English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For September 08/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
We refuse to practise cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God
Second Letter to the Corinthians 04/01-06/:"Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practise cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 07-08/2024
Bou Habib: Israel sent us a message through mediators stating that it is not interested in a ceasefire in Lebanon
Smotrich: We must wage war in Lebanon and no agreement is worth the paper it will be written on
Halevi: We are preparing to attack Lebanon
Yedioth: Warnings to residents of 13 settlements to stay near shelters due to Hezbollah attacks
Hezbollah: We launched a stream of UAVs towards northern Israel
Lebanon says Israeli attack kills 3 emergency workers
Israeli raids strike border villages amid fears of fresh escalation
Israeli army claims to have targeted 15 Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon
Twelve Israeli airstrikes trigger fires in South Lebanon; citizens injured by shelling
Hezbollah shells Israel's Mt. Neria after intensive strikes on Lebanon valley
Israeli Strike on Froun Kills Three Civil Defense Members, Injures Two
Southern Front: Precarious Calm on Saturday Morning After a Violent Night
Lebanon Responds to UN on Israel’s Remarks About Resolution 1701
Presidential Election: Supreme Islamic Council Voices Concern Over Prolonged Vacuum
Air Pollution: A Silent Threat to Health
Emergency hotline 140 down in Beirut, Mount Lebanon; Lebanese Red Cross issues temporary contacts
Northern border: IDF focused on fighting against Hezbollah
Patriarch Elias Hoayek/Amine Jules Iskandar/This Is Beirut/September 07/2024
September 8: Nativity of Mary, Wonder of God/Fady Noun/This Is Beirut/September 07/2024
U.S. proposal and Hezbollah's revenge/Ron Ben Yishai/Ynetnews/September 07/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 07-08/2024
Netanyahu Shuts Down Ceasefire, Hostage Deal with Hamas: ‘No Deal in Progress’
CIA director says more detailed Gaza ceasefire proposal due in days
The heads of the CIA and MI6 issue joint call for Gaza ceasefire
Gaza war in its 12th month with truce hopes slim
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 61 as UN pursues vaccinations
Gaza enters its second school year without schooling. The cost could be heavy for kids’ futures
Family demands probe into Israeli military killing of US-Turkish citizen
Gaza civil defense says 3 killed in Israeli strike on school
Israelis protest in the streets again as the toll in Gaza grows
Queen Rania of Jordan hits out at Western ‘double standards’ over war in Gaza
Iran still intends to avenge Haniyeh's killing, UK intelligence chief says
Hundreds of families fled a northern suburb of Sudan’s capital Khartoum
Algeria votes with Tebboune eyeing easy re-election
Historic Agreement Reached Between Baghdad and Washington for Gradual US Troop Withdrawal from Iraq
US believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, AP sources say

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on September 07-08/2024
Iran's Mullahs Love Hiding Behind Their Proxies — It Is Time to Stop Letting Them/D. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/September 07/2024
Today in History: The Knights of Christendom Terrorize the Terrorists/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/September 07/2024
America Between Two Readings/Emile Ameen/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 07/2024
Harris and Trump Embrace Tariffs, Though Their Approaches Differ/Ana Swanson/The New York Times/September 07/2024
Iran Military: Calculations and Miscalculations/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 07/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 07-08/2024
Bou Habib: Israel sent us a message through mediators stating that it is not interested in a ceasefire in Lebanon
Al Markazia/September 7, 2024
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants in the caretaker government, Abdullah Bou Habib, revealed in an interview with Al Jazeera English, which will be broadcast in full this evening, that "Israel sent us a message through mediators stating that it is not interested in a ceasefire in Lebanon even after reaching a ceasefire in Gaza."

Smotrich: We must wage war in Lebanon and no agreement is worth the paper it will be written on
Al Markazia/September 7, 2024
In an interview conducted by the Hebrew Channel 12 with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, he called on the government and the army to "initiate a war in Lebanon to return the residents," considering that "no agreement is worth the paper it will be written on."

Halevi: We are preparing to attack Lebanon
Al Markazia/
The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevi, announced that his forces are preparing to take offensive steps inside Lebanon. During an inspection tour of the Golan Heights, Halevi said that the Israeli army is focusing on confronting Hezbollah, and that the attacks that were launched during the past month, and the number of Hezbollah members killed, are very large. Halevi continued that the Israeli army is seeking to reduce the threats facing residents of the northern region and the Golan Heights, in conjunction with preparations for an attack at a later stage, without providing additional details.

Yedioth: Warnings to residents of 13 settlements to stay near shelters due to Hezbollah attacks
Anadolu/September 07, 2024
The Home Front Command of the Israeli army instructed residents of 13 settlements in the Upper Galilee (north) to stay near shelters and avoid gatherings for fear of renewed Hezbollah shelling, after it fired about 30 rockets towards the area on Saturday. The Upper Galilee Regional Council said in a statement that after assessing the situation and in accordance with the directives of the Home Front Command and the Northern Command, instructions were issued to towns in the central Hula Valley to “reduce movement in the area, avoid gatherings, stay near shelters and close swimming pools in the area.” According to the statement, these warnings include the settlements of Yesod Hamala, Sde Eliezer, Hulata, Ayelet HaShar, Mahanayim, Mishmar HaYarden, Gadot, Safsufa, Meron, Bar Yohai, Kadita, Or HaGnoz, and Amuka. Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper explained that these warnings come against the backdrop of fears of renewed Hezbollah shelling of Upper Galilee towns. Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli army said that 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon and fell in open areas in the Upper Galilee. On Saturday morning, sirens sounded in the settlement of Matat and Mount Meron in the Upper Galilee, warning of the launching of rockets, according to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. For its part, Hezbollah reported on Saturday morning that it had shelled the Israeli Mount Neria military base with a barrage of Katyusha rockets. The party explained, in a statement, that its elements “bombarded the Mount Neria base with volleys of Katyusha rockets.” It added that this came “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on the steadfast southern villages and safe homes, especially the recent attack on the town of Frun.”

Hezbollah: We launched a stream of UAVs towards northern Israel
Israel National News/September 07/2024
For the tenth time since Saturday morning, Hezbollah takes responsibility for launches against northern Israel; IAF striking in Lebanon. The Hezbollah terror group has taken responsibility for launching a "stream of UAVs towards the Ayelet Hashahar base." This is the tenth time since Saturday morning that Hezbollah took responsibility for launches towards Israel. Sirens sounded Saturday between 7:20p.m. and 7:30p.m. in the Upper Galilee area, and a number of UAVs were identified crossing from Lebanese territory. Several falls were identified in an area. No injuries were reported. An additional siren sounding at 7:56p.m. was determined to be a false identification. However, at 6:46p.m., sirens sounded in Ayelet Hashahar and Yiftah in northern Israel, and an interceptor was launched toward a suspected aerial target that was subsequently determined to be a false identification. No injuries were reported. The IDF added: "The IAF struck and dismantled in the area of Aynata in southern Lebanon a Hezbollah launcher from which rockets were fired toward an open area in Safed today.""Furthermore, IDF artillery struck in the areas of Odaisseh, Naqoura, Abou Chach, and Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon."Early Saturday afternoon, following the sirens that sounded at 12:51p.m. in the Western Galilee area, approximately ten projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanese territory, some of which were intercepted. Fallen projectiles were identified in Shlomi and an open area in Liman. No injuries were reported. Following this, Israel Fire and Rescue Services operated to extinguish a fire that erupted in an open area in Liman due to a fallen projectile. Following a subsequent siren sounding at 1:31p.m. near Tzfat, approximately five projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon and they fell in open areas. No injuries were reported. Shortly prior to the launches towards Tzfat, the IAF struck near Qabrikha in southern Lebanon, destroying Hezbollah military infrastructure and a launcher used to fire rockets toward Israeli territory. In addition, IDF artillery struck in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Kfarchouba in southern Lebanon. Early on Saturday morning, approximately 30 projectiles lauched from Lebanon crossed into Israeli territory near Mattat. No injuries were reported. On Friday night, following strikes on the Hezbollah launchers, the IAF struck an additional Hezbollah launcher in the area of Yater in southern Lebanon overnight.

Lebanon says Israeli attack kills 3 emergency workers
AFP/September 07, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said three emergency personnel were killed on Saturday and two others wounded in an Israeli attack on a civil defense team putting out fires in south Lebanon. “Israeli enemy targeting of a Lebanese civil defense team that was putting out fires sparked by the recent Israeli strikes in the village of Froun led to the martyrdom of three emergency responders,” the health ministry said in a statement. Two others were wounded, one of them critically, the statement said, adding however that the toll was provisional. The health ministry “condemns this blatant Israeli attack that targeted a team from an official body of the Lebanese state,” the statement said. Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has exchanged near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip. The cross-border violence has killed at least 614 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including at least 138 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians. On Saturday, Hezbollah announced a string of attacks on Israeli troops and positions near the border, including with Katyusha rockets, some in stated response to “Israeli enemy attacks” on south Lebanon. Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israel carried out air strikes and shelling on several areas of the country’s south. The Israeli military said it had identified “projectiles” crossing from Lebanon, intercepting some of them. It said it struck “Hezbollah military infrastructure and a launcher” in the Qabrikha area of southern Lebanon, as well as striking the Aita Al-Shaab and Kfarshuba areas.

Israeli raids strike border villages amid fears of fresh escalation
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/September 07, 2024
BEIRUT: Escalating hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in recent days have raised fears of a wider conflict, with a senior Israeli army official warning that his forces are preparing to take “offensive steps” inside Lebanon. Israeli media reported on Saturday that several rockets fell in the Meron area in the north of the country. Hezbollah also targeted a strategic military base near Safed, according to reports. Signs of military escalation emerged on Friday as the Israeli army used concussion missiles in intensive raids centered on an area south of the Litani River. Israel is demanding Hezbollah halt its military action in the area, particularly the launching of rockets, so that settlers in the north can return to their homes. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said that Israel had conveyed a message throuh intermediaries “that it is not interested in a ceasefire in Lebanon, even after reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.”On Saturday, Israeli army Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said that his forces are preparing to take “offensive steps inside Lebanon.”During an inspection tour in the Golan Heights, Halevi said the Israeli army is focused on confronting Hezbollah, and that a significant number of militants had been killed in attacks during the past month. The Israeli army was “working to reduce threats to residents of the northern region and the Golan Heights, while also preparing for an offensive at a later stage,” he said. Israeli media confirmed that several rockets fell in the Meron area after sirens sounded in the city of Safed.The Israeli army said that it “detected the launch of 30 shells from Lebanese territory toward the north.”Israeli mortar shells and incendiary flares struck the Labouneh area in the western sector, causing fires on the Khiam plain for the second consecutive day. Israeli media reported that a building in Shlomi was hit, and a fire broke out in Liman in Western Galilee after eight rockets were fired in a single salvo from southern Lebanon.
On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes were directed at areas around the towns of Qabrikha and Bani Hayyan, and the Kunin forests. Israeli surveillance aircraft maintained a continuous presence over the western and central sectors of the south. Hezbollah said in a statement that it retaliated against Israeli attacks on Friday by targeting a command post occupied by forces from the Golani Brigade with volleys of Katyusha rockets. The group also targeted other Israeli military sites, including Hadab Yaron and Al-Raheb, with artillery fire. Hezbollah said it targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers around the settlement of Manot with rockets in response to attacks on the town of Kunin. The Israeli air force said that raids on southern border villages on Friday night targeted rocket launch sites in towns including Beit Lif, Aitaroun, Dahra and Kfar Kila. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that more than 15 missile platforms had been hit, in addition to several platforms that were ready for immediate launch. Adraee said that “after targeting the platforms, several of which were prepared for immediate launch toward Israeli territory, multiple shells were seen being fired from the platforms and landing within Lebanese territory.”

Israeli army claims to have targeted 15 Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon
LBCI/September 07/2024
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced on X that his country's military "targeted more than 15 rocket launchers and a military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, in addition to several launchers that were ready for immediate firing towards Israeli territory."Adraee claimed that "after targeting the launchers [...] several shells were observed being launched from the platforms and falling within Lebanese territory."

Twelve Israeli airstrikes trigger fires in South Lebanon; citizens injured by shelling
LBCI/September 07/2024
On Friday evening, more than 12 airstrikes targeted the area between the South Lebanon towns of Kfar Sir, Froun, Srifa, and Qaaqaaiyet El Jisr, causing widespread fires. Additionally, according to a statement from the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, a citizen was injured and admitted to Marjayoun Governmental Hospital as a result of Israeli shelling that targeted Kfarkela, a village in southern Lebanon. Furthermore, Israeli phosphorus shelling on the town of Borj El Mlouk caused another citizen to suffer from suffocation, requiring admission to the same governmental hospital.

