ongoing threat’ to Israel, says president
AFP/October 06, 2024
JERUSALEM: President Isaac Herzog said on Saturday that Iran remains an “ongoing threat” to Israel, a year after the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants. “In many senses we are still living the aftermath of October 7... It is in the ongoing threat to the Jewish State by Iran and its terror proxies, who are blinded by hatred and bent on the destruction of our one and only Jewish nation state,” Herzog said in a statement to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas onslaught. On October 1, Iran struck Israel with about 200 missiles in what was its second direct attack in less than six months during the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon. US officials told American news outlets after Iran’s earlier strike in April that Israel in turn carried out a retaliatory strike on the Islamic republic. Iran had targeted Israel with drones and missiles after a deadly strike, which it blamed on Israel, against Tehran’s embassy consular annex in Syria.The latest missile barrage from Iran came, it said, in retaliation for the killings of top militant leaders. In response to the missile fire, most of which was intercepted, Iran and much of the international community is now bracing for a potential Israeli attack on the Islamic republic.
The attack by Palestinian militants Hamas almost a year ago triggered war with Israel that continues in the Gaza Strip, as well as supporting fire from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East, mainly Lebanon’s Hezbollah which is armed and financed by Iran.
Since late September the conflict with Hezbollah has escalated into full-on war.

Syria's Assad praises Iran's strike on Israel
The Associated Press/October 05/2024
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian President Bashar Assad praised Iran for firing nearly 200 missiles at Israel earlier this week saying it was a message to Israel that Tehran and its allies “can deter the enemy.” Assad spoke during a meeting with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday. In comments carried by state media, Assad said that “resisting occupation, aggression and mass killings is a legitimate right.” Assad said the Iran-led alliance known as Axis of Resistance will remain strong because of the backing of its people. Syrian state media said Assad and Araghchi discussed ending Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Iran has been a main backer of Assad since Syria’s civil war began in March 2011.

European cities brace for pro-Palestinian rallies amid high alert as Oct. 7 anniversary approaches
Giada Zampano And Sylvia Hui/ROME (AP)/October 5, 2024
Hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were expected to take to the streets across Europe on Saturday calling for a cease-fire as the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel approached.
Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities, amid concerns that the escalating conflict in the Middle East could inspire new terror attacks in Europe or that some of the protests could turn violent.
Massive rallies are planned in several European cities, including London, Berlin, Paris and Rome through next week, with the largest gatherings expected from Saturday to Monday. Events will peak on Monday, the date of the anniversary.
By midday Saturday, thousands had gathered in central London’s Russell Square amid a significant police presence. Some of the march’s organizers had said they planned to target companies and institutions they claimed were “complicit in Israel’s crimes,” including Barclays Bank and the British Museum.
Protests are also taking place in other parts of the world. In the Philippines on Saturday, dozens of left-wing activists protested near the U.S. Embassy in Manila, where police prevented them from getting closer to the seaside compound.
On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. It says more than half were women and children. Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive. Israelis have experienced attacks — missiles from Iran and Hezbollah, explosive drones from Yemen, fatal shootings and stabbings — as the region braces for further escalation. In late September, Israel shifted some of its focus to Hezbollah, which holds much of the power in parts of southern Lebanon and some other areas of the country, attacking the militants with exploding pagers, airstrikes and, eventually, incursions into Lebanon.
Rally Banned in Rome
Pro-Palestinian protests calling for an immediate cease-fire have repeatedly taken place across Europe and around the globe in the past year and have often turned violent, with confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement officers.
In Rome, a rally was planned for Saturday afternoon — with about 30,000 demonstrators expected — in spite of a ban by local police chiefs who refused to authorize protests in the Italian capital, citing public security concerns. Italian authorities believed that the timing of the planned rally risked the Oct. 7 attack being “glorified,” local media reported. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi also stressed that, ahead of the key anniversary, Europe is on high alert for potential terror attacks. “This is not a normal situation … We are already in a condition of maximum prevention,” he said. A large crowd was also expected to gather in central London on Saturday afternoon. Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Britain, said he and others will keep organizing marches until action against Israel is taken.
