English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For January 15/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/27-32: “A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 14-15/2025
Elias Bejjani/ Text and Video: The Appointment of Joseph Aoun as President and the Designation of Nawaf Salam to Form the Government Confirm Lebanon's Chapter VII Status and the Irreversibility of the International and Regional Decision to End Iran's Era and Uproot its Proxies
Text & Video: Najib Mikati’s Return As PM Will Doom President Joseph Aoun’s Term, Perpetuate Hezbollah’s Occupation, and Block Reform and Change/Elias Bejjani
After economic meltdown and war with Israel, Lebanon's new prime minister vows to rebuild
Salam vows to 'rescue, reform and rebuild' crisis and war-hit Lebanon
PM-designate Salam extends hand to Hezbollah, aims to rebuild Lebanon
Nawaf Salam to begin consultations to form Lebanese government
Top Shiite cleric tells Aoun 'weapons not sacred'
Aoun urges no govt. formation obstacles, says state responsible for facing Israel
Salam to hold govt. formation consultations Wednesday and Thursday
Macron says new Lebanon PM represents 'hope for change'
France’s Macron to visit Lebanon this week
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon hopes president election will 'kick-start reforms'
Geagea calls on Hezbollah to send arms to Iran, sell them or give them to army
Bassil says Salam's victory 'made in Lebanon'
Lebanon’s new dawn/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 14/ 2025
Unpacking the implications of Lebanon’s presidential election/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 14/ 2025
The One Who Elected Joseph Aoun Is Joseph Aoun/Henry Zgheib/ Arab Markets/January 14/2025
With No Power or Constitutional Authority, Lebanon’s New President Won’t Disarm Hezbollah/David Daoud/Haaretz/January 14/2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 14-15/2025
Hamas accepts draft agreement for Gaza deal, Qatar says talks in 'final stages'
Initial Gaza deal to free 33 Israelis, 1000 Palestinian prisoners
Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, officials say
Blinken will make a case for post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza
ICC chief prosecutor wants Israeli objections over Netanyahu warrant to be rejected
Israeli foreign minister sees a majority in government to support Gaza agreement
Israel army says intercepted missile fired from Yemen
Israelis, Gazans anxiously awaiting truce deal
Palestinian health ministry says Israeli air strike kills 6 in West Bank
Egypt’s El-Sisi, Biden discuss Gaza ceasefire, hostages-for-prisoners swap deal, Egypt presidency says
Emirati observation satellite launches successfully from California
Iran, European countries to continue talks over Tehran's nuclear programme, report says

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on January 14-15/2025
Dr.Walid Phares/MY LETTER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP
Qatar's Al-Jazeera, Bullhorn for the Muslim Brotherhood, Promotes Jihad, Radical Islam, Terrorism. Even Israelis and Palestinians Agree!/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/January 14, 2025
Did the Crusaders Spoil ‘Five Centuries of Peaceful Coexistence’ with Islam?/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/January 14, 2025
Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained/BBC/January 14, 2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 13-14/2025
Elias Bejjani/ Text and Video: The Appointment of Joseph Aoun as President and the Designation of Nawaf Salam to Form the Government Confirm Lebanon's Chapter VII Status and the Irreversibility of the International and Regional Decision to End Iran's Era and Uproot its Proxies
Elias Bejjani/ January 14, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/01/139023/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th3fzcFxJjw&t=2s
Today in Lebanon, Judge Nawaf Salam was tasked to for a new government, the first under President Joseph Aoun's tenure. His designation was unexpected, as until the early hours of the morning, Najib Mikati led by a significant margin, with over 73 MPs set to endorse him. However, suddenly, all the calculations Hezbollah was promoting and attempting to impose collapsed. Mikati was decisively defeated, receiving only 9 votes. Had those nine MPs delayed their visit to Baabda Palace by two hours, they would have likely shifted their support to Salam as well. This clearly indicates that most Lebanese MPs are mere puppets controlled by either local or international powers who brought them to parliament and who dictate their decisions.
This MP's puppet-like behavior was also evident during the election of Joseph Aoun as president on January 9, 2025. All MPs, both sovereignist and non-sovereignist, bowed to international and regional dictates, electing Aoun with 99 votes out of 128. Even MPs from Amal and Hezbollah had no candidate after MP, Suleiman Frangieh withdrew. They were seemingly coerced by the Iranian regime, following an Iranian-Saudi agreement, to accept Aoun's presidency in the realm of their recent defeat in the war against Israel and their surrender through the ceasefire agreement. Their attempt to delay the second voting session by two hours to 'negotiate' with Joseph Aoun was a farcical show, merely aimed at saving face and deceiving their base into believing they still hold power.
This same failed theatrical act repeated today when Hezbollah and Nabih Berri tried to postpone their visit to Baabda Palace to choose a prime minister until the next day. However, they backtracked when Nawaf Salam secured the majority, and their candidate, Mikati, failed. After meeting President Joseph Aoun, their parliamentary bloc leader, Mohammad Raad, stated they did not name a candidate and expressed dissatisfaction, implying a coup against the so-called 'national pact.' His comments suggested Hezbollah might boycott and obstruct the government under the pretext of the lack of Shiite representation, based on their distorted interpretation of the pact.
It is evident that Lebanon is currently under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, even if not officially declared. The international and regional communities are actively enforcing its provisions to end Hezbollah's era of terrorism, occupation, bullying, and Iranian influence, aiming to help the Lebanese reclaim their nation, independence, and sovereignty.
As for the 'national pact' that Hezbollah is threatening to use in a bid to sabotage Nawaf Salam's coming government, it constitutionally pertains to balance between Christian and Muslim sects, not political parties. Therefore, Nawaf Salam is legally entitled to appoint Shiite ministers from outside Hezbollah and Amal circles if those parties refuse to participate. This principle was echoed today by dozens of Shiite politicians and journalists opposing Hezbollah's total subservience to Iran's mullahs and its extremist ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih.
We would have preferred patriotic figures like MP Major General Ashraf Rifi, MP Fouad Makhzoumi, or the courageous academic Dr. Saleh Al-Machnouk to e tasked with forming the government. These figures have proven national credibility and experience in public service. Therefore, we see little hope in Nawaf Salam leading Lebanon into the much-needed peace era for the Middle East. His record reflects Arabist, leftist, and pro-Palestinian positions, marked by hostility towards Israel. He has also legally advocated for the resistance narrative against Israel both locally and internationally.
Given his ideological background, it is difficult to imagine Salam supporting the Abraham Accords or Lebanon's integration into peaceful agreements with Israel. Lebanon’s ability to join the Arab and Islamic peace treaties with Israel will be nearly impossible under a prime minister who remains ideologically driven by leftist, Arab nationalist, Nasserist, and pro-Palestinian sentiments.
Who is Nawaf Salam?
Nawaf Salam was born in Beirut on December 15, 1953. He is an international judge who was elected President of the International Court of Justice in February 2024. His name emerged prominently during the 2019 popular uprising and after Saad Hariri's resignation when he was proposed as a neutral compromise candidate, though Hezbollah and Amal rejected him, labeling him a U.S. nominee. Salam has a long history of supporting the Palestinian cause. He was an active member of Fatah and contributed alongside Mahmoud Darwish to drafting Yasser Arafat's famous 1974 UN speech. He holds a Doctorate in Political Science from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and a Master of Laws from Harvard University. He represented Lebanon at the UN between 2007 and 2017. However, despite his distinguished academic qualifications, his hostile stances towards Israel significantly diminishes the chances of his government advancing peace with Israel.