Hezbollah shells Israel's Mt. Neria after intensive strikes on Lebanon valley
Naharnet/September 07/2024
Hezbollah said Saturday that it fired volleys of Katyusha rockets at Israel’s Mount Neria military base in response to an overnight attack on the southern town of Froun, after the Israeli army said its warplanes attacked “over 15 rocket launchers” there. “Fighter jets of the Air Force, under the direction of the Northern Command, attacked more than 15 launchers and military infrastructures of … Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in the last hour,” the Israeli army said. Lebanon’s National News Agency said a valley between Froun and Srifa was targeted with more than 10 Israeli airstrikes. Israeli intermittent artillery shelling was meanwhile targeting the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab on Saturday morning.

Israeli Strike on Froun Kills Three Civil Defense Members, Injures Two
This Is Beirut/September 07/2024
Three members of the Lebanese Civil Defense have been killed and two others were wounded Saturday evening in a targeted Israeli strike on the southern town of Froun. The Public Health Emergency Operations Center reported that the attack occurred while the Civil Defense team was combating fires caused by recent Israeli raids in Froun. One of the volunteers injured is in critical condition. The Ministry of Public Health strongly condemned this latest aggression “that targeted an official service”, marking it as the second attack on an ambulance team within the last twelve hours.Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in a statement blasted Saturday’s attack, saying “this new aggression against Lebanon is a blatant violation of international laws… and human values”.The caretaker ministers of Interior, Bassam Maoulaoui, and of Environment, also condemned it. In the afternoon, two people were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese southern town of Qabrikha. The wounded were swiftly taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. In the village of Ain Ebel, a Lebanese army unit was deployed to investigate reports of an Israeli drone crash. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Throughout the day, Israeli artillery shelling was reported across several regions in southern Lebanon, including the outskirts of Kfarchouba, Tayr Harfa, and the Labbouneh area near Naqoura. Mortar shells were also fired, further escalating the tensions. In Khiam, flare shells sparked fires, as the situation on the ground became increasingly volatile.Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for artillery strikes on Israeli positions in Raheb and Misgav, as well as rocket fire targeting Israeli troops stationed near the settlement of Manot. Two people were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese southern town of Qabrikha Saturday afternoon. The wounded were swiftly taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. In the village of Ain Ebel, a Lebanese army unit was deployed to investigate reports of an Israeli drone crash. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Throughout the day, Israeli artillery shelling was reported across several regions in southern Lebanon, including the outskirts of Kfarchouba, Tayr Harfa, and the Labbouneh area near Naqoura. Mortar shells were also fired, further escalating the tensions. In Khiam, flare shells sparked fires, as the situation on the ground became increasingly volatile. Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for artillery strikes on Israeli positions in Raheb and Misgav, as well as rocket fire targeting Israeli troops stationed near the settlement of Manot.

Southern Front: Precarious Calm on Saturday Morning After a Violent Night
This Is Beirut/September 07/2024
A precarious calm reigned on Saturday morning at the southern border, following a violent escalation that has resurfaced overnight. Sirens blared on Saturday morning in Ras Naqoura and the Western Galilee areas after suspicions of a drone infiltration from Lebanon. Additionally, the Israeli Army targeted Aita al-Shaab, while Hezbollah announced the shelling of an Israeli position at Hadab Yaroun. It stated that it had targeted a command post currently occupied by forces from the Golani Brigade in response to the recent attack on Froun, the Mount Neria base, and the Hadb Yaroun site. Earlier on Friday night, the Israeli strikes extended from the frontline border villages to the villages near the Litani River in the farthest points, targeting the valleys between the towns of Srifa and Froun with more than 12 airstrikes. Israeli Army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that the Israeli Army targeted more than 15 rocket platforms and Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon, in addition to several platforms that were ready for immediate launch toward Israeli territories. According to the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, affiliated with the Ministry of Public Health, one person was injured, and there was a case of suffocation due to the use of phosphorus shells on Burj al-Muluk. Both were admitted to the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital for treatment. Moreover, three civilians with minor injuries were transferred from towns near the targeted valley, with no injuries reported within the valley itself. Additionally, the Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, announced that his forces are preparing to take offensive measures inside Lebanon. “The Israeli Army is working to reduce the threats facing residents of the northern region and the Golan Heights while also preparing for a later offensive, without providing further details,” he added.

Lebanon Responds to UN on Israel’s Remarks About Resolution 1701
This Is Beirut/September 07/2024
Lebanon’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations sent a formal letter on Saturday to the President of the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General. The letter responded to an Israeli submission dated September 1, 2024, which expressed concerns about Hezbollah’s growing presence and military activities in southern Lebanon, claiming these actions violate Security Council Resolution 1701. In its letter, Israel accused Lebanon of failing to disarm Hezbollah and control its southern border, arguing that Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks undermine the security of both Israeli and Lebanese civilians. The letter called for international accountability for Lebanon regarding what Israel perceives as breaches of the resolution. In response, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib stated, “The gateway to a permanent solution lies in the full and comprehensive implementation of Resolution 1701 in all its provisions, not selectively, as the other party attempts.”Lebanon’s letter clarified that the full implementation of Resolution 1701 requires Israel’s withdrawal from all occupied Lebanese territories, halting its violations of Lebanese sovereignty, and its targeting of Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure.It also emphasizes the importance of engaging in the process of delineating Lebanon’s southern land borders, as recognized internationally and reaffirmed in the 1949 Armistice Agreement, under the supervision and auspices of the United Nations. Lebanon urged the Security Council and the international community to pressure Israel into fully complying with Resolution 1701, including ceasing its attacks. Furthermore, the Lebanese authorities reaffirmed their commitment to international law and highlighted the crucial role of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in helping extend Lebanese authority over its entire territory by strengthening the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Presidential Election: Supreme Islamic Council Voices Concern Over Prolonged Vacuum
This Is Beirut/September 07/2024
The Higher Islamic Supreme Council reiterated on Saturday its “deep concern” about the ongoing presidential deadlock severely impacting Lebanon. In a statement released after its meeting, chaired by the Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian, the Sunni body stressed that electing a president of the Republic is “vital for ending Lebanon’s prolonged crisis, which has lasted for over 700 days.”They emphasized that this step is crucial for restoring stability and progress, aligning with the hopes of all Lebanese.
The Council also noted the “negative effects of the presidential vacuum on the regional role of the state, which has become paralyzed, and on the operation of its constitutional institutions.”They warned that this situation “jeopardizes Lebanon’s national and Arab mission.”

Air Pollution: A Silent Threat to Health
LBCI/September 07/2024
The air we breathe each morning may seem clean, but pollution is all around us—even if we can not see it. According to the World Health Organization, 7 million people die from pollution annually. In some major cities, inhaling polluted air is as harmful as smoking 20 to 25 cigarettes a day.
So what are the causes of this pollution? It is not just cars and factories that are to blame, agriculture also contributes to pollution. According to a 2023 study by the European Environment Agency, it was found that reducing ammonia emissions from farms—a gas mainly released from animal waste and fertilizers in agriculture—could decrease rural pollution by 10-20%. Microplastics, which are tiny plastic particles resulting from the breakdown of plastic products like bottles and bags, are another cause of air pollution. Microplastics can become airborne and enter the respiratory systems of humans and animals.Another cause of air pollution is fires, and here we can talk about two types of fires: natural fires, which ignite randomly or due to human negligence, and the second type, which we often encounter in Lebanon, intentional fires, like burning waste and tires. When discussing air pollution in Lebanon, we certainly can not forget the pollution caused by power generators.
What might the solutions be?
In previous reports, we discussed the importance of urban planning and modern architectural methods in mitigating global warming in cities. Still, even simple changes in our daily lives can make a difference, including using public transportation, carpooling to reduce the number of cars on the road and thus emissions, walking or biking for short trips, conserving energy at home by turning off unnecessary lights and appliances, and recycling and sorting waste.Air pollution is the greatest threat to our health but fighting it has never been impossible.

Emergency hotline 140 down in Beirut, Mount Lebanon; Lebanese Red Cross issues temporary contacts
LBCI/September 07/2024
The Lebanese Red Cross reported that a malfunction occurred with the toll-free emergency number 140 in Beirut and Mount Lebanon due to the shutdown of the Ogero central system. They urged people to call the temporary emergency numbers: 71140122 or 81715074 in urgent situations.

Northern border: IDF focused on fighting against Hezbollah
Yoni Kempinski/Israel National News/September 07/2024
'IDF attacking of Hezbollah's facilities inside Lebanon, before they attack us,' says Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi. On Friday Chief of Staff, Major General Herzi Halevi, held a situation assessment and tour of Division 210 on the border of the Golan Heights, together with Commander of the Northern Command, Major General Uri Gordin, commander of Division 210, Brigadier General Yair Peli, and other commanders. The division commanders presented the renewed deployment at the northern border for offensive and defensive operations. "The IDF is very focused on fighting Hezbollah, I think that the number of attacks in the last month, operatives killed, rockets destroyed, and infrastructure destroyed, is very high. The Northern Command, with all the IDF capabilities, is attacking inside Lebanon against many of Hezbollah's capabilities, before they attack us, and we are simultaneously preparing for offensive moves inside the territory. I think that this combination of highly significant attacks on Hezbollah, to reduce the threats against the residents in the north and in the Golan Heights, is very significant, and we are ready to move forward," said Chief of Staff Halevi.

Patriarch Elias Hoayek
Amine Jules Iskandar/This Is Beirut/September 07/2024
As the 72nd Maronite Patriarch of the See of Antioch since its founder Saint John Maron, Elias Pierre Hoayek brought to life the vision of Lebanon as imagined and written in the 17th century by Patriarch Estephanos Doueihi. This vision materialized with the creation of Greater Lebanon in 1920 and its consecration to Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa as early as 1908. Some claim that the French proposed establishing a Christian state, which he categoricallyrejected, emphasizing the altruistic mission of Christians in the East. However, historical archives contradict this revisionist narrative.
Just like Patriarch Estephanos Doueihi, Elias Hoayek was deeply influenced by his education in Rome. This experience allowed both of these prominent figures to envision Lebanon as a cohesive entity in cultural, geographical, ecclesiastical, literary, and artistic terms. Elias Hoayek further expanded this vision by adding the state and political dimensions.
Bkerke
In 1830, Bkerke replaced Dimane as the patriarchal seat of the Syriac Maronite Church, better aligning with the demographic reality of Lebanon, and later, in 1861, with the Mount Lebanon Governorate (Mutasarrifate). This decision shifted the focal point from the north to the central region of the country.
Elias Pierre Hoayek, elected patriarch in December 1899, held the See in Bkerke until his death, reinforcing the central role of the Church and its political influence within Lebanese geography. As the 72nd Maronite Patriarch of the See of Antioch since its founder Saint John Maron, he realized the vision of Lebanon outlined by Patriarch Estephanos Doueihi in the 17th century. Driven by their faith in an eternal and sanctified Lebanon, Estephanos Doueihi and Elias Hoayek realized their vision through the imagery of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Lebanon.
For Doueihi, this was represented by the grand fresco of the Coronation of the Holy Virgin in Qannoubine, while for Hoayek, it was the statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, inaugurated in Harissa in May 1908. Both had grasped in Rome the importance of art and architecture in establishing and integrating culture into the national landscape.
Letter of July 1926 – Archives of Bkerke, document 95, folder 44, in Political documents of the Patriarche Hoayek, Fr. Estéphan Khoury. In this context he wrote: “This precarious situation causes unrest in Lebanon, and faced with this uncertainty, the loyal and virtuous ones are driven to emigrate.”
This statement by Patriarch Hoayek strongly contradicts all the romanticized notions surrounding his purported vision of Lebanon as a message. This distortion, along with those who propagate it, is directly responsible for the decline in Lebanon’s Christian demographic —a trend that Elias Pierre Hoayek predicted as early as the 1920s.
The Conditions for Sustainability
Patriarch Hoayek had repeatedly outlined the essential conditions for ensuring the country’s continuity. The success or failure of his project depended on meeting these conditions Above all, he explicitly wished for the French mandate to continue indefinitely and recognized the existential risks of its termination. He frequently referred to “France, which the Lebanese hoped would always remain in their country,” he noted. This condition was entirely disregarded, as France was driven out of Lebanon while it was under occupation and in dire need of its allies. Lebanon was meant to be part of the Western world, embodied at the time by France. The patriarch saw this national project as “a stronghold of unwavering loyalty to France,” symbolizing loyalty to the West. However, this second condition was miserably ignored, as the independence heroes aligned Lebanon with the Arab East, both culturally and politically. They distanced the country from its natural allies, entangling it in Palestinian causes and Pan-Arabism. In his letter to Aristide Briand, the patriarch wrote that “the main purpose behind the creation of the Lebanese state was to establish a refuge for all Eastern Christians.” However, this condition was miserably disregarded when Lebanon refused citizenship to Maronites who emigrated in the 19th century, as well as to Syriac communities fleeing death in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey.
Redefining the Borders
In his correspondence with the Quai d’Orsay, Elias Hoayek opposed the ceding of Tripoli and Baalbek to Syria, highlighting the need for population exchanges, as had been done in other regions severed from the Ottoman Empire. In fact, the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne required in its first article “the compulsory exchange of Turkish nationals of Greek Orthodox religion living in Turkish territories, and Greek nationals of Muslim religion residing in Greek territories.” While the methods he suggested may seem shocking by today’s standards, the patriarch at the time believed this approach would ensure “lasting peace and security for future generations.” He did not believe in the viability of a multicultural country and had made his position clear on several occasions. His successor, Antoine Pierre Arida, faced fierce opposition from ideologues of Lebanism and Arabism, who managed to isolate him with the help of the Vatican and undermine Patriarch Hoayek’s plan.Today, they distort its core essence, drowning it in romanticized and lethal rhetoric.