“We need to be out on the streets in even bigger numbers to stop this carnage and stop Britain being drawn into it,” Jamal said. In Berlin, a march is scheduled from the Brandenburg Gate to Bebelplatz on Sunday. Local media reported that security forces have warned of potential overload due to the scale of protests. German authorities pointed to increasing antisemitic and violent incidents in recent days.
France was also on alert for new protests on Saturday. Earlier this week, Interior minister Bruno Retailleau warned the country’s regional prefects, expressing concern about possible tensions and saying that the terrorist threat was high.

The US Navy is battling 'the best Iranian technology' in the Red Sea and changing how it fights to beat it, admiral says
Jake Epstein/ Business Insider/October 05/2024
The US Navy has been battling Houthi missiles and drones for nearly a year.
America's top naval officer said the Houthis are using some of "the best Iranian technology" in their fight. Adm. Lisa Franchetti said the Navy is changing the way it fights to defeat these threats.
The US Navy has been battling the Houthis and some of Iran's best weaponry in the Red Sea and changing some of the ways it fights to defeat them, America's top naval officer said this week.
Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations, said this week that the Navy is taking away many lessons from its almost yearlong fight against the Houthis, including the fact that drones are fundamentally changing warfare. The Houthis, a Yemen-based rebel group that Iran has armed and supported for years, have used aerial and surface drones to attack key merchant shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and threaten US Navy ships since last fall. The militants have also fired anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles at vessels. US warships and aircraft, in partnership with allies, have been intercepting these threats. Just last week, American forces engaged a number of Houthi drones and missiles. "We're continuing to learn," Franchetti responded to questions at a Wednesday Defense Writers Group event. "And again, I'll just go back to the changing tactics, techniques and procedures based on adversaries."
"The Houthis are using the best Iranian technology, and we know that we need to be able to defeat that," she added. "And again, our ships are doing an amazing job. And our aircraft."
A Defense Intelligence Agency report published earlier this year detailed the extent of Iranian support for the Houthis. Over the past decade, Tehran has provided the rebel group with a "growing arsenal of sophisticated weapons" and training. This assistance has continued during the Red Sea conflict. "I would say the other lesson learned, which I didn't mention, is really using what you have differently," Franchetti said Wednesday. "Using Hellfire against unmanned surface vehicles. Air-to-air. Aviation platforms shooting down UAVs. These are things where we're really learning."In this fight, the Navy has fired well over $1.1 billion worth of munitions fighting the Houthis, a figure that covers hundreds of air-launched weapons and ship-fired missiles that have been used to take out rebel weaponry, both missiles and drones. The increasing use of unmanned systems, such as aerial strike platforms and naval drones, has been seen in other conflicts, most notably the war in Ukraine. Ukraine, for instance, has built up a formidable arsenal of domestically produced naval drones and has used these systems to target Russian warships and ports around the Black Sea. Even though Kyiv lacks a proper navy, it has demonstrated it can still cause problems through this asymmetrical style of warfare. "I think Ukraine has shown us that you can innovate on the battlefield," Franchetti said. "I want to innovate before the battlefield so we can stay ahead of any adversary any time."

Russia is facing a 'time bomb' at the heart of its economy, economist says
Jennifer Sor/Business Insider/October 05/2024
Konstantin Sonin, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, said he foresaw a dark economic future ahead for Russia. That's because the war in Ukraine has put Moscow in a position where it needs to exert more control over the economy, leading it to break down key market institutions and "borrow" funds from the future, Sonin wrote in an op-ed for Project Syndicate on Friday. Sonin pointed to a handful of measures Russia has taken to prop up its economy, including implementing export restrictions on key commodities to counter Western sanctions. The change has prompted some companies to issue steep price hikes, Sonin said, and it's an example of market levers breaking down in the nation. Russia has also taken steps to block firms from leaving the country. Some companies, like Heineken, have been forced to sell their operations in Russia for as little as one euro.