Text & Video: Najib Mikati’s Return As PM Will Doom President Joseph Aoun’s Term, Perpetuate Hezbollah’s Occupation, and Block Reform and Change
Elias Bejjani/January 11/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/01/138949/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-avRPmDoAHs&t=26s
There is no doubt that the sin of designating Mr. Najib Mikati to form the first government under President General Joseph Aoun constitutes a harsh blow to the aspirations of the Lebanese people for reform, change, the implementation of UN resolutions, and the end of Hezbollah’s armed and occupying role. Mikati is not just a traditional politician; he is a corrupt businessman and a prominent figure within the system of corruption and foreign dependency that has driven Lebanon into its current crises during the Syrian occupation, and later under the ongoing Iranian occupation.
It should not be forgotten by anyone in Lebanon or abroad that Mr. Mikati entered politics under the direct sponsorship of the Assad Syrian regime, which ruled Lebanon with iron and fire. He was a financial partner to key Syrian figures like Rami Makhlouf, amassing his vast wealth through influence peddling and shady deals.
His history is filled with corruption cases, from subsidized housing loans redirected for his personal gain, to exploiting banks and public institutions for profit while Lebanon's economy collapsed and poverty rates soared.
Most dangerously, since entering politics, Mikati has never been independent in his stances or decision-making domains. He has always been a tool fully submissive to the dominance of the Syrian and later Iranian occupiers. His repeated appointments as Prime Minister in Lebanon were imposed through the coercion and intimidation of the Syrian regime and later Hezbollah, with his role consistently reduced to a mere puppet rather than a decision-maker.
During the recent military confrontation between the terrorist Hezbollah and Israel, Mikati chose suspicious silence, failing to uphold his responsibilities as Prime Minister. Instead, he echoed Hezbollah’s narratives justifying war and destruction, in blatant collusion against Lebanon’s national interest. This subservience is nothing new. In 2011, Mikati led the so-called “Black Shirts” government, imposed by Hezbollah through force after toppling Prime Minister Hariri’s government while he was meeting the U.S. President in the White House.
Sadly, reinstating Mikati today as the head of the first government under President Joseph Aoun is perfectly described in the Holy Bible: “No one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:16-17)
Lebanon needs courageous, honest, and independent leaders capable of confronting corruption and rescuing the nation from Iranian hegemony and terrorism, not the recycling of figures who lost legitimacy long ago. Additionally, implementing the ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel requires a Prime Minister who is fearless, unwilling to appease Hezbollah, and refuses to engage in deceptive compromises that derail Lebanon's liberation and recovery.
In conclusion, Najib Mikati’s political history is entirely incompatible with the aspirations of President Joseph Aoun’s mission. Meanwhile, we believe strongly that even if there is regional, international, or Arab consensus on his reappointment, this consensus must be rejected, even if it requires the Lebanese people to take to the streets and protest against this disastrous political farce. Mikati’s return to power would only solidify Hezbollah’s occupation, obstruct the implementation of the UN resolutions, sabotage all prospects for reform and change, and simply doom the new presidency from its very inception.

After economic meltdown and war with Israel, Lebanon's new prime minister vows to rebuild
Bassem Mroue/BEIRUT (AP) /January 14, 2025
Lebanon’s prime minister-designate vowed Tuesday to work on building a modern state in the crisis-hit country, saying his priorities will be to rebuild the destruction caused by a yearlong war with Israel and work on pulling the small nation out of its historic economic meltdown. Nawaf Salam spoke after meeting with Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun, who himself took office last week. With the nomination of Salam and confirmation of Aoun, Lebanon, which has been run by a caretaker administration, now has a new government in waiting for the first time in two years. After the meeting, Salam said he will not marginalize any side in Lebanon, an apparent reference to the Hezbollah militant group, which in past years opposed his appointment as prime minister and this year indicated its preference for another candidate. Hezbollah has been weakened by its 14-month war with Israel, which ended in late November when a U.S.-brokered 60-day ceasefire went into effect. The war left 4,000 people dead and more than 16,000 wounded and caused destruction totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Salam, who is currently the head of the International Court of Justice, said that he will work on spreading the state’s authority on all parts of the country. On Monday he won the support of a majority of legislators, after which Aoun formally asked him to form a new government. Over the past years, Hezbollah and its allies have blocked Salam from becoming prime minister, casting him as a U.S.-backed candidate. “The time has come to say, enough. Now is the time to start a new chapter,” Salam said adding that people in Lebanon have suffered badly because of “the latest brutal Israeli aggression on Lebanon and because of the worst economic crisis and financial policies that made the Lebanese poor.” Decades of corruption and political paralysis have left Lebanon’s banks barely functional, while electricity services are almost entirely in the hands of private diesel-run generator owners and fuel suppliers. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further battered the economy, and the Beirut port explosion, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded, badly damaged several neighborhoods in the heart of the capital. Salam vowed to fully implement the U.N. Security Council resolution related to the Israel-Hezbollah war which states that Israel should withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah should not have an armed presence close to the border with Israel. The premier added that he will work on spreading state authority on all parts of Lebanon through “its forces." Salam said he will work on putting a program to build a modern economy that would help the country of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, out of its economic crisis that exploded into protests in October 2019. Since the economic crisis began, successive governments have done little to implement reforms demanded by the international community that would lead to the release of billions of dollars of investments and loans by foreign donors. “Both my hands are extended to all of you so that we all move forward in the mission of salvation, reforms and reconstruction,” Salam said. Neither Salam nor Aoun, an army commander who was elected president last week, is considered part of the political class the ruled the country after the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

Salam vows to 'rescue, reform and rebuild' crisis and war-hit Lebanon
Agence France Presse/Associated Press
Lebanon's new prime minister pledged Tuesday to extend state authority over all Lebanese soil after a November ceasefire ended a war between Hezbollah and Israel. Nawaf Salam, in his first speech, said he would "extend the authority of the Lebanese state across all its territory" and "work seriously to completely implement U.N. resolution 1701" calling for Hezbollah to withdraw from south Lebanon. Hezbollah and its ally Amal did not back Salam's nomination and Hezbollah described his appointment Monday as "an ambush" aimed at "disintegration, partitioning, elimination and exclusion."Salam vowed to unite the Lebanese and to reach out to all sides across the political spectrum to help "rescue, reform and rebuild" his crisis-hit country. "I'm not an advocate of exclusion but rather unity and my hands are extended to everyone so that no citizen feels marginalized," Salam said after a meeting in Baabda with President Joseph Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri. Salam vowed to work on building a modern state, saying his priorities will be to rebuild the destruction caused by the yearlong war with Israel and work on pulling the small nation out of its historic economic meltdown. He added that he'll work to achieve justice for the port blast victims and fairness for depositors who lost their money during the unprecedented economic crisis. Decades of corruption and political paralysis have left Lebanon’s banks barely functional, while electricity services are almost entirely in the hands of private diesel-run generator owners and fuel suppliers. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further battered the economy, and the Beirut port explosion, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded, badly damaged several neighborhoods in the heart of the capital. Salam said he will work on putting a program to build a modern economy that would help the country of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, out of its economic crisis that exploded into protests in October 2019. Since the economic crisis began, successive governments have done little to implement reforms demanded by the international community that would lead to the release of billions of dollars of investments and loans by foreign donors. "Both my hands are extended to all of you so that we all move forward in the mission of salvation, reforms and reconstruction," Salam said. "The time has come to say, enough. Now is the time to start a new chapter," Salam said, adding that people in Lebanon have suffered badly because of "the latest brutal Israeli aggression on Lebanon and because of the worst economic crisis and financial policies that made the Lebanese poor."Neither Salam nor Aoun, an army commander who was elected president last week, is considered part of the political class that ruled the country after the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