September 8: Nativity of Mary, Wonder of God
Fady Noun/This Is Beirut/September 07/2024
The birth of Virgin Mary, commemorated on September 8, is, alongside the births of Jesus and John the Baptist, one of only three holy births celebrated by both Eastern and Western Churches. This highlights the central importance of this feast, despite its relative modesty compared to more prominent celebrations like Christmas and Easter, which are often marked by local customs such as bonfires and fireworks. In addition to her birth, the Virgin Mary, along with Christ, is the only person whose resurrection-like event is commemorated by the Church—on August 15. To distinguish it from Jesus’ Resurrection, this feast—combining both Resurrection and Ascension—is called the “Assumption.” In the Greek Orthodox Church, it is referred to as the Dormition (“roukad”). The New Testament does not provide details about Mary’s birth, her parents, or the circumstances of her early life. It is only known that she belonged to the “House of David.” However, an early Christian text from the 2nd century, although not considered canonical by the Catholic Church, provides some insight. This text, known as the Protoevangelium of James or the Nativity of Mary, suggests that Mary was born in a house in Jerusalem, known as the “House of Anne.”According to the Protoevangelium of James, Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, who were righteous and descended from a priestly family, were humiliated by their childlessness. The couple temporarily separated, and Joachim retreated to the desert for a 40-day fast. Their prayers were answered, and an angel announced the birth of a child. The couple reunited near the Temple’s “Golden Gate” and resumed their life together. Mary’s birth brought them great joy. Dedicated to the Temple by her parents, Mary grew up there from the age of three until her betrothal to Joseph and the humanly inexplicable mystery of her pregnancy. The Feast of the Nativity of Mary was set on September 8, following the dedication of a church built in Jerusalem near the site known as the “House of Anne.” After the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, December 8 was designated as the day to commemorate this doctrine, precisely nine months before the Nativity.
Dawn of Salvation
Celebrated by the Maronites and ranked as a mere “memorial” in the Latin Church, the Feast of the Nativity of Mary holds great significance in the popular devotion of Eastern Churches. Among Greek Orthodox Christians, for instance, it begins a Marian cycle, culminating with her Presentation at the Temple and her Dormition.Beyond the liturgical cycle, the Churches revere the Virgin Mary as the pure dawn that precedes the day. It is with her that the history of Salvation begins in the New Testament. Her feast celebrates a child who grew up to be described by God’s will as “blessed among women,” because “of the wonders the Lord has done for her.” Exaggeration? Not for the saints. Not for Mother Teresa, who simply replied to those scandalized by the Church’s veneration of the Mother of God: “Without Mary, no Jesus.”What Did Mary Look Like? lies on one of the greatest miracles of the 16th century: the imprint of her image, including her face, on the tilma (cloak) of a Mexican Indian, Juan Diego, who has since been canonized. The story is too long to recount in full here, but it is widely recognized for its authenticity: Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City, where this image is displayed, is the third most visited Marian shrine in the world.To this day, science has not been able to explain how the image of the Virgin was imprinted on Juan Diego’s tilma, nor how the original vegetable fabric has resisted the centuries without decaying or fraying. This remains a mystery comparable to that of the Shroud of Turin. On the blue cape adorned with stars that the Virgin wears over her white tunic, astronomers have found a map of the sky from that time! A luminous phenomenon recorded on camera even showed the Virgin Mary as pregnant!
The “Fiat” and the Blue Key
In Lebanon, the Holy Virgin serves as a magnificent bridge between Christians and Muslims. The consecration of Lebanon to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in June 2013 was “an opportunity to reinforce awareness of Lebanon’s uniqueness within a fractured Middle Eastern landscape,” wrote journalist Cyprien Viet from Vatican News. Mary’s divine intercession is even credited with preserving Lebanon, a nation buffeted by history like few others and repeatedly threatened existentially by its people’s lack of mercy and the fanaticism of its enemies. Many believe that the resilience and ability to rebuild demonstrated by the Lebanese are rooted in their faith and Marian devotion. This devotion has even led to a shared civil holiday between Christians and Muslims. Established on March 25, 2010, the Feast of the Annunciation strengthens the conviviality that is their historical vocation. Lebanon’s unity, transcending confessional boundaries, sometimes manifests in surprising ways, as shown by a true story told by a nun who prefers to remain anonymous: “Yahia, a Lebanese Muslim friend, called me one morning and said, ‘Look up to the sky and thank God.’ I was surprised and asked, ‘Why are you calling me so early, Yahia?’ He replied, ‘I made a vow. I promised the Holy Virgin that if she granted my request, I would give you a car so you could attend Mass every day! It’s done! And the car was… a Fiat, like Mary’s ‘Fiat,’ and it even came with a blue key!'”