The Kremlin is also financing the war by "borrowing from the future," Sonin said, pointing to cuts to key public spending programs, while military spending soars. The Kremlin is still planning to spend more on national defense than healthcare or education for the next two years, according to plans Russia's finance ministry published in 2023. "Even more important, Putin's borrowing from the future takes the form of a gradual, yet pervasive dismantling of the market institutions that the Russian people paid such a high price to acquire during the reforms of the 1990s," Sonin wrote.
"Investing massively in military production and simultaneously dismantling market institutions may strengthen Putin's hand in the short term, but it sets a time bomb under longer-term economic development." Still, Russia's economy isn't close to collapse, Sonin noted. Russia's GDP is estimated to grow another 3.2% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, which experts have attributed to Moscow's hefty war spending. Yet, Sonin sees a challenging economic future. "Whenever the Ukraine war ends and Russia returns to international trade (beyond raw materials), all the nationalizations of recent years will come back to haunt it. Putin's war not only imposes on today's Russians a worse life than they otherwise would have had. It also condemns future generations," he added. Other forecasters have also warned of weak growth prospects in Russia over the long run. While GDP continues to grow, longer-term indicators of economic health are in decline, with the nation suffering from a major worker shortage and labor productivity falling more than 3% last year, according to CEIC data.

Anniversary of Gaza war draws thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters around the world
Reuters/October 5, 2024
Anniversary of Gaza war draws thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters around the world
People demonstrate in support of Palestinians in Gaza, in Berlin
PARIS (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters took to the streets in several major cities around the world on Saturday to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza, as the conflict in the Palestinian enclave approaches its first anniversary and spreads in the wider region.
About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London while thousands also gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila and Cape Town. The war was triggered when militant Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 in a raid that killed 1,200 people and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and displaced nearly all of the enclave's population of 2.3 million. "Unfortunately, in spite of all our good will, the Israeli government does not take any notice, and they just go ahead and continue their atrocities in Gaza, now also in Lebanon and in Yemen, and also probably in Iran," said protestor Agmes Koury in London.
"And our government, our British government, unfortunately is just paying lip service and carries on supplying weapons to Israel," she added. In Berlin, Israel supporters protested against rising antisemitism and scuffles broke out between police and pro-Palestinian counter-protestors.
Over the past year, the scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza has drawn some of the biggest global protests in years, in a wave of anger that defenders of Israel say has created an antisemitic climate in which protestors question Israel's right to exist as a nation.
The war in Gaza has spread to the region, drawing in Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Israel has sharply escalated a campaign against Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah in recent weeks and Iran launched a barrage of missiles against Israel this week.
In Paris, Lebanese-French protestor Houssam Houssein said: "We fear a regional war, because there are tensions with Iran at the moment, and perhaps with Iraq and Yemen". "We really need to stop the war because it’s now become unbearable," he added. In Rome, around 6,000 protestors waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags, defying a ban to march in the city centre ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary.
While its allies such as the United States support Israel's right to defend itself, Israel has faced wide international condemnation over its actions in Gaza, and now over its bombarding of Lebanon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted criticism and argued his government is acting to defend the country from a repeat of the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas. International diplomacy led by the United States has so far failed to clinch a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war while Israel says fighting can end only when Hamas is eradicated. In Manila, activists clashed with anti-riot police after they were blocked from holding a demonstration in front of the U.S. embassy in the Philippine capital in protest at the United States supplying Israel with weapons. Demonstrations to mark the first anniversary were due to take place later on Saturday in other cities across the world, including the United States and Chile. Some demonstrations in support of Israel are also planned over the weekend.