PM-designate Salam extends hand to Hezbollah, aims to rebuild Lebanon
Laila Bassam/Reuters/January 14, 2025
Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam said on Tuesday his hands were "extended to everyone", in a gesture to the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group that accused opponents of seeking to exclude it by nominating him for the post. President Joseph Aoun formally designated Salam, who has been serving as presiding judge at the International Court of Justice, to form the next government on Tuesday, after he won the backing of a majority of lawmakers the previous day. Salam's nomination has reflected a dramatic shift in the power balance in Lebanon, a result of the heavy blows dealt to Hezbollah in last year's war with Israel, compounded by the ousting last month of its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad. It follows last week's election of Aoun, the former head of the Lebanese army who has U.S. and Saudi support. Speaking after the meeting, Salam said he was committed to rebuilding from last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah, and that it was time for "a new chapter" in Lebanon "rooted in justice, security, progress and opportunities". Reconstruction "requires the full implementation of (U.N.) Resolution 1701 and all provisions of the ceasefire agreement and the imposition of the enemy’s complete withdrawal from the last occupied inch of our lands", he said, referring to Israel. Hezbollah had wanted outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati to keep the job, and believed this had been secured under the terms of a political understanding by which its lawmakers endorsed Aoun as president last week, Hezbollah sources say. But Salam emerged with the endorsement of 84 out of parliament's 128 lawmakers, among them Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslim MPs, including both Hezbollah allies and opponents.
ANOTHER SECTARIAN RIFT?
Hezbollah and the allied Shi'ite Amal Movement, which together hold all seats in parliament reserved for Shi'ite Muslims, endorsed nobody, and have indicated they do not intend to join Salam's government. This raises the prospect of a fresh sectarian rift - unless he can convince them otherwise.
Salam said he supported unity and was against exclusion. "This is my sincere call and both my hands are extended to everyone," he said. Aoun, in comments published on the presidency's X feed, said Salam's nomination was "a democratic process" while appearing to acknowledge Hezbollah's concern, saying that "if one group is broken, all of Lebanon is broken". Hezbollah had long held decisive sway over such appointments, its role underpinned by the powerful arsenal which critics say has undermined the state and unilaterally dragged Lebanon into regional wars.
Under Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, the presidency goes to a Maronite Christian, the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament must be a Shi'ite. Salam said he would work for justice for victims of the 2020 Beirut port explosion. No senior official has been held to account for the blast, which killed at least 220 people and arose from the detonation of hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate. He also said he would work for justice for depositors whose savings have been frozen inside the Lebanese financial system since it collapsed in 2019, the result of decades of corruption and waste by the ruling elite. "We have wasted many opportunities to build the state. Enough wasted opportunities," he said.

Nawaf Salam to begin consultations to form Lebanese government
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/January 14, 2025
BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam will begin non-binding parliamentary consultations on Wednesday and Thursday to form his government despite Hezbollah’s concerns about being excluded and doubts over the issue of legitimacy. Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, have consistently adopted this approach during their periods in power to obstruct anything that does not align with their political ambitions. Both President Joseph Aoun and Salam on Tuesday sought to reassure all parties in Lebanon despite the appointment of Salam lacking any Shiite parliamentary votes for him.
According to a political observer, there are fears of “potential obstacles to forming the government and granting it parliamentary confidence under the pretext of ‘lacking legitimacy,’ even if the cabinet includes Shiite figures in ministerial positions that may not meet their approval.”
Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, took an antagonistic stance after meeting with Aoun on Monday, stating that favoring Salam for the premiership over Najib Mikati, the incumbent caretaker prime minister supported by Hezbollah, is “an attempt by some to foster division, fragmentation, and exclusion.”He warned: “It is our right to demand a government that upholds the national pact. We will monitor developments wisely and see their actions to expel Israel from southern Lebanon and return the prisoners.”In response, the president, speaking before the highest Shiite religious authority in Lebanon, Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib, vice president of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, who visited him at the presidential palace, stressed that “no obstacles should be placed in the way of forming the government because we must seize the significant opportunities ahead of us. There is no time to waste, and we need to send positive messages abroad that Lebanon is capable of self-governance, transparent reconstruction, and building the state we all aspire to.”
Aoun emphasized that “the Shiites are not the only ones under threat; all of Lebanon is at risk. If one component is weakened, the entire country is weakened.” He described the appointment of Salam to form the government as “the result of a democratic process that led to a certain outcome. There are additional phases to come. At times, we may have to take a step back, but the public interest remains the priority.”Aoun said that “any attack on any part of Lebanon is an attack on all of Lebanon. We are pressing for Israeli withdrawal and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south.”
The president continued: “Had there been a state and an army in the past, no one would have resorted to resistance.
“The current phase is different. The state bears responsibility, not just a single faction. The entire state and the Lebanese people as a whole are accountable."
He said that it is “not permissible for one group to bear the burden of this conflict (with Israel).” Aoun recalled the position of Imam Musa Al-Sadr, who advocated for Lebanon’s neutrality in conflicts, noting that Lebanon, given its size, lacks the capacity to engage. He addressed Sheikh Al-Khatib, saying: “You cannot distance yourselves from the teachings of Imam Al-Sadr; otherwise, you will not belong to the Supreme Islamic Shia Council or the Shiite community. Rest assured that no one will overpower anyone, no one will let anyone down, and no one will break anyone.”Salam returned from The Hague late on Monday, shortly after being handed the responsibility of forming the government.
On Tuesday he met with the president and, for a brief period, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri joined the meeting. According to protocol, Salam delivered his first address to the Lebanese people from the presidential palace, stating his “commitment to the challenging task of serving Lebanon.”
Salam said: “I listened to some concerns yesterday. I am not one of those who exclude or marginalize anyone; rather, I advocate for unity and national partnership, and my hands are extended to all to initiate reforms so that no citizen feels marginalized.” He added: “The time has come to begin a new chapter rooted in justice, security, progress and opportunities for Lebanon to be a country of free people equal in rights and duties … working to extend the authority of the state over all its territories.”Salam emphasized the need for the government “to formulate a comprehensive program aimed at fostering a productive economy and ensuring job opportunities for future generations.”
He said: “A significant portion of our population still have their homes destroyed, as well as their institutions, and we must rebuild the villages in the Bekaa, the south and Beirut. Reconstruction is not just a promise but a commitment.”He also underscored the importance of executing the Taif Agreement, saying: “The foundation of the long-anticipated reforms lies in addressing the provisions of the Taif Agreement that remain unfulfilled and rectifying those that have been implemented.”
Salam called for “the establishment of extensive administrative decentralization, delivering justice to the victims of the port explosion, and compensating depositors who have suffered financial losses.”
He said: “I will guarantee that no citizen experiences feelings of injustice, marginalization, or exclusion.”
Furthermore, Salam highlighted the urgent need to focus on “the complete implementation of Resolution 1701 and the terms of the ceasefire agreement, reinforcing the state’s authority across all its territories, and ensuring the withdrawal of the Israeli army from every part of Lebanon.”
The French Foreign Ministry congratulated Salam on his appointment, wishing him “every success in carrying out his mission, at this historic time for Lebanon. France very much hopes that a strong government, capable of bringing Lebanon together in all its diversity, may be formed as soon as possible to carry out the reforms essential for the recovery of Lebanon and its state, to allow the return of prosperity for the Lebanese people and the restoration of Lebanon’s security and sovereignty throughout its territory. “The Lebanese premier will be able to count on France’s full support in its missions, to the benefit of all Lebanese people,” the ministry added. Lebanon’s grand mufti, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, said that “facilitating the task of the designated prime minister to form a comprehensive national government composed of experts and qualified individuals is a national duty.”
After his meeting with Sheikh Derian, Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Al-Bukhari said: “The Kingdom will always stand by Lebanon and its people.”
He expressed his “satisfaction with the completion of the presidential elections and parliamentary consultations, which promote unity among the Lebanese people and steer Lebanon toward a renaissance both economically and developmentally, in order to pave the way for the reform process and restore the trust of the Arab and international communities.” Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes resumed their incursions into Lebanese airspace, particularly over Beirut and the southern suburbs. On Tuesday, the Lebanese army raided the Sadiq compound in Al-Aamroussieh after receiving reports of weapons and ammunition stored underground. But after searching the area — previously targeted by Israel — the army found no weapons or ammunition.