U.S. proposal and Hezbollah's revenge
Ron Ben Yishai/Ynetnews/September 07/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/09/134141/
Analysis: Israel's preemptive strike on Hezbollah makes rehabilitation of its infrastructure, and rocket array which is severely damaged, difficult; if this success continues it can make South Lebanon much less threatening for Israel’s northern residents.
IDF intelligence and senior defense officials were familiar with the proposal and knew long enough in advance about Hezbollah’s planned revenge strike in retaliation for the assassination of Fuad Shukr in Beirut: “The “Day of Arba'in,” when Shiites mourn the death of the third imam, Husayn Ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala over 1,300 years ago.
It's reasonable to assume that Nasrallah chose this day, that fell of August 25, to use historical-religious aspects to stress the importance of Shukr, Hezbollah’s highest military authority, and Nasrallah’s friend and most important advisor. Hezbollah had to exact deterrence from Israel and signal to us that - be it targeted assassinations of senior Hezbollah operatives or attacks “to push Lebanon back to the Stone Age” as Gallant has been threatening for years – from now on, every Israeli attack on Beirut will be met with firing on Tel Aviv.
That said, the proposed operation was clear, and Nasrallah and his Iranian patrons are keen to avoid a major escalation. They seem to have, rightly, estimated that if the strike were to cause significant losses and destruction, including on the Israeli home front, the IDF would respond with force. In this case, the chances of Iran and its proxies needing to come to Hezbollah’s rescue would be high. It would result in a regional war that Iran really doesn’t want at this time.
The ayatollahs in Tehran know full well what would happen to their economy, nuclear facilities and their regime’s stability if such a war were to break out. They can see the deployment map of American air and naval forces and of their allies in the region. In April, they also saw what happened to their rockets and explosive UAVs as a result of IDF-CENTCOM (United States Central Command) cooperation, and were later treated to a sample of Israel’s long-range offensive capabilities.
So, as long as the US is present in such force in the region, and as long as Iran doesn’t have operational nuclear weapons, Tehran won’t let Hezbollah or any other element drag her into a regional war. This is also why after intensive debates Iran, refrained from launching a joint, or even coordinated, strike with Hezbollah.
The information regarded Hezbollah’s planned response, that turned ever-more detailed and credible, allowed the IDF to prepare not only for defense activities but also for several offensive operational plans of two kinds. The first type is an assassination campaign and the disruption of Hezbollah’s revenge attack before, or as, it, happens – professionally known as “preventative” or “preemptive” attacks (conducted when the enemy has completed its preparations and is about to attack).
The second kind of response is the Israeli response and retaliatory attacks during, or following Hezbollah’s attack. It was clear to defense and political establishment decision-makers from the outset that Israel wouldn’t wait for Hezbollah operatives to launch revenge barrages. Israel would rather utilize its quality intelligence to deliver a preemptive strike and disrupt Hezbollah’s plans, avert losses and destruction in the northern communities, and not allow important targets in Tel Aviv and the central part of the country to be hit.
A campaign if launched would not just reduce the Hezbollah threat to Israel’s home front for years to come and strip Iran of its most effective long-arm
A response, if required, will be decided in the future according to circumstances. The quality intelligence, however, presented decision-makers with the temptation of taking strategic steps that would bring about fundamental changes in the security situation on the country’s northern front.
Much of the top brass maintained (and still believe) that the “Day of Arba'in Operation” constituted a golden opportunity to give Hezbollah a strategic “ippon” (a fast, decisive restraining Karate or Judo move). It’s impossible to detail the operation proposed by these senior officials as the IDF may need to implement it in the future.
One my only imagine a scenario in which following, or even during, Hezbollah’s revenge attack, the IDF launches air, sea and ground attacks on all Hezbollah infrastructure across Lebanon. At the same time, we’ll conduct ground operations into South Lebanon that the long-suffering northern residents have demanded from the government and the IDF, and that the Northern Command is just waiting to implement.
In this, presently completely theoretical, scenario – Hezbollah’s attack would grant Israel legitimacy for a campaign that would not just reduce the Hezbollah threat to Israel’s home front for years to come, but would strip Iran of its most effective long arm, and also physically distance its combatants and heavy weaponry to a safe 10km distance from the Golan and Galilee communities. A security official told me that such, or similar, scenarios are realistic (only under different circumstances), adding Herzl’s famous phrase, ”If you will it, it is no dream.”
At the end of the day, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in consultation with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and his General Staff officers, chose the most solid alternative proposed by the IAF - A “preemptive strike to remove the threat” that would disrupt Hezbollah’s preparations for a revenge strike, followed immediately by a defensive campaign to thwart Hezbollah’s intentions of creating a security situation with its remaining rocket launchers and UAVs in South Lebanon.
Several weighty considerations came into play before deciding on this restrained course of action. The most important was the demand by US and its allies that Israel not act in such a way that would tailspin into a regional war. Now, in the throngs of US elections and the war in Gaza, the Democratic administration’s striving to avoid a regional war has intensified to obsessive levels.
Washington makes Israel an offer it cannot refuse so as to prevent all-out war
It’s not hard to understand why: If the US comes good on its commitment of taking part in defending Israel from Iran and its proxies, American soldiers will likely be coming back in coffins, and the price of gas and cooking fuel would increase - every American presidential candidate’s nightmare.
So, Washington made a proposal that was hard to refuse: Israel was required to avoid actions that the Americans believe could embroil both them and us in a regional war: Cooperate in efforts to reach a deal to release the hostages that would end the war in Gaza and; allow unlimited humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
In exchange, the Biden-Harris administration will commit to supply Israel with almost everything it needs to achieve the war’s goals – military support, credible deterrents against the Shiite axis countries through American military forces and political defense in the international arena. It must be said – this is a nice incentive package. With the exception of occasionally publicly shaming Netanyahu for trying to rub salt into Biden’s wounds, it comes with almost no threats on their part.
Sign have been mounting since May of this year that it’s not just the defense establishment towing the American line, but also the prime minister and his people have been exhibiting maximum willingness to meet the administration’s demands. Not just because Washington stands by its commitments, but also because, if US negotiator Amos Hochstein doesn’t reach a diplomatic arrangement to distance Hezbollah and its heavy weapons from the border, Israel will be forced to go to war in Lebanon, at the end of which the evacuated residents of the north can safely return to their homes - and possibly also remove danger of Hezbollah rockets, missiles and UAVs from Israel’s home front.
An all-out war with Hezbollah would levy heavy casualties and destruction on both Israel’s and Lebanon’s home front. The IDF would also need a large amount of heavy weaponry and spare parts that only the US can supply. Our forces would also need to collaborate with CENTCO and US regional allies to repel missile and UAV attacks from Iran and its proxies. The constraints and limitations the US has imposed on both the north and the south, will compel the IDF to strive for victory via cumulative tactical achievements - in points, rather than a knock-out. In the present situation facing an all-out regional war, Israel can no longer claim it has the strength to defend itself from threats from all directions alone. It may be technically possible, but the home front would pay a terrible price.
A further threat we’ll need the US to address is that of nuclear weapons. After managing to enrich uranium in quantities, and to the degree, that allows it to create a nuclear explosive within weeks, Iran is already at the brink of becoming nuclear state. Iran hasn’t managed to develop the weapons (the automatic warheads for missiles themselves), or a bomb to be dropped from a plane. US and Israeli intelligence have recently noticed increasing signs of its renewed efforts on this front.
Israel’s intelligence community is divided on the matter. The Mossad, charged with averting the Iranian nuclear threat, maintains that Iranian efforts to develop “the bomb” are still ineffective. The outgoing director of the Military Intelligence Directorate Aharon Haliva, has been heard, behind closed doors, expressing greater concern.
The bottom line is that Israel can’t do whatever she pleases and must take into account dictates from the Washington administration, even when it comes to determining the timing of a campaign that would allow evacuees from the smoldering north to safely go back home.
Israel has its own reasons for averting a regional war. Such a war would serve Sinwar, as the IDF would be forced to concentrate its forces and efforts in the Lebanese and regional arenas and reduce the military pressure it’s presently exerting on Gaza. This would increase Hamas’s and its leadership’s chances of survival as a terrorist and guerilla organization in the Gaza Strip. This is why Sinwar doesn’t want to reach a hostage deal and end the war.
It looks like, after endless consultations with the Iranians and his own senior officials, Nasrallah found himself planning the operation almost alone. Fuad Shukr, his close friend and expert military advisor whom he completely trusted, wasn’t at his side anymore, and there was no one in his inner circle he felt could replace him. The Hezbollah secretary-general divvied up Shukr’s responsibilities between three close associates (well known to Israel), but none of them can plan or manage operations like "Haj Muhsan” who ascended to Heaven in a blaze. So, a large part of practical decisions, have now found their way onto the exhausted secretary-general’s desk.
So, the man accustomed to giving fiery speeches and dealing with strategic, religious and political matters from the depths of his bunker, will now be forced to be involved in the minutiae. This is no easy task as many of his operational sector, rocket and air defense array commanders are inexperienced men called in to replace their assassinated veteran predecessors. This results in a “lean” plan of action using short-range rockets and explosive UAVs to strike 11 IDF bases and facilities in the north. Most of the revenge strikes were intended to explode in military facilities north of the Acre-North Kinneret line where Hezbollah has been firing incessantly for 11 months.
The hundreds of barrages Hezbollah planned to drop on the north to paralyze Israel’s interception system, were “dumb” non-precision ballistic missiles with no guidance or maneuvering mechanisms
In a lie-ridden speech Nasrallah delivered the day following the battle, he tried explaining away his plan’s military rationale. He claimed that the massive barrages were intended to “saturate,” engage (and with a bit of luck also destroy) the exposed detection, observation and intelligence facilities, primarily the IAF Air Control Unit facility near Mount Meron and the Iron Dome batteries and launching pads deployed across the Galilee and the northern coast.
All this, was apparently intended to temporarily paralyze Israel’s aerial defense and allow for a limited number of medium range precision rockets and fast long-range explosive UAVs to make their way unhindered to the center of the country to hit two “important targets” – the aerial defense base at Ein Shemer a few kilometers northeast of Tel Aviv and; the Intelligence 8200 unit’s base at Glilot. These “boutique” barrages’ purpose was to validate Nasrallah’s Tel Aviv = Beirut equation.
The hundreds of barrages Hezbollah planned to drop on the north to paralyze Israel’s interception system, were “dumb” non-precision ballistic missiles with no guidance or maneuvering mechanisms. Some were intercepted, but we can reasonably assume that others would have definitely exploded and would have caused losses and damages within communities in northern communities close to the military targets Hezbollah planned to hit. So, the assertion that the IDF launched a preemptive strike simply because of the danger posed to Tel Aviv and Gush Dan residents is incorrect and does a disservice to both the defense captains at the Kirya and the political echelon in Jerusalem.
After a preemptive strike was determined, just as Nasrallah was about to order his men to fire, a two-component plan was put into action.
In the first, defense, component, Iron Dome, IAF jets and attack helicopters prepared to take whatever Hezbollah managed to fire. The jets and helicopters patrolled the skies of Lebanon and over the sea, and Iron Dome was reinforced.
The main thing, however was the second, offensive, component. Over 70 fighter jets, all armed with precision bombs, participated in the first wave of attack.
Kicking off at 4:42am Sunday, the first bombings hit their targets within minutes. This wave of attack lasted 15 minutes, ending at 4:57am. During the course of the attack, four launching areas were attacked simultaneously, the northernmost of which hit east of Sidon (far beyond the Litani River). In the first wave, medium-range precision rockets, along with swarms of dozens of explosive UAVs apparently aiming for the bases and Ein Shemer and 8200’s Glilot, were intercepted. All these rockets were destroyed.
The IDF was sure not to attack Hezbollah’s hundreds of rockets and rocket launchers inside villages in South Lebanon, including in residential homes. Israel did not want to cause heavy civilian losses in Lebanon, that would likely ignite a regional war. And Hezbollah have already learned that almost every launching pad recently used to fire at Israel from South Lebanon has been detected and destroyed by the IAF, sometimes within minutes. So, they’re sure to stay at a safe distance from the rocket launchers. This is why, in Israel’s preemptive strike, only six Hezbollah operatives were killed. They thought they were in the right place, but as it turned out it, was the wrong time.
Hezbollah recovered at 6:30am and started launching short-range rockets at the Golan and the Galilee from their remaining launching pads. Then, however, the IAF commenced its second wave of attack. Around 20 fighter jets were tasked with hunting down Hezbollah rocket launchers and attacking them immediately after firing. Following the first hunting wave, and a few more waves of attack, the final jet returned to base at 10am.
In response, Hezbollah launched a total of 230 rockets – far fewer than the number launched after the assassination of “Abu Talib," commander of the Al Nasr Unit in South Lebanon. The load of Iron Dome interception was also not in great volume and most of the rockets and UAVs launched were not precision-guided and caused relatively little damage to homes and chicken coups in the north. Although there were no civilian casualties, one navy combat soldier, Saff Sgt. Moshe Ben Shitrit was killed by shrapnel from an interception missile that hit the naval vessel on which he was serving. Interception missiles also caused considerable damage to around a dozen homes in Acre.
As for the explosive UAVs, Nasrallah’s men tried to imitate Houthi operational methods, launching a long-range explosive UAV at Tel Aviv. To avoid detection, they launched their explosive UAVs flying at very low altitude over the sea and seem to have programmed it to turn east at the Herzliya or Tel Aviv coastline to hit 8200’s large base, a few hundred meters from the beach. A further UAV swarm was sent on a route further east toward the base at Ein Shemer. IAF jets and helicopters, Iron Dome launchers and Israeli navy vessels detected all of Hezbollah’s UAVs, some before crossing into Israel, others before reaching Haifa Bay. The IDF spokesperson stated that 20 UAVs were intercepted that morning, but we know that Hezbollah launched over 60. None reached their targets.
The preemptive strike exceeded expectations. In total, 40 launching areas were attacked and 6,700 rockets were destroyed. This figure demands clarification: Not thousands of launching pads, but rather thousands of launching pipes and rockets ready for operation and over 200, mostly stationary (“Beehive”), rocket launchers. The rocket and launcher warehouses attacked with precision were well concealed in the thickets of the villages in South Lebanon.
Commander of the Northern Command, Ori Gordin said in a closed conversation that the operation caused massive damage to Hezbollah infrastructure and that it brings us closer to our goal of returning the northern residents to their homes.
The preemptive strike showed Hezbollah and its leader how is penetrable and vulnerable his organization in intelligence terms, and proved that it could not harm the IAF’s freedom of operation.
But most importantly, it’ll be extremely difficult under current conditions for Hezbollah to rehabilitate its infrastructure and rocket array, severely damaged in the preemptive strike. If Israel keeps up this success, it’ll make South Lebanon much less threatening for Israel’s northern residents.
Both UAV and barrages of rockets launched last week from Lebanon decreased greatly, primarily because Hezbollah is economizing its weaponry. IAF commander, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar concluded his report on the matter writing, “The attack’s operational part was very successful, but we still haven’t managed to bring about strategic change in the northern sector.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 07-08/2024
Netanyahu Shuts Down Ceasefire, Hostage Deal with Hamas: ‘No Deal in Progress’
Daily Star/September 07/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated firmly on Thursday that he does not believe a ceasefire or hostage deal in Gaza is imminent, sharply opposing the Biden administration’s recent claims that a breakthrough is close. “There’s not a deal in the making,” Netanyahu told Fox News, adding, “Unfortunately, it’s not close.” His comments sharply contrast with the optimistic messaging from the Biden administration. On Sunday, President Joe Biden suggested that an agreement was near, and a senior U.S. official claimed 90% of the deal had been completed. Netanyahu dismissed this, calling it “exactly inaccurate.”Netanyahu’s remarks reflect ongoing tensions between Israel and the U.S. over the potential deal. While U.S. officials have avoided directly criticizing Netanyahu, a National Security Council official acknowledged frustrations with the negotiation process, though they maintain optimism about a deal.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, confirmed that while the process has been challenging, the U.S. remains committed to reaching a deal. Kirby reiterated that much progress has been made but also emphasized that nothing is finalized until all details are agreed upon. A sticking point in negotiations is the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, with Hamas reportedly adding new demands. Hamas’s recent killing of six hostages has further complicated the talks, casting doubt on its willingness to finalize a deal. Netanyahu has consistently emphasized the importance of Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor, a key border area between Gaza and Egypt, as vital for national security. He argued that maintaining this control is necessary to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons into Gaza. Netanyahu’s public statements on this issue have not been well received by U.S. officials, who view it as a hindrance to the negotiations. Hamas has accused Netanyahu of using deceptive tactics to evade reaching a ceasefire agreement. Khalil Al-Hayya, head of Hamas’s negotiating team, claimed that Netanyahu’s maneuvers have been exposed to the international community. Despite mounting accusations that Netanyahu has blocked a deal, he insists that Hamas is the main obstacle to peace and the release of hostages. He rejected claims that his government has obstructed the negotiations, instead blaming Hamas for the ongoing conflict and violence. As talks continue, U.S. officials have denied making any offers to Hamas in a bid to secure the release of American hostages, stating that no such deal is currently possible.

CIA director says more detailed Gaza ceasefire proposal due in days
Reuters/September 07, 2024
LONDON: CIA Director William Burns, the chief US negotiator trying to help secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages by Hamas, said a more detailed proposal on the ceasefire would be made in the coming days. “We will make this more detailed proposal, I hope in the next several days, and then we’ll see,” Burns said at an FT event in London on Saturday.

The heads of the CIA and MI6 issue joint call for Gaza ceasefire
AP/September 07, 2024LONDON: The heads of the American and British foreign intelligence agencies said Saturday they are “working ceaselessly” for a ceasefire in Gaza, using a rare joint public statement to press for peace. CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore said their agencies had “exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation.”In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, the two spymasters said a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas “could end the suffering and appalling loss of life of Palestinian civilians and bring home the hostages after 11 months of hellish confinement.”Burns has been heavily involved in efforts to broker an end to the fighting, traveling to Egypt in August for high-level talks aimed at bringing about a hostage deal and at least a temporary halt to the conflict.So far there has been no agreement, though United States officials insist a deal is close. US President Joe Biden said recently that “just a couple more issues” remain unresolved. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has said reports of a breakthrough are “exactly inaccurate.”The US and the United Kingdom are both staunch allies of Israel, though London diverged from Washington on Monday by suspending some arms exports to Israel because of the risk they could be used to break international law. Burns and Moore stressed the strength of the trans-Atlantic relationship in the face of “an unprecedented array of threats,” including an assertive Russia, an ever-more powerful China and the constant threat from international terrorism — all complicated by rapid technological change. They highlighted Russia’s “reckless campaign of sabotage” across Europe and the “cynical use of technology to spread lies and disinformation designed to drive wedges between us.”
US officials have long accused Moscow of meddling in American elections, and this week the Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged employees of Russian broadcaster RT with covertly funding social media campaigns to pump out pro-Kremlin messages and sow discord around November’s presidential contest.