‘Impossible’ for People’s Republic of China to Be Our Motherland, Taiwan President Says
Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
It is "impossible" for the People's Republic of China to become Taiwan's motherland because Taiwan has older political roots, the island's President Lai Ching-te said on Saturday. Lai, who took office in May, is condemned by Beijing as a "separatist". He rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying that the island is a country called the Republic of China, which traces its origins back to the 1911 revolution that overthrew the last imperial dynasty. The republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists who set up the People's Republic of China, which continues to claim the island as its "sacred" territory. Speaking at a concert ahead of Taiwan's national day celebrations on Oct. 10, Lai noted that the People's Republic had celebrated its 75th anniversary on Oct. 1, and in a few days it would be the Republic of China's 113th birthday. "Therefore, in terms of age, it is absolutely impossible for the People's Republic of China to become the 'motherland' of the Republic of China's people. On the contrary, the Republic of China may be the motherland of the people of the People's Republic of China who are over 75 years old," Lai added, to applause. "One of the most important meanings of these celebrations is that we must remember that we are a sovereign and independent country," he said. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not answer calls seeking comment outside of office hours. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a speech on the eve of his country's national day, reiterated his government's view that Taiwan was its territory. Lai, who will give his own keynote national day address on Oct. 10, has needled Beijing before with historical references. Last month, Lai said that if China's claims on Taiwan were about territorial integrity, then it should also take back land from Russia signed over by the last Chinese dynasty in the 19th century.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on October 05-06/2024
U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangerous and Disastrous
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/October 05, 2024
The permissive environment created for Iran by the Biden administration's foreign policy of not just granting it impunity, but actually funding it through sanctions waivers and direct payments, appears to have financed the Iranian regime into acting with increasing aggression.
This week, just as Israel, in of one of the most breathtaking campaigns in military history, sent the terror-master regime of Iran on the defensive, the US administration is calling -- now -- for a ceasefire. "I'm comfortable with them [the Israelis] stopping," President Joe Biden told reporters in on September 30. "We should have a ceasefire now."The Biden administration's shaping of US foreign policy had led the world into a state of unprecedented instability. There are conflicts raging in the Middle East and Eastern Europe; China is threatening the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan, and we all are facing the looming threat of Iranian nuclear weapons. The trajectory of the Biden administration's foreign policy is not hard to see.
The permissive environment created for Iran by the Biden administration's foreign policy of not just granting it impunity, but actually funding it through sanctions waivers and direct payments, appears to have financed the Iranian regime into acting with increasing aggression.
During the last four years since the Biden-Harris administration assumed office, the world has been marked by escalating global crises. One of the most significant has been the war against Israel, in which, a year ago, on October 7, 2023, Hamas, a proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, launched a brutal attack on Israel. The assault consisted of massacres, rapes, torture, beheadings, burnings-alive, kidnapping and other crimes against humanity. Possibly emboldened by the perceived weakness of the US, since its surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan in August 2021, and its constant appeasement of China, Iran, for the first time, took direct military action on April 13, 2024 by launching hundreds of attack drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at Israel.
Iran's relentless escalation did not stop there. Its other proxies, including Hezbollah and the Houthis, also stepped up their hostilities, not only against Israel but also against the United States. Since last October, they have attacked US troops in the region more than 160 times and effectively blocked most commercial shipping in the Red Sea. These moves have massively destabilized the region -- all with virtually no adverse consequences for Iran.
The permissive environment created for Iran by the Biden administration's foreign policy of not just granting it impunity, but actually funding it through sanctions waivers and direct payments, appears to have financed the Iranian regime into acting with increasing aggression.