Top Shiite cleric tells Aoun 'weapons not sacred'
Naharnet/January 14, 2025
Higher Islamic Shiite Council leader Sheikh Ali al-Khatib on Tuesday called for “consolidating national unity and building the state upon citizenship and equality among citizens,” during a meeting in Baabda with President Joseph Aoun. “Had there been sovereignty and a strong state that defends its people’s dignity, we would not have needed all this debate about the issue of weapons, which are not sacred to us. What is sacred is the country’s unity and the people’s dignity, security and stability,” Khatib added. “What we want, like the rest of the Lebanese, is stability and the absence of sectarian conflicts and quota sharing in the state, which is the root of decay,” the Shiite leader said. He added that Shiites have never had and will not have in the future a “private political project in the region.” “These were political accusations aimed at creating political alignments,” he said. “We have great hope in you and high confidence in your performance,” Khatib added, addressing President Aoun.

Aoun urges no govt. formation obstacles, says state responsible for facing Israel
Naharnet/January 14, 2025
President Joseph Aoun noted Tuesday that “Shiites are not the only ones threatened, but rather entire Lebanon,” reiterating that “if one of us loses, we all lose.”“We have very big opportunities that we must seize together and there is no time to waste,” Aoun told a delegation from the Higher Islamic Shiite Council led by Sheikh Ali al-Khatib. “Reconstruction is necessary and this is the first item on my agenda and one of the reasons that pushes me to speed up the government’s formation, so that I begin visiting foreign nations to ask for assistance in reconstruction,” the president added. Accordingly, he said that no “obstacles” should be put in the way of the government formation process. “Any attack on any spot in Lebanon is an attack on entire Lebanon and we are pressing for Israeli withdrawal and the army’s deployment in the south,” Aoun said. He added that disappeared imam Moussa al-Sadr had “tried to distance Lebanon from conflicts because Lebanon with its size does not possess the capabilities.”“Unfortunately, had there been a state back then, he would not have been forced to become the imam of the resistance,” Aoun said. “Had there been a state and an army, no one would have resorted to resistance. Today the phase is different and the state is responsible, not a single component. The entire state and the entire Lebanese people are responsible. It is not acceptable that a single component bear the burden of this conflict, seeing as all Lebanese must take part in bearing its burden,” the president added.
Promising that he will work to secure the release of the Hezbollah fighters that Israel has been holding captive since the latest war, Aoun reassured the Shiite delegation that “no one will defeat anyone, no one will let down anyone and no one will break anyone.”He added that the appointment of Nawaf Salam as PM-designate on Monday was the result of “a democratic process that led to a certain result.”

Salam to hold govt. formation consultations Wednesday and Thursday
Naharnet/January 14, 2025
Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam’s non-binding parliamentary consultations for forming a new government will be held in parliament on Wednesday and Thursday , Parliament’s Secretariat-General said. Salam will meet with the parliamentary blocs on Wednesday from 10:00 am until around 6:00 pm and will meet with the independent MPs on Thursday from 10:00 am until around 6:45 pm, the Secretariat-General said in a statement. Salam said Tuesday that he will not marginalize any side in Lebanon, an apparent reference to Hezbollah, which in past years opposed his appointment as prime minister and this year indicated its preference for another candidate. Salam, who is currently the head of the International Court of Justice, said that he will work on spreading the state’s authority on all parts of the country. On Monday he won the support of a majority of legislators, after which President Joseph Aoun formally asked him to form a new government. Over the past years, Hezbollah and its allies have blocked Salam from becoming prime minister, casting him as a U.S.-backed candidate. “The time has come to say, enough. Now is the time to start a new chapter,” Salam said adding that people in Lebanon have suffered badly because of “the latest brutal Israeli aggression on Lebanon and because of the worst economic crisis and financial policies that made the Lebanese poor.”“Both my hands are extended to all of you so that we all move forward in the mission of salvation, reforms and reconstruction,” Salam said.
Neither Salam nor Aoun, an army commander who was elected president last week, is considered part of the political class the ruled the country after the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

Macron says new Lebanon PM represents 'hope for change'
Agence France Presse/January 14, 2025
France on Monday hailed the appointment of Nawaf Salam as Lebanon's new prime minister, saying he had the will to help the war-scarred country emerge from its deep economic crisis. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun picked Salam, the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice, as prime minister.
"A hope for change is rising," France's President Emmanuel Macron said on X, wishing him "success in forming a government in the service of all Lebanese people".A majority of Lebanese lawmakers endorsed Salam to form a government for a country whose economy has been battered by the conflicts engulfing its neighbors. Lebanon has been managed by a caretaker government for the past two years, and Salam's backers hope he can reduce the militant group Hezbollah's domination of Lebanese politics and strengthen the central government. Macron's office said Salam was "recognized for his integrity and his skills". He "has already expressed in the past his desire to lead the reforms that the Lebanese and the international community expect to put Lebanon back on the path to restoring its sovereignty and the reforms necessary for the economic recovery of the country". Macron's office said he hoped Salam's government could be both "strong" and "represent all the diversity of the Lebanese people". The agreement on a new prime minister "opens extremely promising prospects" to overcome Lebanon's financial crisis, it said. "It is about rebuilding trust and we are in a framework that will allow us to reassure international donors, carry out the expected reforms and build a financing framework," the French presidency said. Macron is expected to visit Lebanon shortly to show his support for the new leadership. He has recently also spoken to Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, to Najib Mikati, the outgoing prime minister, and to Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze community.

France’s Macron to visit Lebanon this week
AFP/January 14, 2025
BEIRUT: French leader Emmanuel Macron is slated to visit Lebanon on Friday, both countries said, in the second such trip by a head of state since Lebanon elected a president last week. The office of new Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he met with the French ambassador to Beirut on Tuesday to discuss preparations for Macron’s visit. Macron’s office confirmed the date. The trip comes after Lebanese lawmakers on Thursday elected Aoun president after two years of the position being vacant, under international pressure including from former colonial power France. On Monday, Aoun named judge and diplomat Nawaf Salam as prime minister, giving him the tricky task of forming a cabinet to save the nation from five years of blistering economic crisis. Macron’s office said the French president hoped to mark “the unwavering commitment of France to support Lebanon, its sovereignty and unity.”Macron visited the country twice after a massive explosion at Beirut’s port in 2020 killed more than 220 people and decimated half the city. His latest trip comes after a ceasefire in November, announced by Macron and US President Joe Biden, ended two months of all-out war between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Under that deal, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws. At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the country’s south. A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates, alongside a representative from UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL, has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the deal. “The trip will also be the occasion to work on the implementation of the ceasefire... and to reiterate France’s commitment toward this within UNIFIL,” his office said. Macron said on Monday said Salam’s appointment of Salam represented “hope for change” in Lebanon. Macron’s office said he hoped Salam’s government could be both “strong” and “represent all the diversity of the Lebanese people.” A Paris conference on aid for Lebanon in October raised around $800 million for humanitarian aid in the Mediterranean country.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon hopes president election will 'kick-start reforms'
Naharnet/January 14, 2025
The Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert welcomed the election of Joseph Aoun as Lebanon’s new President, expressing hope that it would act as "the kick-start Lebanon desperately needs for institution-strengthening and the enactment of critical reforms". Noting the steep drop-off in violence following the entry into force of the cessation of hostilities on 27 November, Hennis-Plasschaert relayed Monday that some progress was being made with respect to Israeli withdrawal from and Lebanese redeployment to positions in southern Lebanon, while adding that more works needed to be done. She further stressed that, with two-thirds of the 60-day period outlined in the 27 November understanding lapsed, "we are in the final, and therefore, most critical, stage". As such, Hennis-Plasschaert called on all parties to ensure that the "clock does not run out" without a "common and clear understanding of where things stand, or how to manage expectations". In parallel, and recalling that inaction following the 2006 conflict had led only to a new cycle of violence and devastation, the Special Coordinator stressed the need to also look beyond the 60 days, in order to begin the tough discussions on "how resolution 1701, this time around, will be implemented on both sides of the Blue Line, and, in Lebanon, beyond both banks of the Litani river". In a context of persistent humanitarian needs, the Special Coordinator stressed that the Flash Appeal, which she noted had been extended to cover the period January to March 2025, was in need of a "major boost" in support. Moreover, she expressed hope that the recent presidential election would allow resources for recovery and reconstruction to "start immediately flowing into Lebanon".