Gaza war in its 12th month with truce hopes slim
AFP/September 07, 2024
GAZA: The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza entered its 12 month Saturday with little sign of respite for the Palestinian territory or hope for Israeli hostages still held captive. The chances of a truce that would also swap Palestinian prisoners jailed by Israel for hostages held by Hamas appear slim, with both sides sticking doggedly to their positions. Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel sparked the war, is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists troops must remain along the Gaza-Egypt border. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have all been mediating in an effort to bring about a ceasefire in the war that authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza say has killed at least 40,939 people. According to the United Nations human rights office, most of the dead are women and children. Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians including some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures. Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Scores were released during a one-week truce in November.
Israel’s announcement last Sunday that the bodies of six hostages including a US-Israeli citizen had been recovered shortly after being killed sparked grief and anger in Israel.Marking the anniversary, UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini posted on X on Saturday: “Eleven months. Enough. No one can take this any longer. Humanity must prevail. Ceasefire now.”International pressure to end the war was further underlined by Friday’s shooting dead in the West Bank of a Turkish-American activist demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied territory. The family of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has demanded an independent investigation into her death, saying on Saturday her life “was taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military.” The UN rights office said Israeli forces killed Eygi with a “shot in the head.”Turkiye said she was killed by “Israeli occupation soldiers,” and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the Israeli action as “barbaric.”The United States called her death “tragic,” and has pressed its close ally Israel to investigate.Israeli settlements in the West Bank — where about 490,000 people live — are illegal under international law. Since Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 662 Palestinians in the West Bank which Israel occupied in 1967, according to the Palestinian health ministry. At least 23 Israelis, including members of the security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, Israeli officials say. Eygi’s death came on the day Israeli forces withdrew from a deadly 10-day raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, where AFP journalists reported residents returning home to widespread destruction. The Jenin pullout came with Israel at loggerheads with the United States over talks to forge a truce in the Gaza war. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday “90 percent is agreed” and urged Israel and Hamas to finalize a deal. But Netanyahu denied this, telling Fox News: “It’s not close.” Hamas is demanding Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, saying it agreed months ago to a proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden.
AFP reporters said several air strikes and shelling rocked the territory overnight and early Saturday.Gaza’s civil defense agency and the Palestinian Red Crescent said an Israeli air strike killed four people near the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The civil defense and a witness said an air strike that targeted a flat in Bureij camp killed another four. And in Jabalia, an Israeli air strike killed four more Palestinians, civil defense officials said.They added that a woman and a child were also killed in an air strike north of Gaza City. Medics reported at least 33 Palestinians wounded in an air strike on a residential area in Beit Lahia and said they were being treated at Al-Awda, Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals. In the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, the civil defense said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced people killed at least three people and wounded more than 20. Israel has also traded fire with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement since the October 7 attack. On Saturday Hezbollah said it targeted two Israeli bases with Katyusha rockets. Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israel carried out air strikes and shelling of several areas of the country’s south. The Israeli military said it detected missiles crossing from Lebanon, intercepting some of them. It said it later struck a Hezbollah launch site in the Qabrikha area of southern Lebanon, as well as Aita Al-Shaab and Kfarshuba.

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 61 as UN pursues vaccinations
Reuters/September 07, 2024
CAIRO: Israeli military strikes across the Palestinian Gaza Strip killed at least 61 people in the space of 24 hours, local medics said on Saturday, as Israeli forces battled Hamas-led militants in the territory. Eleven months into the war, numerous rounds of diplomacy have so far failed to clinch a ceasefire deal to end the conflict and bring the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held in Gaza as well as many Palestinians jailed in Israel. An Israeli air strike in on the Halima Al-Sa’diyya school compound serving as a shelter for displaced people in the Jabalia urban refugee camp killed at least eight people and wounded 15 others, medics said. The Israeli military said the strike had targeted a Hamas command center inside the compound. It accused Hamas of repeatedly exploiting civilians and civilian infrastructure for military purposes, an allegation Hamas denies. Five more people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City. The armed wings of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah groups said they had fought Israeli troops in Gaza City, in central areas and in the south with anti-tank rockets and mortars, and in some incidents detonated bombs to target tanks and other army vehicles. The two warring sides continued to blame one another for the failure of mediators, including Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to broker a ceasefire. The US is preparing to present a new proposal, but the prospects of a breakthrough appear dim as gaps between the sides remain large. CIA Director William Burns, the chief US negotiator, told an event in London that a more detailed proposal would be made in the coming days.
PAUSES IN FIGHTING LET POLIO VACCINATIONS CONTINUE
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was incumbent on both Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which ran Gaza before the war and was responsible for the Oct. 7 killing spree against Jews in Israel that triggered it, to make concessions to reach a deal. On Saturday, senior Hamas official Hossam Badran said the group had made no new demands and remained committed to a July 2 proposal put forward by the United States, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of attaching new conditions that would not end the war. Netanyahu says it was Hamas that introduced unacceptable conditions. Despite the deadlock, the United Nations, in collaboration with local health authorities, has pursued a campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza after its first polio case in around 25 years. Limited pauses in the fighting have allowed the campaign to proceed.
UN officials said they were making progress, having reached over half of the children needing the drops in the first two stages in the southern and central Gaza Strip. On Sunday, the campaign will move to the northern Gaza Strip. A second round of vaccination will be required four weeks after the first. The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on the enclave has killed over 40,900 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court, which Israel denies.

Gaza enters its second school year without schooling. The cost could be heavy for kids’ futures
AP/September 07, 2024
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: This week, when they would normally be going back to school, the Qudeh family’s children stumbled with armfuls of rubble they collected from a destroyed building to sell for use in building graves in the cemetery that is now their home in southern Gaza. “Anyone our age in other countries is studying and learning,” said 14-year-old Ezz El-Din Qudeh, after he and his three siblings — the youngest a 4-year-old — hauled a load of concrete chunks. “We’re not. We’re working at something beyond our capacities. We are forced to in order to get a living.”
As Gaza enters its second school year without schooling, most of its children are caught up helping their families in the daily struggle to survive amid Israel’s devastating campaign. Children trod barefoot on the dirt roads to carry water in plastic jerricans from distribution points to their families living in tent cities teeming with Palestinians driven from their homes. Others wait at charity kitchens with containers to bring back food. Humanitarian workers say the extended deprivation of education threatens long-term damage to Gaza’s children. Younger children suffer in their cognitive, social and emotional development, and older children are at greater risk of being pulled into work or early marriage, said Tess Ingram, regional spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children. “The longer a child is out of school, the more they are at risk of dropping out permanently and not returning,” she said.
Gaza’s 625,000 school-age children already missed out on almost an entire year of education. Schools shut down after Israel launched its assault on the territory in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. With languishing negotiations to halt fighting in the Israel-Hamas war, it’s not known when they can return to classes. More than 90 percent of Gaza’s school buildings have been damaged by Israeli bombardment, many of them run by UNWRA, the UN agency for Palestinians, according to the Global Education Cluster, a grouping of aid organizations led by UNICEF and Save the Children. About 85 percent are so wrecked they need major reconstruction — meaning it could take years before they are usable again. Gaza’s universities are also in ruins. Israel contends that Hamas militants operate out of schools. Some 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes. They have crowded into the sprawling tent camps that lack water or sanitation systems, or UN and government schools now serving as shelters.
Kids have little choice but to help families
Mo’men Qudeh said that before the war, his kids enjoyed school. “They were outstanding students. We raised them well,” he said. Now he, his four sons and his daughter live in a tent in a cemetery in Khan Younis after they had to flee their home in the eastern neighborhoods of the city. The kids get scared sleeping next to the graves of the dead, he said, but they have no alternative. The continual flow of victims from airstrikes and shelling into the cemetery and the plentiful supply of destroyed buildings are their source for a tiny income.
Every day at 7 a.m., Qudeh and his children start picking through rubble. On a recent day of work, the young kids stumbled off the pile of wreckage with what they found. Qudeh’s 4-year-old son balanced a chunk of concrete under his arm, his blonde curly hair covered in dust. Outside their tent, they crouched on the ground and pounded the concrete into powder. On a good day, after hours of work, they make about 15 shekels ($4) selling the powder for use in constructing new graves. Qudeh, who was injured in Israel’s 2014 war with Hamas, said he can’t do the heavy work alone.
“I cry for them when I see them with torn hands,” he said. At night, the exhausted children can’t sleep because of their aches and pain, he said. “They lie on their mattress like dead people,” he said.
Children are eager for a lost education
Aid groups have worked to set up educational alternatives — though the results have been limited as they wrestle with the flood of other needs. UNICEF and other aid agencies are running 175 temporary learning centers, most set up since late May, that have served some 30,000 students, with about 1,200 volunteer teachers, Ingram said. They provide classes in literacy and numeracy as well as mental health and emotional development activities. But she said they struggle to get supplies like pens, paper and books because they are not considered lifesaving priorities as aid groups struggle to get enough food and medicine into Gaza. In August, UNRWA began a “back to learning” program in 45 of its schools-turned-shelters that provide children activities like games, drama, arts, music and sports. The aim is to “give them some respite, a chance to reconnect with their friends and to simply be children,” spokesperson Juliette Touma said. Education has long been a high priority among Palestinians. Before the war, Gaza had a high literacy rate — nearly 98 percent. When she last visited Gaza in April, Ingram said children often told her they miss school, their friends and their teachers. While describing how much he wanted to go back to class, one boy abruptly stopped in panic and asked her, “I can go back, can’t I?”
“That was just heartbreaking to me,” she said.
Parents told her they had seen the emotional changes in their children without the daily stability provided by school and with compounding traumas from displacement, bombardment and deaths or injuries in the family. Some become sullen and withdrawn, others become easily agitated or frustrated.
Gaza’s schools are packed with homeless families instead of studentsThe 11-month Israeli campaign has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and brought a humanitarian crisis, with widespread malnutrition and diseases spreading. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials. Children are among the most severely affected. Ingram said nearly all of Gaza’s 1.1 million children are believed to need psychosocial help. Israel says its campaign aims to eliminate Hamas to ensure it cannot repeat its Oct. 7 attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 250 others. The conflict has also set back education for Palestinian children in the West Bank, where Israel has intensified movement restrictions and carried out heavy raids.“On any given day since October, between 8 percent and 20 percent of schools in the West Bank have been closed,” Ingram said. When schools are open, attendance is lowered because of difficulties in movement or because children are afraid, she said.Parents in Gaza say they struggle to give their children even informal teaching with the chaos around them. At a school in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, classrooms were packed with families, their laundry draped over the stairwells outside. Made of bedsheets and tarps propped on sticks, ramshackle tents stretched across the yard. “The children’s future is lost,” said Umm Ahmed Abu Awja, surrounded by nine of her young grandchildren. “What they studied last year is completely forgotten. If they return to school, they have to start from the beginning.”

Family demands probe into Israeli military killing of US-Turkish citizen
AFP/September 07, 2024
JERUSALEM: The family of a Turkish-American woman shot dead while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank demanded an independent investigation into her death on Saturday, accusing the Israeli military of killing her “violently.”Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was “shot in the head” while participating in a demonstration in Beita in the West Bank on Friday. “Her presence in our lives was taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military,” Eygi’s family said in a statement. “A US citizen, Aysenur was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter. “We call on President (Joe) Biden, Vice President (Kamala) Harris, and Secretary of State (Antony) Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a US citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties.”The Israeli military said its forces “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them” during the protest. Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organization, and was in Beita on Friday for a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlements, according to ISM. In recent years, pro-Palestinian demonstrators have frequently held weekly protests against the Eviatar settlement outpost overlooking Beita, which is backed by far-right Israeli ministers. During Friday’s protest, Eygi was shot in the head, according to the UN rights office and Rafidia hospital where she was pronounced dead. Turkiye said she was killed by “Israeli occupation soldiers,” with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemning the Israeli action as “barbaric.”
Washington called it a “tragic” event and has pressed its close ally Israel to investigate. But her family has demanded an independent probe. “Given the circumstances of Aysenur’s killing, an Israeli investigation is not adequate,” her family said. Her family said Eygi always advocated “an end to the violence against the people of Palestine.”Israeli settlements in the West Bank — where about 490,000 people live — are illegal under international law. Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel which triggered the war in Gaza, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 690 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry. At least 23 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.

Gaza civil defense says 3 killed in Israeli strike on school
AFP/September 07, 2024
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli air strike targeting a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians killed at least three people on Saturday, while the military reported it struck a Hamas command center.
“Three martyrs and more than 20 wounded people were retrieved after an Israeli warplane fired two missiles at a prayer room and a classroom at the Amr Ibn Al-Aas School, where refugees were sheltering in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defense agency, told AFP.
The Israeli military said it conducted a “precise strike” at the school. The strike targeted “terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control center... embedded inside a compound that previously served as Amr Ibn Al-Aas school,” the military said in a statement. A large crowd gathered outside the building in the aftermath of the strike, picking their way over rubble as emergency workers tried to help the wounded, AFPTV footage showed.Displaced Gazan Abd Arooq said the school had served as a shelter for more than 2,000 people. “We don’t know where to go. We are in the street,” he said. “There is no sanctity for mosques, schools or even the houses we live in.” In recent months, Israeli forces have struck several schools that were housing displaced Palestinians, many of them in Gaza City, saying the strikes targeted Hamas militants. Tens of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge in schools since the war in Gaza, which entered its 12th month on Saturday, broke out following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7. That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has so far killed at least 40,939 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. According to the United Nations human rights office, most of the dead are women and children.