Iran's regime, apparently seeing the lack of a strong international response to its belligerence -- until Israel took charge last week -- has also been accelerating its nuclear weapons program. In spite of this flamboyant threat to global security, the regime can see that there have also been no significant consequences for its nuclear weapons ambitions. The region might soon see a nuclear-armed Iran, which can only spark an arms race that will further destabilize the Middle East. Russia, another key player, invaded Ukraine with little resistance from the US and its allies, resulting in a brutal war that has devastated Ukraine. Iran's military support for Russia, including the supply of advanced weaponry such as attack drones and missiles, has played a crucial role in helping Russia sustain its war on Ukraine. The new "axis of evil"-- the alliance between Russia, China and Iran -- has clearly grown stronger under the Biden-Harris administration and has been seeking new frontiers throughout Africa. Most recently, Iran has been trying to establish a major foothold in Sudan's largest coastal city, Port Sudan, from which it could conveniently fire at Israel and continue to block virtually all shipping in the Red Sea.
US Senator Lindsey Graham recently called the Biden administration a "disaster on the world stage" and expressed grave concerns about the current state of international affairs:
"I've never been more worried about a nuclear breakout by Iran than I am right now. I've never been more worried about another 9/11 against America than I am right now. The withdrawal from Afghanistan put every jihadist on steroids. We have a broken border. There are more terrorists in our country than any time I can remember associated with terrorism. So 9/11 – We're just living on borrowed time here at home... The entire world is on fire and Harris's fingerprints are all over this."
There is no question that the lethal Iranian regime, which the Biden administration had been bribing with lifting sanctions; dangerous, precedent-setting payments for hostages, and a refusal to hold endless malignant activity to account, has repaid America by attacking US troops in the region and is still, though its proxy, the Houthis, firing on US warships in the Red Sea. Worse, US funding has only helped Iran's regime to finance these wars, just as its hobbling of US oil exploration and production contributed to the trebling of the price of oil -- from roughly $42 a barrel in 2020, past $120 in 2022 – that helped Russia to finance its invasion of Ukraine. The US administration, has, in fact, been funding both sides of two wars: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Iran and its proxies' attacks on Israel.
This week, just as Israel, in of one of the most breathtaking campaigns in military history, sent the terror-master regime of Iran on the defensive, the US administration is calling -- now -- for a ceasefire. "I'm comfortable with them [the Israelis] stopping," President Joe Biden told reporters in on September 30. "We should have a ceasefire now."The Biden administration's shaping of US foreign policy had led the world into a state of unprecedented instability. There are conflicts raging in the Middle East and Eastern Europe; China is threatening the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan, and we all are facing the looming threat of Iranian nuclear weapons. The trajectory of the Biden administration's foreign policy is not hard to see. **Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 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/20985/us-foreign-policy-dangerous-and-disastrous

Question: “What is Israel’s role in the end times?”
GotQuestions.org/October 05/2024
Answer: Every time there is a conflict in or around Israel, many see it as a sign of the quickly approaching end times. The problem with this is that we may eventually tire of the conflict in Israel, so much so that we will not recognize when true, prophetically significant events occur. Conflict in Israel is not necessarily a sign of the end times.
Conflict in Israel has been a reality whenever Israel has existed as a nation. Whether it was the Egyptians, Amalekites, Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, Amorites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, or Romans, the nation of Israel has always been persecuted by its neighbors. Why is this? According to the Bible, it is because God has a special plan for the nation of Israel, and Satan wants to defeat that plan. Satanically influenced hatred of Israel—and especially Israel’s God—is the reason Israel’s neighbors have always wanted to see Israel destroyed. Whether it is Sennacherib, king of Assyria; Haman, official of Persia; Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany; or Rouhani, President of Iran, attempts to completely destroy Israel will always fail. The persecutors of Israel will come and go, but the persecution will remain until the second coming of Christ. As a result, conflict in Israel is not a reliable indicator of the soon arrival of the end times.
However, the Bible does say there will be terrible conflict in Israel during the end times. That is why the time period is known as the Tribulation, the Great Tribulation, and the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). Here is what the Bible says about Israel in the end times:
There will be a mass return of Jews to the land of Israel (Deuteronomy 30:3; Isaiah 43:6; Ezekiel 34:11-13; 36:24; 37:1-14).
The Antichrist will make a 7-year covenant of "peace" with Israel (Isaiah 28:18; Daniel 9:27).
The temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 11:1).
The Antichrist will break his covenant with Israel, and worldwide persecution of Israel will result (Daniel 9:27; 12:1, 11; Zechariah 11:16; Matthew 24:15, 21; Revelation 12:13). Israel will be invaded (Ezekiel chapters 38-39).
Israel will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10). Israel will be regenerated, restored, and regathered (Jeremiah 33:8; Ezekiel 11:17; Romans 11:26).
There is much turmoil in Israel today. Israel is persecuted, surrounded by enemies—Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, etc. But this hatred and persecution of Israel is only a hint of what will happen in the end times (Matthew 24:15-21). The latest round of persecution began when Israel was reconstituted as a nation in 1948. Many Bible prophecy scholars believed the six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967 was the "beginning of the end." Could what is taking place in Israel today indicate that the end is near? Yes. Does it necessarily mean the end is near? No. Jesus Himself said it best, "Watch out that no one deceives you. . . . You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come" (Matthew 24:4-6).

The Public Relations War
Mohammed al-Rumaihi/Asharq Al Awsat/October 05/2024
Many around the world remain deeply committed to a medieval mindset. It is too early to predict how the situation in the Middle East will develop following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah and the public relations war reflected by Iran's retaliation last Wednesday night.
The Iranian narrative is that the attack damaged critical institutions in Israel. In contrast, the Israeli and Western narrative is that the missiles had little to no impact. In both camps, we find that those who are riled up firmly believe in their side's narrative.
The truth, as we all know, is the first casualty of war.
I recently learned, from reports by Western military analysts, that anti-missile defenses are costly. If the recipient (in this case, Israel) is certain that a missile will land in an open field or far away from populated regions, its defenses do not intercept it because doing so would incur greater costs than allowing it to land. This might explain why an Iranian missile killed a Palestinian in Jericho - the Palestinians certainly don't need more killing - and another landed in Jordan!
The retaliation for both Nasrallah and Haniyeh through a volley of missiles had probably been agreed upon beforehand, to allow for deflating the rage of segments of Iranians, Lebanese, and Arabs. That is to be expected in conflicts, as it gives decision-makers the opportunity to reassure their base: "We have done what needed to be done!"
However, the situation on the ground is entirely different. The Americans, British, French, Germans, Spaniards, and others have condemned the barrage and held Iran responsible. Thus, the attack has left Iran more isolated despite the prior agreements regarding the timing and targets.
The clash stems from the actions Israel has taken against Hezbollah's force in Lebanon. Israel sees Hezbollah as Iran's first line of defense against genuine threats. The damage that has been done to the party has embarrassed Iran, prompting it to seek a way out, albeit superficially.
When Iran's financial and military support for Hezbollah was at its peak, the party burned many bridges with those around it. It hallowed out the Lebanese political scene, which had long followed the formula of "no victor, no vanquished."
Hezbollah burned the bridges that linked the party to its national partners by assassinating a large number of Lebanese politicians and even intellectuals from its own sect, whom Nasrallah once called "the Shiites of embassies" to the boisterous applause of a clueless audience.
Hezbollah also burned its bridges with the Arab states through a fierce campaign focused especially on the Gulf states, in a clearly misguided step in service of a foreign agenda.
Within Lebanon, the specter of violence was ever-present. Every time it succeeded in silencing others, it became more confident that the tactic yielded results. In our era, which has been upended by the communication revolution, we often see individuals from the party's community voicing their distress and complaining about the party. However, within a few hours or less, we would see them returnn to line, making humiliating apologies to the leadership. This phenomenon became a pattern, almost routine, one whose implications the party failed to recognize, doubling down on coercion and intimidation instead. The party became brutal domestically, leaving it exposed. It was only a matter of time before Hezbollah would eventually be heavily targeted and lose its most prominent leaders, including Nasrallah.