Geagea calls on Hezbollah to send arms to Iran, sell them or give them to army
Naharnet/January 14, 2025
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has responded to the remarks that MP Mohammad Raad voiced Monday at the Baabda Palace, saying there was no “exclusion” in the designation of Nawaf Salam as premier. “Where was the exclusion? It is known that the PM post belongs to the Sunnis in Lebanon and the two candidates for the post were from this sect and the MPs names their candidates without any pressures. The word exclusion can be said when a certain sect interferes in a post belonging to another sect,” Geagea explained in an interview on Al-Arabiya’s Al-Hadath channel. “The structure of the Lebanese state reflects a consensus process, but it is not necessary to tackle every issue through consensus. What Raad said about coexistence is also out of context, seeing as exclusion can be true if PM-designate Nawaf Salam decides to form the new government without the Shiite sect,” Geagea added. Stressing that the unwritten 1943 National Pact stipulates the representation of the Christian and Muslim religious communities and not every sect belonging to them, the LF leader noted that Salam’s designation would have violated the National Pact had no Muslim MP voted for him. “The president and the premier must ask Hezbollah about the fate of its arms, to see if they want to send them to Iran, sell them or hand them over to the Lebanese Army, and then a new phase would begin, which would be in the interest of all Lebanese, specifically Hezbollah’s environment, seeing as there can be no leniency with these arms,” Geagea went on to say. As for the deliberations that led to Salam’s nomination, Geagea said the so-called Change MPs were behind the selection. “We secured the votes of 35 MPs for MP (Fouad) Makhzoumi, whereas some Change MPs secured 17 votes for Nawaf Salam and refused to vote for Makhzoumi. In the face of that situation and for the sake of Lebanon, we chose to endorse Judge Salam, and had it not been for this move, (caretaker PM Najib) Mikati would have become premier anew,” Geagea explained.Noting that recovering the money of depositors is one of the priorities of the Lebanese Forces, Geagea said the first topic that he will discuss with the new premier will be the case of the Beirut port explosion and “the need to resume investigations with all due transparency.”

Bassil says Salam's victory 'made in Lebanon'
Naharnet/January 14, 2025
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said that his bloc voted for Nawaf Salam in the binding consultations to pick a new PM due to his “reformist characteristics” and “the presence of consensus over him.” In remarks to LBCI television, Bassil reminded that he had communicated with Salam in the past and that the FPM had voted for him in previous PM consultations. “We want to see reassurance that his appointment will not be a provocation against anyone, but rather aimed at building a state and carrying out reforms,” Bassil added. “Our first choice was Nawaf Salam, but this does not mean that we would not have agreed to several candidates, such as Fouad Makhzoumi,” Bassil went on to say, noting that “Lebanese dynamics produced a premier who is ‘made in Lebanon.’”As for the new government, Bassil said that it must comprise competent experts who also represent their communities in order for the government to win parliament’s confidence. He also said that “there is no intention to marginalize the Shiite sect” and that “there are neither victors nor losers.”

Lebanon’s new dawn
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 14/ 2025
After Damascus, Beirut now celebrates a new era with the election of a president, a position that Hezbollah had obstructed, leaving the post vacant since October 2022. This new phase in Lebanon concludes 50 years of regional exploitation of this small country, the second-smallest Arab state in terms of area.
For decades, Lebanon has been a hub for regional conflicts involving Nasserism, Saddamism, the Assad regime and Iranian influence. It was forced to be the sole front with Israel after the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian fronts were closed. The situation is now returning to balance after Iran’s influence was eliminated and the Assad regime removed. Thus, international demands have finally been met, paving the way for political and commercial dealings with Beirut. Local battles among Lebanese factions will persist, but as long as they remain without gunfire they will not be the concern of other countries and will be left to internal settlements within Lebanon’s complex governance framework.Following the successful resolution of the presidency, a series of changes is anticipated. Joseph Aoun was elected president through a successful “cesarean” process, facilitated by Arab and international forces. The Americans threatened to halt economic support from any source and Israeli drones continued to circle overhead, leveraging the context of war and political vacuum.
It is no longer possible or permissible to coerce MPs into voting against their will, as Hezbollah and the Assad regime once did.
During the deliberations, an Iranian diplomat’s luggage was searched at Beirut Airport and the prohibited contents were confiscated and publicly exposed. On the land border, Lebanese security handed over dozens of wanted Syrian officers to the new regime in Damascus. Inside parliament, it is no longer possible or permissible to coerce MPs into voting against their will, as Hezbollah and the Assad regime once did. Regardless, Iran is now part of the past. While Hezbollah remains, efforts to dismantle much of its arsenal will continue under the ceasefire agreement with Israel. The latest war will be the last conflict with Israel conducted via Lebanon. Amid the evolving circumstances, we will witness further developments and new hopes. Lebanon’s commercial activity, disrupted by the Syrian war and constrained by Hezbollah and Bashar Assad’s drug-smuggling operations, will find open markets once again.
The country will also be able to activate the energy production agreement relating to its maritime border with Israel and bring an end to the remaining land border disputes fabricated by the Assad regime after Israel’s withdrawal from the south in 2000. This was used to justify the “Iranian-Syrian resistance” under the pretext of liberating the “occupied Shebaa Farms.” Sovereign states in the region have realized that ending the state of war with Israel serves their national security interests.
;Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David Accords, closing the Egyptian front, followed by King Hussein of Jordan with the Wadi Araba agreement. Even Hafez Assad preceded them by signing the Disengagement Agreement in 1974, which effectively became a peace treaty lasting 50 years.
Sovereign states in the region have realized that ending the state of war with Israel serves their national security interests
Some Lebanese argue for the need for something beyond a ceasefire — an internationally guaranteed permanent agreement to prevent the return of war in the name of resistance. In his inaugural speech, the new president hinted: “We will discuss a comprehensive defense strategy on the diplomatic, economic and military levels.”Lebanon may not yet have recovered sufficiently to take such a bold step and end its use as a battleground for Syria, Palestinian organizations or Iran. However, Lebanon can build on the Naqoura Agreement it signed with Israel in 1949. Based on this, both countries recognized each other’s borders and agreed to abstain from military actions by “regular and irregular forces.” In reality, peace agreements protect Arab states, not Israel, which is always militarily superior to them. These agreements also safeguard Arab states’ rights to their lands and resources amid the shifting dynamics of conflict with Israel and other regional powers. This matter is best left to the Lebanese at the appropriate time. It is likely that the last war convinced even the remaining factions — such as Hezbollah’s popular base, which bore the greatest cost — that ending the wars is in their best interest.
What do others want from Lebanon? In his inaugural speech, President Aoun stated that Lebanon would not rely on external forces and would export only its best products and focus on its economy.