Israelis protest in the streets again as the toll in Gaza grows
The Associated Press/ September 7, 2024
Israelis again poured into the streets for another large protest over the government's failure to secure the return of remaining hostages in Gaza, while hospital and local authorities said Israeli air raids in the territory killed more than a dozen people overnight into Saturday. Health workers wrapped up the second phase of an urgent polio vaccination campaign designed to prevent a large-scale outbreak. The drive, launched after the first polio case in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children during a war that has destroyed Gaza's health care system and much of its infrastructure. The third phase of vaccinations will be in the north. Israel kept up its military offensive. In central Gaza’s urban refugee camp of Nuseirat, Al-Awda Hospital said it received the bodies of nine people killed in two air raids. One hit a residential building, killing four people and wounding at least 10, while five people were killed in a strike on a house in western Nuseirat. Separately, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, central Gaza’s main hospital, said a woman and her two children were killed in a strike on a house in the nearby urban refugee camp of Bureij. In northern Gaza, an airstrike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced people in the town of Jabaliya killed at least four people and wounded about two dozen others, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense authority, which operates under the territory’s Hamas-run government. Israel's military said it struck a Hamas command post embedded in a former school compound. The war began when Hamas and other militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, primarily civilians. Hamas is believed to still be holding more than 100 hostages. Israeli authorities estimate about a third are dead. Anger again led large crowds of Israelis into the streets Saturday night, a week after one of the largest demonstrations of the war following the discovery of another six dead hostages in Gaza.Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry says more than 94,000 people have been wounded.
Violence has also spiked in the occupied West Bank. A dayslong military operation in Jenin left dozens of dead. “They (Israeli forces) besieged the area and brought in bulldozers. As you see, they destroyed the whole area," said a resident, Mahmoud Al Razi. A day after an American protester was shot and killed in the West Bank, her family urged President Joe Biden to order an independent investigation, saying that “given the circumstances of Aysenur’s killing, an Israeli investigation is not adequate." Their statement called the 26-year-old recent university graduate a “ray of sunshine” and an advocate for human dignity.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who also holds Turkish nationality, was shot in the head, two Palestinian doctors said. She had been demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Witnesses said she was shot during a moment of calm following earlier clashes. The White House has said it was “deeply disturbed” and called on Israel to investigate. The Israeli military said it was looking into reports that troops had killed a foreign national while firing at an “instigator of violent activity." More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, a territory captured by Israel in 1967. Israeli raids, attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis and attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians have left more than 690 Palestinians dead since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel has been under increasing pressure from the United States and other allies to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow band along Gaza’s border with Egypt where Israel contends Hamas smuggles weapons. Egypt and Hamas deny it. Hamas has accused Israel of dragging out negotiations by issuing new demands. Hamas has offered to release all hostages in return for an end to the war, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants — broadly the terms called for under an outline for a deal put forward by Biden in July. Along the border with Lebanon, near-daily clashes continued between Israeli forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. An Israeli drone strike hit a Lebanese Civil Defense team fighting a fire in the town of Froun, killing three volunteers and wounding two others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. The blaze was sparked by a previous Israeli strike, the statement said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel's military said some 45 rockets were fired at northern Israel in several barrages, many targeting the Mount Meron area but falling in open areas. Several rockets fell in Shlomi and around the city of Safed. There were no injuries. The military later said its jets struck Hezbollah military infrastructure and a rocket launcher in the area of Qabrikha in southern Lebanon.

Queen Rania of Jordan hits out at Western ‘double standards’ over war in Gaza
Arab News/September 07, 2024
LONDON: Jordan’s Queen Rania on Saturday criticized what she described as Western “double standards” regarding the war in Gaza, which she said are contributing to a “loss of faith in the rules and moral standards meant to govern our world.” Speaking at the 50th European House Ambrosetti Forum, an annual economic conference in Cernobbio, Italy, the queen said that in the aftermath of global wars and other bloody conflicts in Europe during the 20th century the international community established a number of global institutions with the aim of preventing similar violence. “The people of the world deserve a global system they can trust, free of prejudice, moral loopholes and deadly blind spots. And trust in that system has become intrinsically tied to the fate of the Palestinian people,” she said as she urged European countries to weigh their responses to the conflict in Gaza against their proclaimed values. “From the United Nations to the International Court of Justice to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the world came together to establish norms for a future better than its past, a future based on the values of the UN Charter: peace, justice and human rights,” she said. However, many people around the world are struggling to maintain their belief in the integrity and impartiality of these norms, Queen Rania added. “Looking at Israel’s war in Gaza, they see a glaring double standard or, worse yet, a seeming abdication of any standards at all,” she said. Over the past 11 months, the Gaza Strip had been hit by an estimated 70,000 tonnes of bombs, the queen continued, which is “more than all bombs dropped on London, Hamburg and Dresden throughout all of the Second World War.”She noted that almost the entire population of Gaza is facing acute food insecurity, and denounced Israeli obstruction of humanitarian aid deliveries while Palestinian children are starving. She also highlighted other ways in which the war is taking a high toll on Gaza’s children, pointing out that the conflict has resulted in more child amputees than any other. “Doctors describe the horror of amputating on children too young to walk,” Queen Rania said. “According to Save the Children, over 20,000 children are estimated to be lost, detained, buried under the rubble or in mass graves.”She said it has been nearly eight months since the highest court in the world, the International Court of Justice, ruled it was “plausible” that Israel is committing acts of genocide in Gaza, and noted that authorities in the country also recently launched a wide-ranging military assault on the West Bank.“For decades, beginning before last October, Palestinians have been subjected to a crushing, criminal occupation,” she said. “Palestinians, too, have the right to live in security and peace. And yet, here we are, still. “Is the world saying that Israel’s security is more important than anyone else’s and, therefore, nothing is off-limits in its pursuit? That no level of Palestinian suffering is too high a price to pay? “This devaluation of life must be called out for what it is: anti-Palestinian racism. This failure cannot stand.”The queen said that Europe has long positioned itself as a champion of international law and human rights, adding: “What is the Global South supposed to think when they see the West stand up for the people of Ukraine while leaving innocent civilians in Gaza to unprecedented collective punishment? What conclusions are people to draw about who matters, who doesn’t, and why?
“More than hypocritical, the double standard is dehumanizing. It is cruel. And if it isn’t racist, I don’t know what is. That’s why rejecting double standards, demanding accountability, and finding a common path to peace are necessary to create the future that Palestinians, Israelis and all of us deserve.”
Queen Rania went on to highlight a number of basic, “indisputable” principles that could provide a shared foundation for the warring parties to build on, and which must be upheld to achieve a mutual, sustainable peace. They included the respect for international law and basic human rights, the countering of extremist voices in debates surrounding Israel and Palestine, and the need to ensure human dignity at all times. The conference in Cernobbio brought together Italian and international decision-makers to examine and discuss geopolitical, economic, technological and social scenarios. Other officials and heads of state that participated included Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, and Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell.

Iran still intends to avenge Haniyeh's killing, UK intelligence chief says
Reuters/September 07/2024
The head of Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence agency Richard Moore said he believed that Iran was still planning to retaliate for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which took place in Tehran in late July and which Iran blames on Israel. "I suspect they will try and we won't be able to let our guard down for the type of activity that the Iranians might try and prosecute in that direction," Moore said when asked about whether Iran would retaliate at an FT event on Saturday.

Hundreds of families fled a northern suburb of Sudan’s capital Khartoum
AFP/September 07, 2024
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Hundreds of families fled a northern suburb of Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Saturday after fighting between the army and paramilitaries intensified around a key military base, witnesses said. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces attacked the Hattab base in Khartoum North, also known as Bahri, on Wednesday. The army, led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, is locked in conflict with the RSF led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The war began in April 2023 and has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. “Since this morning, the army has been firing artillery toward the south of Hattab while military planes are flying over” the area, one witness said on Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Nasr El-Din, a resident who asked that only his first name be used for security reasons, said the RSF “attacked houses south (of the Hattab base), capturing citizens and killing others.” “Since early morning, hundreds of families have left for the north, carrying their belongings on their heads,” he added in an account corroborated by another witness. UN experts on Friday called for the deployment of an “independent and impartial force” to protect millions of civilians driven from their homes in Sudan. After an independent fact-finding mission mandated by the Human Rights Council, the UN experts said “harrowing” violations by both sides had been uncovered, “which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”Meanwhile more than 25 million people — upwards of half Sudan’s population — face acute hunger, with full-blown famine declared in a camp for displaced people in the volatile western region of Darfur. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday began a two-day visit to Port Sudan, the de facto seat of government after fighting forced the authorities out of Khartoum. He met a health minister and will also meet other officials and visit health facilities, an AFP correspondent on the ground reported.

Algeria votes with Tebboune eyeing easy re-election
AFP/September 07, 2024
ALGEIRS: Algerians began voting on Saturday in a presidential election widely expected to bring a second term for the incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune who is hoping for a high turnout. Tebboune, 78, is heavily favored to see off moderate Islamist Abdelaali Hassani and socialist candidate Youcef Aouchiche. Polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) and are set to close at 7:00 pm. Preliminary results could come as early as Saturday night, with the electoral authority, ANIE, bound to announce the official results on Sunday at the latest. “The winner is known in advance,” political commentator Mohamed Hennad posted on Facebook before voting began, referring to Tebboune. Tebboune’s opponents stood little chance because of low support and the “conditions in which the electoral campaign took place, which is nothing more than a farce,” Hennad wrote. The incumbent’s main challenge is to boost the turnout in the North African country, after he won in 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, but amid a record abstention rate of more than 60 percent. “The president is keen to have a significant turnout,” Hasni Abidi, an analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center. “It’s his main issue.”
The low turnout in 2019 followed the Hirak pro-democracy protests, which toppled former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika before they were quashed with ramped-up policing and the jailing of hundreds of people. Campaign rallies have struggled to generate enthusiasm in the nation of 45 million, partly due to the summer heat. More than 850,000 Algerians living abroad have been able to vote since Monday. With young people making up more than half the population, all candidates are targeting their votes with promises to improve living standards and reduce dependence on hydrocarbons. Tebboune has touted economic successes during his first term, including more jobs and higher wages in the country, Africa’s largest exporter of natural gas. His challengers have vowed to grant Algerians more freedoms. Aouchiche says he is committed “to release prisoners of conscience through an amnesty and to review unjust laws,” including on media and terrorism. Hassani has advocated “freedoms that have been reduced to nothing in recent years.”Political analyst Abidi said Tebboune should address the major deficit in political and media freedoms as politics is “absent from the scene,” with Algerians having “divorced from current politics” after the Hirak protests ended. Five years later, rights group Amnesty International said Algerian authorities were “committed to maintaining a zero-tolerance approach toward dissenting opinions.”

Historic Agreement Reached Between Baghdad and Washington for Gradual US Troop Withdrawal from Iraq
LBCI/September 07, 2024
A historic agreement has been reached between Baghdad and Washington regarding the gradual withdrawal of the US-led international coalition forces from Iraq, set to begin in September 2025 and to be completed by the end of 2026. Complex negotiations took place for over six months, focusing on the role and future of US forces in Iraq after the conclusion of the campaign against ISIS. The talks centered on transitioning the US role to a more advisory capacity. Currently, there are 2,500 American soldiers in Iraq, and the agreement includes the withdrawal of hundreds of them over the next two years, with a limited number of American advisors remaining to provide security consultation to Iraq. This is part of a new bilateral relationship between the two countries, aimed at ensuring that the chaos seen in Iraq after the 2011 US withdrawal and the rise of ISIS is not repeated. The negotiations between Baghdad and Washington were influenced by regional developments, particularly Israel’s war on Gaza and the involvement of Iranian-backed Iraqi armed factions in supporting Gaza. These factions also carried out attacks on US bases in Iraq in response to US support for Israel. Several factions halted their attacks early this year as a "goodwill gesture" to avoid disrupting the negotiations. In return, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani aimed to bolster his position with these factions by working to end the foreign military presence in the country. On the American side, Washington sought to maintain its advisory presence to safeguard its strategic interests in countering Iranian influence in Iraq. The agreement is expected to ease tensions and reduce attacks on US forces, according to multiple analyses. However, Iraq’s future will depend on the Iraqi government’s ability to maintain political and security stability amid ongoing regional challenges.

US believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, AP sources say
Aamer Madhani And Zeke Miller/WASHINGTON (AP)/September 7, 2024
The United States has informed allies that it believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter. They did not offer any details about how many weapons have been delivered or when the transfers may have occurred, but they confirmed the U.S. intelligence finding. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that has not been publicly disclosed. The White House declined to confirm the weapons transfer but reiterated its concern that Iran is deepening its support of Russia. The White House has been warning Iran for months not to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia. "Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and lead to the killing of more Ukrainian civilians," National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement. "This partnership threatens European security and illustrates how Iran’s destabilizing influence reaches beyond the Middle East and around the world.”The U.S. finding comes as the Kremlin tries to repel Ukraine's surprise offensive that has led to the seizure of about 500 square miles (1,300 kilometers) of Russia’s Kursk region. Meanwhile, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is pressing allies to allow his country to use Western-supplied missiles to strike deep inside Russia and hit sites from which Moscow launches aerial attacks. Iran, as it has with previous U.S. intelligence findings, denied providing Russia with weapons for its war in Ukraine. “Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict — which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations — to be inhumane,” according to a statement from Iran's mission to the United Nations. "Thus, not only does Iran abstain from engaging in such actions itself, but it also calls upon other countries to cease the supply of weapons to the sides involved in the conflict.” CIA Director William Burns, who was in London on Saturday for a joint appearance with his British intelligence counterpart, warned of the growing and “troubling” defense relationship involving Russia, China, Iran and North Korea that he said threatens both Ukraine and Western allies in the Middle East. The White House has repeatedly declassified and publicized intelligence findings that show North Korea has sent ammunition and missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine, while Iran supplies Moscow with attack drones and has assisted the Kremlin with building a drone-manufacturing factory. China has held back from providing Russians with weaponry but has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry, according to U.S. officials.The White House has been on edge for months about a possible deal between Iran and Russia.
The Democratic administration said in January that U.S. intelligence officials had determined a Russian-Iran deal had not been completed, but officials were concerned that Russia’s negotiations to acquire missiles from Iran were actively advancing. Last September, according to the White House, Iran hosted a top Russian defense official to show off a range of ballistic missile systems, adding to the U.S. concern that a deal could come together. The U.S. and other countries have taken steps aimed at thwarting the supply, sale or transfer involving Iran and ballistic missile-related items, including issuing guidance to private companies about Iranian missile procurement practices to make sure those companies are not inadvertently supporting Iran’s development efforts. President Joe Biden is set to host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for talks at the White House on Friday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “continuing robust support to Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression” will be on their agenda. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the U.S. intelligence finding.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on September 07-08/2024
Iran's Mullahs Love Hiding Behind Their Proxies — It Is Time to Stop Letting Them
D. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/September 07/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/09/134137/
Iran's regime and its proxies constantly launch attacks – at Sunni Gulf States, at Israel and at US troops -- with the seeming goal of eradicating the Jewish state and driving "The Big Satan" out of the region. That way, the mullahs appear to believe, Imperial Iran would be able to enjoy the run of the corral without interference from countries they allege are imperialist, and revel in an unfettered "open season."
Iran and its proxies have attacked US troops in the region more than 150 times just since October. The US response has not exactly been a deterrent. In the meantime, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism continues cheerfully to put the finishing touches on its nuclear weapons program.
The regime hides behind its proxies because it would rather its proxies receive retaliatory strikes instead of Tehran, Isfahan, Qom or Natanz, and it seems above all to fear losing its grip on power. The mullahs doubtless are aware that they lack broad support among the Iranian people, so it is easier to extend their influence and Islamist ideology through their proxies. Why should a country that does not treat its own people well treat others any better?
The time to put a stop to Iran's runaway aggression is long overdue – before it launches nuclear weapons.
Iran's regime and its proxies constantly launch attacks – at Sunni Gulf States, at Israel and at US troops -- with the seeming goal of eradicating the Jewish state and driving "The Big Satan" out of the region. That way, the mullahs appear to believe, Imperial Iran would be able to enjoy the run of the corral without interference from countries they allege are imperialist, and revel in an unfettered "open season."
For nearly four decades, since the rise of Iran's Islamist regime in 1979, the West has funneled substantial political and economic resources into combating Iran's proxies. To what effect? Not enough, it would seem, to write home about.
After all these years, the West might consider, instead, facing a crucial realization: it might consider attacking the source, not merely its symptoms. It is high time for the West to wake up.
After nearly 40 years, it is only natural to ask whether these efforts have succeeded in even curbing Iran's proxies, terrorist groups, and militias. Unfortunately, not even a fraction of success can be claimed. On the contrary, these groups have grown stronger, more entrenched, and more lethal over the years. Their numbers and influence have multiplied, and their power has only solidified, until they are now formidable forces in the region – because no one has stopped them.
Iran's regime and its proxies constantly launch attacks – at Sunni Gulf States, at Israel and at US troops -- with the seeming goal of eradicating the Jewish state and driving "The Big Satan" out of the region. That way, the mullahs appear to believe, Imperial Iran would be able to enjoy the run of the corral without interference from countries they allege are imperialist, and revel in an unfettered "open season."
Iran and its proxies have attacked US troops in the region more than 150 times just since October. The US response has not exactly been a deterrent. In the meantime, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism continues cheerfully to put the finishing touches on its nuclear weapons program.
In Lebanon, for instance, Iran has meticulously cultivated the terrorist group Hezbollah, turning it into a dominant force that wields significant control over the Lebanese government. Driven by the mullahs' mission of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America," Hezbollah has become a relentless adversary of both Israel and the US.
In Iraq, the situation is similarly troubling. Iran's Shiite militia groups, operating under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), now encompass more than 60 militias. These groups are not just rogue elements; they are integrated into the Iraqi government, consistently attacking U.S. bases under the Biden-Harris administration, and furthering Iran's anti-American ideology. The mullahs' influence is now deeply embedded within the very fabric of Iraq's governance.
Meanwhile, Iran's support for Hamas is well-documented. Through funding and weaponry, Iran has built up Hamas, presumably with the explicit aim of annihilating Israel. This support is also part of a broader strategy to destabilize the region and force out the West.
In Syria, Iran's involvement has been both extensive and strategic, with its militia groups playing a crucial role in sustaining the Assad regime. Iran has deployed and supported a network of Shiite militias, including Hezbollah fighters and various groups recruited from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, all under the guidance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.
In Yemen, the Houthi rebels have been serving as yet another Iranian proxy. These militants have attacked the oil-rich nations of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and wreaked havoc in the Red Sea, attacking ships and launching Iranian missiles and drones into Israel. Their actions have further destabilized an already volatile region, extending Iran's reach into yet another theater of conflict.
At the core of all these operations is the Iran's IRGC and its elite Quds Force. These entities are the godfathers of Iran's proxy strategy, providing funding, training, and support to militia groups throughout the Middle East. Their ultimate goal is to assert the mullahs' power and influence across the region, using these proxies as cats' paws in their grand strategy.
Since the regime's establishment in 1979, the number of Iran's proxies has vastly increased. Yet, despite this alarming trend, the West, for decades, continues to pursue a strategy that has clearly failed. It seems that for many sanctimonious Europeans who are forever preaching to everyone else about human rights, the profits of doing business and selling cars take priority.
When an Iranian proxy, such as Hamas, launches an attack, the response should be to strike the IRGC directly. When Iran's proxies threaten other nations, the West should target Iran's key assets, such as its ports or oil refineries. Such actions might actually get the regime's attention.
The regime hides behind its proxies because it would rather its proxies receive retaliatory strikes instead of Tehran, Isfahan, Qom or Natanz, and it seems above all to fear losing its grip on power. The mullahs doubtless are aware that they lack broad support among the Iranian people, so it is easier to extend their influence and Islamist ideology through their proxies. Why should a country that does not treat its own people well treat others any better?
The time to put a stop to Iran's runaway aggression is long overdue – before it launches nuclear weapons.
*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
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Today in History: The Knights of Christendom Terrorize the Terrorists
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/September 07/2024
Another epic encounter between Christians and Muslims took place on September 7, 1191. The sheer ferocity and valor displayed at the battle of Arsuf makes most otherwise “breathtaking” battle scenes emanating from Hollywood seem like child’s play.
Context: in late August 1191, Richard the Lionhearted led a large force of Crusaders from Acre to Jaffa. Along with the fierce Syrian sun, the Christians were harried by a nonstop deluge of arrows from the hordes of Saladin, who a few years earlier had all but annihilated the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin. Despite the casualties from arrows, sunstroke, snake bites, starvation, and disease, the Christian warriors kept moving forward. Saladin’s own biographer, Baha’ al-Din, expressed dismay:
I saw various individuals amongst the Franks with ten arrows fixed in their backs, pressing on in this fashion quite unconcerned…. Consider the endurance of these people, bearing exhausting tasks without any pay or material gain. Finally, on September 6, as the Crusaders emerged from a dense wood, there on the vast plains of Arsuf they saw “all the forces” of Islam marshalled before them, “from Damascus and Persia, from the Mediterranean Sea to the East,” writes a chronicler. There was not a single warlike Muslim peoples “whom Saladin had not summoned to aid him in crushing the Christian people,” for he “hoped to wipe the Christians completely off the face of the earth.”
And So It Begins
Battle commenced on the morning of September 7, 1191. A wild din erupted from the Muslim camp. Drums, horns, and cymbals banged and brayed to reverberant cries of “Allahu Akbar” and other “horrible yells.”As the Crusaders knelt in prayer and assumed battle formation, the “land all around resounded with the echo of [Muslims’] harsh cries and roaring noise.”Suddenly, in the midst of this “terrifying racket,” thousands of Turks “rushed down” on horses “driven like lightning.” The dust storm caused by this stampede “filled the sky like a dark cloud.” Behind the galloping Turks “ran a devilish race, very black in color.”In this manner, the Muslims “fell on our army from all sides… There was not a space for two miles around, not even a fistful, which was not covered with the hostile Turkish race…. As they kept up their persistent assaults they inflicted very grave losses on our people.”The already exhausted Crusaders fought back against the better rested and provisioned Muslims as best they could. Unhorsed knights were seen “walking on foot” and “returning blow for blow as far as means and strength allowed,” even as the Turks galloped about and continued to rain darts on them.
The Tide Turns
For long, Richard commanded his men not to break rank but stay in a defensive posture. Only when the entire Muslim army had gotten close enough, and their horses had tired, would he give the signal for a counteroffensive. Inevitably, however, “two knights who could not bear to wait” any longer “burst out of the line,” whereupon “everything was thrown into confusion.” They charged and began slaughtering their enemies. “The rest of the Christians heard these two calling with loud voices for St. George’s aid as they charged boldly on the Turks,” and so immediately followed suit — “charging as one into the relentlessly attacking enemy.”
On seeing this, Richard signaled for the general assault, and sped to where the fighting was thickest. He broke through his own men and crashed with thunderous violence into the enemy. “Stunned by the strength of the blows he and his force inflicted on them,” the Muslims “fell back to the right and the left.” Many were butchered on the spot, while a “great number were but headless corpses trodden underfoot by friend and foe regardless.” A chronicler writes that
King Richard pursued the Turks with singular ferocity, fell upon them and scattered them across the ground. No one escaped when his sword made contact with them; wherever he went his brandished sword cleared a wide path on all sides. Continuing his advance with untiring sword strokes, he cut down that unspeakable race as if he was reaping the harvest with a sickle, so that the corpses of Turks he had killed covered the ground everywhere for the space of half a mile. The rest panicked at the sight of the dying and gave him a wider berth…. Constantly slaying and hammering away with their swords, the Christians wore down the terrified Turks, but for a long time the battle was in the balance. Each struck each other, each struggled to overcome; one drew back stained with blood, the other fell slain. How many banners and multiform flags, pennons and innumerable standards you would have seen fall to the ground!
A True King
In the end, the Christians prevailed, and the “rout of the enemy was so complete that for two miles there was nothing to see except for people running away, although they had previously been so persistent, swollen with pride and very fierce.” Arabic sources confirm the magnitude of this defeat. Saladin’s lofty and invincible stature collapsed overnight, even as he tried to blame his men. As the Crusaders under Richard continued making progress by taking Jaffa and consolidating their hold on the coast, Saladin berated his crestfallen captains:
The Christians travel through the land of Syria just as they like without meeting any opposition or resistance. Where are my soldiers’ great boasts and brilliant exploits now?… How the people of today have degenerated from our noble ancestors who gained so many brilliant and justly memorable victories against the Christians, victories which are retold to us daily and whose memory will endure forever!
One of Saladin’s emirs dared offer reply: “Most sacred sultan, saving your majesty’s grace, you have blamed us unjustly, for we attacked the Franks with all our effort [to no avail].” He continued by lamenting Western armor, which “is not like ours” but rather “incalculable, impenetrable.” That was not all:
[T]here is something especially amazing about one of them. He threw our people into disorder and destroyed them. We have never seen his like nor known anyone similar. He was always at the head of the others; in every engagement he was first and foremost… It is he who mutilates our people. No one can stand against him, and when he seizes anyone, no one can rescue them from his hands. They call him in their language Melech [King] Richard.
It took all Saladin’s powers of self-control not to pull his beard and howl in rage.
And so continued the Third Crusade of history.
*Raymond Ibrahim is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum. Portions of this article were excerpted from his book, Defenders of the West.