The crucial question is: can the new leadership that takes over learn from the harsh lessons of what the party and Lebanon have undergone, or will it continue along the same path? This question cannot be answered today. Everyone is still waiting, analyzing, and observing, especially Lebanese politicians and Arab neighbors. For Lebanon to emerge from this crisis in the future, it must take four major steps. Iran's missile barrage is certainly not among them. First, the Lebanese army must be the only armed actor in the country, with other forces operating as unarmed political parties that compete peacefully under a unified national banner.
Second, the state must be re-embraced, through the reinvigoration of institutions and by filling the vacancies of the presidency and the prime minister's office. Third, Lebanon must adopt a neutral posture with regard to regional issues. Fourth, the economy must be rejuvenated, as it has been devastated, pushing broad segments of Lebanese society to the brink of poverty.
These four steps are requisites for saving the country and ending the cycle of bloodshed in which Lebanon's young men are turned into pawns for regional projects that certainly do not entail liberating an inch of Palestine. The enormous technological gap, the lack of proper organization, and the absence of domestic support have turned the party into easy prey that Iran's coordinated missile attack will not save. It is not easy to predict what will happen in the coming months, but the stark reality is that maintaining the policies of the past will only lead to total bankruptcy and further destruction. This is a critical historical juncture. A final remark: The formula that trapped the party in this predicament was its reliance on its immense force domestically, which signaled weakness abroad and reflected overindulgence in the denial of reality.

UN failing to stop wars amid Security Council ‘paralysis’ — but progressing on strengthening member states
RAY HANANIA & GABRIELE MALVISI/Arab News/October 05, 2024
CHICAGO/LONDON: The 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, which concluded this week, highlighted the UN’s inability to prevent escalating wars, particularly in the Middle East. However, progress was made on other global issues, such as climate change and poverty.
Founded on Oct. 24, 1945, after the Second World War, the UN was created to maintain international peace, prevent conflict and promote friendly relations among countries. Yet, 79 years later, experts acknowledge that the UN remains hampered in achieving its core mandate, particularly due to the disproportionate power wielded by the five permanent members of the Security Council: The US, Russia, China, France and the UK.
Brian Katulis, senior fellow for US foreign policy at the Middle East Institute, highlighted this imbalance during an interview on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show,” pointing out that while the UN is often blamed for failing to stop conflicts, major global powers have also fallen short in “arresting the spiral down into conflict and a regional war” that is breaking out in the Middle East.
“It’s fine to point a finger to the UN, but the US has not done that great of a job in stopping this,” said Katulis. “And I would also argue a lot of the regional powers and also other global powers like Russia and China haven’t been so good, and it’s for one reason: It’s that the combatants in these conflicts in the Middle East see fit to actually use force, military force, power in that way, in some cases terrorism and terror strikes, to advance their interests. And that’s the unfortunate consequence of the era we live in right now.”
Despite these challenges, the UN continues to make strides in other areas, Katulis said, highlighting how the organization still plays a critical role in addressing societal issues, particularly through its humanitarian work with refugees and efforts in global health.
“They’re doing a lot at a popular level, if you ask Palestinian refugees that live in Jordan and Lebanon, and Gaza and other places,” said Katulis, who this week released his most recent analysis, “Strategic Drift: An Assessment of the Biden Administration’s Middle East Approach,” available from the Middle East Institute. “Of course, there’s been justifiable criticisms of the quality of that education and what’s being taught, but there’s certain things that we, here in America, because we have such a great system and great economy, just take for granted.”
He argued that while the UN provides “a lot stopgaps, it does save lives.”
Most recently, the UN launched a campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children against polio in Gaza, following the enclave’s first confirmed case in 25 years.
To achieve this, the World Health Organization, the UN agency founded in 1948 to promote global health and safety, coordinated efforts using localized ceasefires between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters.
Despite the UN’s benign longstanding mission and its membership of 193 states, the body’s relationship with Israel has grown increasingly strained. This tension peaked earlier this week when Israel declared UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata.