Unpacking the implications of Lebanon’s presidential election
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 14/ 2025
The past week will be a turning point for Lebanon by all measures. Observers agree that this was no ordinary presidential election and not only because it ended a long-standing presidential vacuum that reflected a systemic political crisis. The election of Army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun, who received a comfortable majority in the second round of parliamentary voting, ended an aberration that could have forcibly been normalized if it were not for the recent shifts in the Levant. It is natural for people everywhere to yearn for liberation from forces that exercise power de facto, shape their destiny and control their national resources, be they foreign powers, police states or sectarian militias. All three forms of these forces have dominated both Lebanon and Syria for decades. A major non-Arab regional power backed an Arab police state to provide the sectarian militia under its command with a “base” and “depth.” As is well known, this arrangement also suited another regional power, Israel, for a long time. The latter saw no threat emanating from the opportunistic structure that had been created. In fact, this arrangement served Israel’s broader strategic interests.
Stirring ethnic, religious and sectarian tensions in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, as well as Palestine, had been a great service to the “Israeli condition” in the region. This state of affairs contrasted starkly with the boisterous rhetoric about “liberating Jerusalem,” “resistance,” “defiance,” “steadfastness” and “confrontation,” which were little more than empty slogans in a tired refrain. It was believed that the situation in the region was acceptable as long as unspoken rules and limits were not crossed. More than that, it was understood that the major players in the international community believed that the situation in the region was acceptable as long as unspoken rules and limits were not crossed by the non-Arab regional actors. That is, global powers, led by the US, recognized and accepted the interests and ambitions of Israel, Iran and Turkiye, so long as the power struggles remained controlled and containable.
However, these rules began to falter as a result of shifts in each of these countries in recent years. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu built his government in partnership with radical right-wing settlers to escape prosecution. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps broadened Iran’s ambitions under the watchful eye of the Biden administration. Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan reinforced an Islamic-nationalist alliance to push back against the threat posed by Kurdish separatists.
In Arab countries, the traditional boundaries shifted following the so-called Arab Spring, which Bashar Assad failed to grasp or address prudently. His regime’s mistakes multiplied as the interests of Russia and Iran, without whose support he would not have survived for so long, further diverged.
And suddenly, in the fall of 2023, Hamas threw the first stone into these still waters through the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, which left most observers and analysts scrambling. They all struggled to understand the rationale behind the attack, especially since Israel’s far-right, expansionist government had been actively seeking a pretext to set the entire region alight. It was essential that the president be a unifying and institutionalist figure trusted both domestically and internationally
Affirming Iran’s helping hand, if not outright incitement of the attack (though there is no definitive proof), Hezbollah joined the fray, launching a suicidal “support war” that led to the leveling of dozens of Shiite towns and villages across Lebanon, not to mention Beirut’s southern suburbs. Moreover, Israel killed Hezbollah’s political and military top brass in the assault, including Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. The crushing defeat suffered by Iran’s most powerful proxy in the region shook its military influence in Syria. Simultaneously, tensions between Moscow, which was also busy with the complexities of the war in Ukraine, and Tehran, which found itself unsettled by the US Democrats’ loss to a Republican who supports Israel’s far-right hard-liners, began rising to the surface. Against this backdrop, the front in northwestern Syria began to shift following a campaign launched from Idlib. Within three days, the Assad regime, which had been dominant in Syria since the autumn of 1970 and in Lebanon since 1976, collapsed with practically no resistance. Following the collapse of Tehran’s influence and the downfall of the regime in Damascus, Lebanon found a renewed sense of self-confidence. The time had come for all Lebanese to unite, save their country and secure its future. This optimism was further bolstered by serious Arab and international support for rebuilding Lebanon’s state institutions, economy, security and role in the region, starting with an end to the presidential vacuum.
It was essential that the president be a unifying and institutionalist figure trusted both domestically and internationally. Accordingly, it was not a difficult choice. The Lebanese army under Aoun’s leadership was the only national state institution that had remained intact and avoided fragmentation and collapse.
Moreover, Aoun himself commands the respect of both Arab and international actors. The backing of these foreign powers, along with the unity of the Lebanese people, will be crucial for Lebanon in the coming days as the regional formulas and maps are redrawn.

The One Who Elected Joseph Aoun Is Joseph Aoun
Henry Zgheib/ Arab Markets/January 14/2025
(Free Translation by: Elias Bejjani)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/01/139061/
He declared with a powerful voice: "Lebanon is as old as history, our people are united, and our identity is Lebanese."
He continued, exuding authority: "We cherish creativity as a vital expression of life, and we are rooted in our land as a sanctuary of freedom."
He spoke with unwavering confidence: "Our courage, our resilience—we dream, and we make those dreams reality."
This is a president who understands the dream of leading Lebanon—a homeland eternal in history, marching through time, and radiant with the brilliance of its immortal creators.
Having affirmed his profound understanding of Lebanon's civilization, the president outlined his vision for the nation's leadership, grounded in a "commitment to positive neutrality" and detailed further in his presidential program widely circulated in the media.
He spoke not merely with the formality of a leader but with the resolve of a statesman, the determination of a ruler, and the conviction of one committed to reshaping a political landscape corrupted by the ruling elite in recent years. His words were not just an inauguration speech—they were a solemn pledge to the Lebanese people and to history itself.
Joseph Aoun's character—disciplined, uncompromising since his days as Commander of the Lebanese Army—is precisely why both domestic and international powers deemed him fit to lead, placing their trust in his actions aligning with his words. His election was not the product of coercion, appointment, or favoritism but rather the result of his own merit, compelling those forces to believe in his leadership. Indeed, the one who elected Joseph Aoun was Joseph Aoun himself—a leader of strength and a voice of truth, standing apart from the corrupt political class that crucified Lebanon while falsely claiming to rescue it.
No other candidate matched his commanding presence. He did not campaign with words but carried the silent prestige of the army—an unwavering figure whose silence spoke louder than speeches. It was his stature that compelled voices to call for his leadership in a parliamentary session destined to be historic. Attempts to obstruct his rise through constitutional pretexts and article interpretations will fail. General Joseph Aoun's leadership was imposed by his qualities, drawing support from those who recognized that his strength could save Lebanon. Thus, he elected himself at the ballot box.
This is a president who will focus on the state's geographical and demographic challenges while also reviving Lebanon's creative legacy in thought, culture, and the arts. He will attract talented Lebanese from within and abroad, uniting them in a collective effort to restore Lebanon to its rightful place—a nation that will outshine the temporary matters of state with the eternal glow of its cultural brilliance.
This is a president who will govern the affairs of the state while preserving the immortality of the homeland.
His mark, Joseph Aoun, is that he dares.
**Henry Zgheib is a Lebanese poet, writer, and journalist. He is the Director of the Heritage Center at the Lebanese American University. You can contact him via e-mail: email@henrizoghaib.com or follow him on his website: www.henrizoghaib.com or on platform (X): @HenriZoghaib