America Between Two Readings
Emile Ameen/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 07/2024
In "The Prince," which remains controversial to this day, long after Niccolo Machiavelli wrote it in 1513, the author and philosopher tells the famous Italian prince Lorenzo de Medici that it is better to be feared than loved.
Is this question now on the minds of some of America's leading intellectuals as a new presidential election approaches?
It is clear that American intellectuals have recently been striving to present a different, “less arrogant” image of America. Interestingly, this is true for both Democrats and Republicans.
Everyone concerned with American affairs has turned their attention to two highly important readings recently published in two of the most influential American political magazines.
The first reading, presented by the well-known American writer Michael Hirsh, was published by "Foreign Policy” magazine. In it, he discusses the views of Philip Gordon, the National Security Advisor to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, and his deputy Rebecca Lissner, the author of the famous book "An Open World: How America Can Win the Contest for Twenty-First Century Order."
Gordon and Lissner's vision revolves around the need for the United States to rethink the contexts and paths of its foreign policy, become less arrogant, openly acknowledge its past excesses, and significantly scale down its ambitions. Adding further analysis, these strategic threads suggest that a different America is necessary, an American that is not like the one the world knew at the end of the twentieth century- the America of neoconservatives striving to make the twenty-first century an American century par excellence before the strategy shifted with the so-called "pivot to Asia" aimed at containing Russia and China.
Are there serious demands for the US to present a new global outlook different from that which has prevailed since the Allies' victory in World War II and was consolidated after the US unilaterally dominated the global order following the collapse of the Soviet Union?
Harris' friends are clearly convinced that Washington must abandon its strategic superiority complex and dreams of "Pax Americana." They suggest that the idea of leading a liberal world order is outdated and that striving to remain a dominant power now requires different tools and approaches that deprioritize military power.
Is this a moment of self-examination and candor from the American side?
In Lissner's book, she argues that with the decline of the unipolar moment, any illusions about the United States' ability to unilaterally and universally make the global order in its own liberal image must also fade away.
Does going in this direction make radical changes in the structural mentality of the US, both domestically and internationally, inevitable?
Perhaps the first thing this means is that America today is divided into two camps:
Harris' camp, which promotes- at least publicly- a break with ideologies and strategies of dominance and control, as well as plans for containment, albeit in a pragmatic manner that serves practical interests, like smooth trade and ensuring strong and effective cooperation on critical issues, especially on cosmological turning points like climate change, combating 21st-century pandemics, and regulating artificial intelligence before it crushes and eradicates humanity. The other camp, its plans are laid out in Project 2025, which is backed by hardline young Republican conservatives. They are the second edition of America's neoconservatives from 1997, and their ambitious right-wing project is dangerous for both America and the world.
The other perspective was presented by Richard Haass, and it was published in the “Foreign Affairs" magazine. Haass is a renowned Republican thinker and strategist; he is currently the honorary president of the Council on Foreign Relations and remains one of the most prominent thinkers shaping American foreign policy. In his lengthy article, it is clear that Haass is suggesting that we go in the opposite direction to that recommended by Machiavelli, and seek to make the US more loved than feared.
Haass recommends that the US engage with allies in different ways. Aligning himself with Professor Joseph Nye's concepts of American soft power, he proposes veering away from hard military power.
Haass believes that blunt military force is no longer effective, especially at a time when allies have started ignoring American preferences, preparing for consequences, and even circumventing them by diversifying their "diplomatic portfolios" and reducing their reliance on the United States by finding new backers in a world on the brink of inevitable multipolarity.
In a debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore held in the leadup to the 2000 election, Bush promised a humble but strong America. Those promises dissipated into hot air. So, are Haass's and Hirsh's suggestions merely soft promises, or are they strategic reassessments by a domestically exhausted and internationally troubled US?

Harris and Trump Embrace Tariffs, Though Their Approaches Differ
Ana Swanson/The New York Times/September 07/2024
When Donald J. Trump ran for president in 2016, there was not much love for tariffs in Washington. Many Republicans and Democrats believed that putting levies on imports created economic inefficiencies and that free trade was the best recipe for growth.
That view has largely fallen out of fashion in 2024. While Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, differ greatly in their campaign proposals, both of their parties are increasingly embracing tariffs as an essential tool in protecting American manufacturers from Chinese and other global competitors. It has been a sharp reversal from previous decades, when most politicians fought to lower tariffs rather than raise them. But the loss of American manufacturing jobs as a result of globalization and China’s focus on churning out cheap exports have created a bipartisan backlash against more open trade. Given that Trump’s 2016 win capitalized on such sentiments, Democrats have been striving to avoid losing voters opposed to free trade.
“On economic policy and trade issues, you have both major parties moving in the same direction,” said Nick Iacovella, a senior vice president at the Coalition for a Prosperous America, which advocates tariffs and domestic investments in industry.
Iacovella said that Trump would most likely go further on tariffs than Harris would, but that no matter who won the election “it’s still going to be a tariffs administration, and an industrial policy one.”
Harris has sought to differentiate herself from Trump’s trade proposals, which include tariffs of 10 percent to 20 percent on most imports, as well as levies of more than 60 percent on China. Many economists say that level of tariffs would drive up prices for consumers, since companies would be likely to pass on higher import costs.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week, Harris described the proposals as “a national sales tax — call it a Trump tax” — and said the plans “would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year.”
Economists’ estimates vary, but the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund calculated that the tariffs could increase costs on a middle-income family by $3,900 per year.
Despite early criticisms of Trump’s trade policy, the Biden administration has kept the former president’s initial tariffs on China in place and proposed adding another $18 billion of new levies on some Chinese products, including a 100 percent tax on electric vehicles. The administration also proposed new tariffs on electric vehicle batteries, semiconductors, steel and medical products, in an effort to ensure that newly invested American factories can stay in business.
Inu Manak, a trade policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said politicians of both parties were now more willing to argue that they could increase tariffs without any negative effects. She pointed to a recent poll by the Cato Institute that showed that Republicans and Democrats had high levels of support for hypothetical tariffs imposed by their party but not the other party.
The tariffs that Trump has floated are orders of magnitude larger than what President Biden’s administration has proposed, presumably covering more than $3 trillion of trade, and implying a much bigger impact on the economy.
In addition to a universal tariff on all imports and higher tariffs on China, he has suggested a reciprocal policy in which the United States will match tariffs that another nation imposes on American exports.
Speaking in Asheville, N.C., on Aug. 14, Trump said he might double the 10 percent tariff he had already proposed on most foreign goods.
“We are going to have 10 to 20 percent tariffs on foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years,” he told the crowd.
Economists generally agree that tariffs of this size would have a noticeable effect on consumer prices, while also raising costs for manufacturers that buy imported parts or materials. About a third of US imports are inputs that go into American farms and factories.
Mary Lovely, an economist at the Peterson Institute, said tariffs seemed to be the “solution du jour — a supposed remedy for a hollowed-out manufacturing sector, left-behind communities, and income inequality.”
But the tariffs have proved popular with industries that have faced stiff competition from Chinese firms, like makers of kitchen cabinets. Paul Wellborn, the president of Wellborn Cabinet, a manufacturer of kitchen and bath cabinets in Ashland, Ala., credited tariffs with saving his company and the industry.
Wellborn Cabinet’s sales fell after the Great Recession, when the housing market collapsed and with it demand for new cabinets. But as the economy started to recover, business was still slow, Wellborn said. The industry realized that Chinese companies had taken over about 40 percent of the market and that their share was continuing to grow.

Iran Military: Calculations and Miscalculations
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 07/2024
“Today we are actively and selflessly present in all domains of national life in the service of our Great Leader and martyrdom-seeking people.”
This was how two-star General Hussein Salami, Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), boasted about his force’s role in Iran.
Leaving aside the “selflessly” and “in the service of...,” the general is right.
The IRGC and its appendages such as the Mobilization of the Dispossessed (Baseej), the Quds Corps and at least four security and intelligence services account for less than five percent of the Iranian population. Yet they have the largest share of plum jobs in the public sector. In other words, the IRGC is active in every field except the one that is supposed to be in: national defense.
In the past three to four years the IRGC has taken a low profile in performing its initial mission: crushing anti-regime popular uprisings. That task is now performed by sections of the Baseej and non-Iranian recruits.
Created as an ideological army after the Iranian Revolution had triumphed, the IRGC was designed to counterbalance the regular army which the late Ayatollah Khomeini saw as a threat. The force was designed as an assemblage of diverse social and regional groups on the basis of what Ibn Khaldoun called al’aasabiyah. Divided into a dozen regional commands sometimes asked to locally raise the money they needed, the IRGC never succeeded in developing an esprit de corps.
Its military experience consisted of fighting secessionist groups in the frontier provinces and, later, crushing unarmed protesters.
“Supreme Guide” AIi Khamenei led two massive purges of the IRGC in 2009 and 2019 to promote a new generation of commanders loyal to him personally.
Under the influence of commanders such as Hadi Kajbaf, Muhammad Hejazi and Gayb-Parvar Khamenei tried to re-militarize the IRGC and develop a coherent defense doctrine. Under that doctrine Iran was supposed to acquire triple capabilities in the shape of a 20-million-man army, a huge arsenal of rockets and missiles and the wherewithal needed to develop nuclear warheads.
Despite many efforts and the investment of huge sums, more than twice what is allocated to the regular army, IRGC never became a military force in the classical sense. Rather than being the army of a nation-state it morphed into an armed force that owns a nation-state.
The IRGC has developed into a factory producing large numbers of one-star generals who retire at 60 but live to be 80 or 90. Thus you need to find them jobs to keep them out of making mischief. The decade-long Syrian war provided an outlet as hundreds of young retirees “volunteered” to go there to supervise the killing of Syrians and return home with a medal and a bundle of cash. But, as the “Zionist foe” started killing them with airstrikes the flow of “volunteers for martyrdom” dried up. According to Stephane Dudoignon, a French specialist in IRGC, over 100 IRGC generals were killed by the Israelis. Last month when for a brief moment it seemed that the “Supreme Guide might be forced to risk direct war with the “Zionist foe” a question that has haunted many Iranians resurfaced: Is the IRGC capable of fighting a real war?
My guess is that Khamenei’s answer was a “no.” This is why, having held consultations for several days, he decided to choose “tactical retreat,” as he called it, and walk the cat back from the brink.
Khamenei may have had another reason for staying out of harm’s way.
The Defense Doctrine developed almost 30 years ago is obsolete. With Iran’s demography on a downward trend the 20-millon man army that Khomeini dreamed of would require recruitment among djinns and fairies. In 1977 the average Iranian couple produced 5.6 babies. That number is down to 1.3, which taking into account mass emigration by young Iranians, leads to a dramatic demographic deficit.
The second plank of the doctrine, an arsenal of rockets and missiles, was tested against Israel but made little impression. It was, perhaps, intended not to make an impression because the “Supreme Guide” knew Iran isn’t prepared for war.
Regardless of what some say in Washington, the third plank of the doctrine, nuclear capability, remains a chimeric but costly concept rather than a cashable asset.
Khamenei may have another more reason to tone down his usual tantrums: simmering dissatisfaction in both the IRGC and the regular army.
Without massive and well-organized local help, how could the Israelis obtain several truckloads of “top secret” documents from Tehran transported over 800 kilometers of Iranian territory to reach the Caucasus in a well-executed military fashion?
And how could the “Zionist foe” assassinate so many top civilian and military officials without help from local groups who for whatever reason bear a grudge against the present leadership?
The favorite treatment of the IRGC in terms of salaries and the latest weaponry may be the cause of discontent in the regular army as bravely spelled out by its former commander two-star General Salehi.
The IRGC’s discontent may be rooted in a new wave of purges planned by Khamenei while aging generals close to him continue to warm their seats.