In recent years, experts have questioned the efficacy of the UN, a body originally designed to reflect postwar power structures. These concerns have intensified amid mounting conflict in the Middle East, and are reflected in a loss of confidence in the organization’s ability to mediate effectively.
However, despite rising tensions and an agenda dominated by wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, the UN General Assembly continued to push forward with its broader objectives. It focused on promoting reforms and advocating for greater equality between member states and the powerful Security Council.
“Even though Gaza and the war in Sudan and the war in Ukraine have again dominated the 79th session of the General Assembly, there still have been some positive headlines, or so the UN likes to say,” Ephrem Kossaify, Arab News’ UN correspondent, told “The Ray Hanania Radio Show.”
Kossaify highlighted the adoption of key agreements at the session, including the Pact for the Future, which aims to revitalize the UN’s multilateral system. The General Assembly also adopted other significant declarations, such as one enhancing the role of youth in public decision-making and another addressing global governance of artificial intelligence.
“There’s been a pact that was adopted as well, a political declaration on antimicrobial resistance, which, as Dr. Hanan Balkhy, a Saudi regional chief of the WHO, told Arab News, is the ‘silent epidemic.’ So, at least if you want to see the glass half-full, you can look at these agreements. Even though it took very long, with intense weeks and months of negotiations led by Germany and Namibia, member states have finally been able to come together to sign these three big declarations,” Kossaify said.
Yet for many, including former UN special envoy for Yemen and UN under-secretary-general Jamal Benomar, the declarations are seen as “rehashed and recycled wording from previously agreed UN documents,” filled with “vague and aspirational language” lacking concrete, actionable steps.
A major obstacle remains: The Security Council’s veto power.
Kossaify highlighted the “paralysis” within the UN, highlighting the disconnect between the overpowered permanent members of the Security Council and the increasingly assertive General Assembly, which has amplified its support for Palestine in the face of Israeli violence against civilians in Gaza. Despite growing calls for a ceasefire, the US — one of the five permanent members — has repeatedly vetoed such proposals.
“Out of the 80 vetoes that the US has cast over the past decades, at least 40 of them have been cast to prevent any action against Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and to prevent any action on the ground,” said Kossaify, adding that five of those vetoes have been cast within the past year alone.
“As we saw, the US has vetoed every ceasefire resolution. And even when the Security Council adopted the three resolutions, one having to do with humanitarian relief for the people in Gaza, the US abstained to let it pass, but also undermined it further by saying that Security Council resolutions are non-binding.”
Kossaify said that this created a “huge controversy,” and that the Security Council “is supposed to have the force of international law behind it.
“It is even allowed to use chapter seven to use force in order to implement its resolution. But it has been paralyzed because these five big powers have the prerogative of the veto. They can block any action that doesn’t suit their geopolitical position.”
Kossaify highlighted his interview with Kuwait’s ambassador to the UN, who said that “one or two countries cannot be allowed anymore to block the path of peace when the whole, when so many — the majority of member states want the path to peace.”
Highlighting Arab unity in demanding an end to the Israeli aggression in Gaza and the conflict’s expansion, Kossaify added: “On Gaza, it’s not just the humanitarian suffering that we’re seeing and how it’s really weighing on the conscience of the world. It’s also the ways in which Gaza has shown the real weaknesses of the UN system with its Security Council, the dangers of keeping this veto power without any challenge, and the dysfunction, basically, that it is causing in this multilateral institution, the only one we have in the world.
“Yet despite all the challenges and disagreements and geopolitical divisions, the General Assembly was able to adopt the Pact for the Future, a declaration on the role of youth and a commitment to reform the Security Council, even if it’s just in words.”
Katulis and Kossaify made their comments during tapings of “The Ray Hanania Radio Show,” which is broadcast Thursday on the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored by Arab News.
The show is broadcast live on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Michigan Thursday at 5 p.m. EST, and again the following Monday at 5 p.m. It is available by podcast at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow or at Facebook.com/ArabNews.