With No Power or Constitutional Authority, Lebanon’s New President Won’t Disarm Hezbollah
David Daoud/Haaretz/January 14/2025
After two years of deadlock, the proverbial white smoke has emerged from Lebanon’s parliament in Beirut’s Nejmeh Square. Former Lebanese Armed Forces commander Joseph Aoun has been elected as Lebanon’s fourteenth president – to rare unanimous Lebanese and international acclaim.
Particular attention has been paid to Aoun’s promise, in his inaugural speech, to usher in a sovereigntist “new era” in Lebanon, where, among other matters, “the state would monopolize carrying arms” – interpreted as a promise to disarm Hezbollah. But Aoun’s words remain just that, and optimism over his promises remains premature, not least because he lacks the constitutional authority and powers to fulfill them alone.
Lebanon’s quasi-constitutional 1989 Taif Agreement, which ended the country’s 15-year civil war, redistributed the country’s political powers to reflect demographic developments.
The Agreement stripped the Lebanese Presidency, an office earmarked by custom for a Maronite Christian and the embodiment of Maronite hegemony over Lebanon, of many of its authorities – reflecting the diminution of Maronite numbers. Where, under Lebanon’s Ancien Régime, Aoun could have ordered the Lebanese Armed Forces to disarm Hezbolah, the Taif system granted that authority exclusively to the Cabinet – Lebanon’s true executive power which sets government policy in “all fields” and controls the armed forces.
Fifty-five of 128 Lebanese parliamentarians will reportedly back caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to head the Cabinet, and he is therefore likely to retain the premiership. Mikati has already said, on December 5, that Hezbollah’s arms will be addressed only through “national consensus” and dialogue. Practically, given Hezbollah’s parliamentary representation – fifteen seats – and Lebanon’s now longstanding convention of forming national unity governments, Hezbollah will join the Cabinet.
Hezbollah is also highly popular among Lebanese Shiites, Lebanon’s likely largest and fastest growing sect. It won 356,000 of 1.8 million votes cast in May 2022’s parliamentary elections – the most of any party by 150,000 votes – and January and September 2024 polls found upwards of 85 percent of Lebanese Shiites support the group. Given this support and the sensitivity of the question of Hezbollah’s arms, the Cabinet is unlikely to take any measure against the group without unanimous consent – in other words, asking for Hezbollah’s unlikely permission to disarm the group.
Aoun, who also promised not to overstep his authorities and respect the constitutional separation of powers, is not unlikely to agitate for a contrary course. In fact, Aoun reached his post as a “consensus candidate,” and therefore agitation isn’t in his mandate – much as some would like to imagine its presence. Lebanon in his self-described “new era” is already heavily burdened with reviving its crashed economy and reconstruction after last year’s devastating war with Israel.
Both Aoun and Beirut can therefore ill-afford to carry those burdens while clashing with Hezbollah. At best, the group could respond with paralyzing obstructionism. But if it feels threatened enough, matters could devolve into a civil war. Especially when Lebanon now has little incentive to clash with Hezbollah. With Aoun’s election, American and Western officials intend to increase pressure on Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by January 27 and make the cease-fire between the two countries permanent.
The likelihood of Israel resuming its campaign against Hezbollah has therefore dropped precipitously – meaning its sequel, when it occurs, will not be for at least another decade and will be targeted and relatively short-lived when it does. By contrast, a civil war could last for at least a decade and bring untold destruction upon Lebanon. So the balance of pain weighs against Aoun acting against Hezbollah.
Furthermore, far from being an anti-Hezbollah pugilist, Aoun’s record as army commander demonstrates a history of coordination – if not cooperation – with Hezbollah. He was also elected with Hezbollah’s blessing and, more importantly, with its votes.
The immediate reason leading the group to vote for Aoun was the withdrawal, earlier on election day, of its preferred candidate Sleiman Frangieh – who threw his own backing behind the army commander.
But Hezbollah was less wedded to the person of Frangieh than it was to obstruct the presidential election process. If they could pressure Beirut’s political forces – as they did in 2016 – into electing their preferred candidate, they would have gained an overtly friendly ideological partner as head of state. If not, Hezbollah could at least wear down their opponents into electing an amenable and non-threatening “consensus” president – just like Aoun.
Indeed, Aoun had been reportedly sending Hezbollah (and its ally, the Amal Party) calming messages long before election day. Additionally, according to pro-Hezbollah mouthpiece Al-Akhbar and other Lebanese outlets, Aoun privately met with Hezbollah officials before the election, calming their “security, political, and military concerns,” and promised his presidency would not further the triumphalism of Hezbollah’s opponents.
Hezbollah (and Amal) still declined to vote for him during the first round of votes held on January 9, casting blank ballots instead, to demonstrate their continued hold over Lebanon’s political processes – upon which Aoun met with them again and ultimately gained their votes in the second round of voting.
These reports also indicated that Saudi Arabia and France also granted Hezbollah assurances regarding Aoun, and Iran greenlit its Lebanese extension’s vote for the LAF commander.
Hezbollah also needs funds for reconstruction assistance – vital to keep its supporters happy or at least quiescent. After the drubbing it took from Israel during last year’s war, which included strikes on many of its financial institutions, Hezbollah’s isn’t necessarily broke, but its liquidity is certainly compromised.
Add to this that the group’s Iranian patron – which has nevertheless reportedly sent it $1 billion in aid after the November 27 cease-fire, alongside additional financial assistance from the group’s regional allies – is suffering an unprecedented financial and energy crisis, only likely to worsen as the incoming Trump administration assumes office in Washington.
The only solution for Hezbollah, then, is for the international community to provide the Lebanese State with reconstruction aid, which will then be channeled to rebuilding areas of Lebanon where Hezbollah predominates.
Hence, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem‘s insistence, during his December 5, 2024 speech, that the group would be working “hand in hand with the Lebanese government…supplementing [its reconstruction] assistance and giving the appropriate amounts if we consider that what the government is providing is lacking in some ways.”
But without the election of a president, whose presence is necessary to set the wheels of government in motion, that vital international aid will not be forthcoming.
Lebanon is in a vulnerable state. The destructive war that Hezbollah brought upon the country compounded a five-year financial crisis with few historical precedents – and hit its support base the hardest.
The group cannot be seen as a spoiler as Beirut is trying to regain its footing, and re-open the spigots of international assistance, with the election of Aoun. Hence Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s “Loyalty to the Resistance” parliamentary bloc, saying Hezbollah cast its votes for Aoun to protect “the national consensus.”This is not a sign of Hezbollah “Lebanonizing” as some have groundlessly theorized. To the contrary, the group is seeking to replicate the post-civil war pragmatism that led it to rebrand from the “Islamic Revolution in Lebanon” to “the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon” and participate in the Lebanese political system which, a few years prior, was anathema to the group.
Back then, Hezbollah did so to avoid finding becoming the outlier to the Lebanese consensus. It is acting pragmatically now to do so again, adapting and picking its battles to survive and rebuild.
Aoun will seek to do the same for Lebanon, and will therefore avoid unnecessary clashes with the group. Whatever excitement the election of Lebanon’s new president has elicited in Beirut’s and foreign halls of power, it should be tempered with the sobering realization that President Joseph Aoun, Lebanon’s fourteenth president, is unlikely to oversee or promote Hezbollah’s dissolution.
*David Daoud is Senior Fellow at at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies where he focuses on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 14-15/2025
Hamas accepts draft agreement for Gaza deal, Qatar says talks in 'final stages'
Associated Press/January 14, 2025
Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks said Tuesday. Mediator Qatar said the negotiations were at the "closest point" yet to sealing a deal. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity. An Israeli official said progress has been made, but the details are being finalized. The plan would need to be submitted to the Israeli Cabinet for final approval.
All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. Two Palestinian sources close to Hamas told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first stage of a Gaza truce deal in exchange for 33 hostages.
"Israel will release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including several with lengthy sentences," one of the two sources said. An Israeli government official said that "several hundred terrorists will be released" as part of the first phase of the deal. Negotiations in Doha for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their "final stages" and obstacles had been overcome, mediator Qatar's foreign ministry said on Tuesday. "We do believe that we are at the final stages... certainly we are hopeful that this would lead very soon to an agreement," foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference, adding that "until there is an announcement... we shouldn't be over-excited about what's happening right now". "During the past months, there were underlying issues, major issues between the two parties unresolved. These issues were resolved during the talks in the past couple of weeks, and therefore we have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed," al-Ansari said. The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent the past year trying to mediate an end the 15-month war and secure the release dozens of hostages captured in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered it. Some 100 Israelis are still captive inside Gaza, and the military believes at least a third them are dead. Officials have expressed mounting optimism that they can conclude an agreement ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, whose Mideast envoy has joined the negotiations.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said at a weekly briefing Tuesday that the ongoing negotiations are positive and productive, while declining to get into the details of the sensitive talks. "Today, we are at the closest point ever to having a deal," he said. Hamas, meanwhile, said in a statement that the ongoing negotiations had reached their "final stage."The offensive has reduced large areas of the territory to rubble and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, with hundreds of thousands packed into tent camps along the coast where hunger is widespread.
Israeli strikes across Gaza overnight and into Tuesday killed at least 18 Palestinians, including two women and four children, while Yemen's Houthi rebels fired two missiles at Israel, setting off sirens and sending people racing into shelters. No one was wounded by the projectiles.
A three-phase agreement. The three-phase agreement — based on a framework laid out by U.S. President Joe Biden and endorsed by the U.N. Security Council — would begin with the gradual release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, including women, children, older adults and wounded civilians in exchange for potentially hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Israel.
Among the 33 would be five female Israeli soldiers, each of whom would be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 convicted militants who are serving life sentences. By the end of the first phase, all civilian captives — living or dead — will have been released.
During this first, 42-day phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from population centers, Palestinians would be allowed to start returning to their homes in northern Gaza and there would be a surge of humanitarian aid, with some 600 trucks entering each day.
Details of the second phase still must be negotiated during the first. Those details remain difficult to resolve — and the deal does not include written guarantees that the ceasefire will continue until a deal is reached. That leaves the potential for Israel to resume its military campaign after the first phase ends.
The three mediators, however, have given Hamas verbal guarantees that negotiations will continue as planned and that they will press for a deal to implement the second and third phases before the end of the first, the Egyptian official said. The deal would allow Israel throughout the first phase to remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the band of territory along Gaza's border with Egypt, which Hamas had initially demanded Israel withdraw from. But Israel would pull out from the Netzarim Corridor, a belt across central Gaza where it had sought a mechanism for searching Palestinians for arms when they return to the territory's north. In the second phase, Hamas would release the remaining living captives, mainly male soldiers, in exchange for more prisoners and the "complete withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the draft agreement. But Hamas has said it will not free the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in the past vowed to resume fighting unless Hamas's military and governing capabilities are eliminated. Unless an alternative government for Gaza is worked out in those talks, it could leave Hamas in charge of the territory. In a third phase, the bodies of remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan to be carried out in Gaza under international supervision.
Growing pressure ahead of Trump's inauguration
Israel and Hamas have come under renewed pressure to halt the conflict in the lead-up to Trump's inauguration next week. His Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, recently joined U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators in the Gulf country's capital, Doha. Trump said late Monday that a ceasefire was "very close.""I understand ... there's been a handshake and they are getting it finished -- and maybe by the end of the week," he told the American cable channel Newsmax. Hamas has blamed Israel for the repeated setbacks in the negotiations, saying that on more than one occasion, the militant group had accepted a proposal from mediators only to see Israel reject it or launch a new military operation immediately afterwards. Israel and its close ally the United States have blamed setbacks on Hamas. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted another 250. Around half those hostages were freed during a brief ceasefire in November 2023. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants.
Strikes in Gaza continue
Two strikes in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah overnight and into Tuesday killed two women and their four children, who ranged in age from 1 month to 9 years old. One of the women was pregnant and the baby did not survive, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.
Another 12 people were killed in two strikes on the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the European Hospital. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel says it only targets militants and accuses them of hiding among civilians in shelters and tent camps for the displaced.
Yemeni rebels fire missiles at Israel
The war has rippled across the region, igniting over a year of fighting between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah that ended with a tense ceasefire in November. Israel has also traded direct fire with Iran, which backs Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis. The Israeli military said it made several attempts to intercept the missile launched from Yemen early Tuesday and that "the missile was likely intercepted." It said an earlier missile fired from Yemen was also intercepted. veral homes were damaged outside Jerusalem and released a photo of a missile casing that had crashed into a roof. The Houthis, who captured Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and much of the country's north in 2014, have launched a series of missile and drone attacks on Israel and have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis say they are fighting in solidarity with the Palestinians, but the vast majority of the targeted ships have no connection to the conflict.

Initial Gaza deal to free 33 Israelis, 1000 Palestinian prisoners
Agence France Presse/January 14, 2025
The first phase of a Gaza truce deal being negotiated in Qatar would see 33 Israeli hostages released, sources close to the talks and Israeli media said on Tuesday. Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have intensified efforts to clinch a deal in recent days, with a source briefed on the negotiations telling AFP earlier on Tuesday that a "final round of talks" was due to begin in Doha. Two sources close to the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that an initial swap would involve the release of 33 hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. They are among 94 hostages held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war. This figure includes 34 captives the Israeli military says are dead. The Times of Israel news website, citing Israeli officials familiar with the negotiations, reported that "the first phase of the deal includes 33 humanitarian cases."One of the two sources close to the talks said that the "first stage of the agreement stipulates the release of 33 Israeli hostages in batches, starting with children and women". According to the Times of Israel report, Israeli officials believe that the 33 hostages included in the proposed initial swap are alive.
Israel, however, was awaiting confirmation of their status, the report said. "If the first stage is carried out, then on the 16th day of the deal taking effect, Israel will begin negotiations on a second stage to free the remaining captives," the report said.These include "male soldiers, men of military age and the bodies of slain hostages", it added. Two Palestinian sources close to Hamas told AFP on Tuesday that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the 33 hostages. "Israel will release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including several with lengthy sentences," one of the two sources said. An Israeli government official said that "several hundred terrorists will be released" as part of the first phase of the deal. Last week, Hamas indicated that the group had agreed to release 34 hostages in the first stage of a multi-phase deal. Israeli media also reported on Tuesday that under the proposed deal, Israel would be allowed to maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza during the implementation of the first phase. The Israeli military "is not expected to withdraw from Gaza until all hostages are returned, but it will allow movement of residents from southern Gaza to the north of the strip", said left-leaning newspaper Haaretz. On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden said a ceasefire and hostage release deal was nearly finalized, adding that it was based on a three-phase truce plan he had unveiled in late May. "In the war between Israel and Hamas, we're on the brink of a proposal... finally coming to fruition," Biden said in a farewell speech at the State Department. The key sticking points in talks have been disagreements over the permanence of any ceasefire and the scale of humanitarian aid for Palestinian territory. Other points of contention include the return of displaced Gazans to their homes, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian territory, and the reopening of border crossings. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has firmly rejected a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and has opposed any Palestinian governance of the territory. The ongoing of talks in Qatar are being conducted with Hamas and Israeli negotiations present in two separate rooms, according to a source familiar with talks. Any deal would likely require the approval of the Israeli cabinet, according to media reports.

Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, officials say
Samy Magdy And Wafaa Shurafa/CAIRO (AP)/January 14, 2025
Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks said Tuesday. Mediator Qatar said Israel and the Palestinian militant group were at the “closest point” yet to sealing a deal. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity. An Israeli official said progress has been made, but the details are being finalized. The plan would need to be submitted to the Israeli Cabinet for final approval.
All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent the past year trying to mediate an end the 15-month war and secure the release of dozens of hostages captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered it. Some 100 people are still captive inside Gaza, and the military believes at least a third them are dead. Any deal is expected to deliver a pause in fighting and bring Israel and Hamas a step closer to winding down the most deadly and destructive war they’ve ever fought, a conflict that has destabilized the broader Middle East and sparked worldwide protests. It would bring relief to the hard-hit Gaza Strip, where Israel's offensive has reduced large areas of the territory to rubble and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of whom are at risk of famine. Meanwhile, dozens of Israeli hostages would be reunited with their loved ones after months in captivity. Officials have have expressed optimism before, only for negotiations to grind to a halt. But they are now suggesting that they can conclude an agreement ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, whose Mideast envoy has joined the negotiations. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said at a weekly briefing Tuesday that the ongoing negotiations were productive, while declining to get into the details. “Today, we are at the closest point ever to having a deal,” he said.
Hamas, meanwhile, said in a statement that the ongoing negotiations had reached their “final stage."In the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted another 250. Around half those hostages were freed during a brief ceasefire in November 2023.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israeli strikes across Gaza overnight and into Tuesday killed at least 18 Palestinians, including two women and four children, according to local health officials, who said one of the women was pregnant and that the baby died as well. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel says it only targets militants and accuses them of hiding among civilians.
A three-phase agreement
The three-phase agreement — based on a framework laid out by U.S. President Joe Biden and endorsed by the U.N. Security Council — would begin with the gradual release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, including women, children, older adults and wounded civilians in exchange for potentially hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Israel. Among the 33 would be five female Israeli soldiers, each of whom would be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 convicted militants who are serving life sentences. The Israeli official said Israel assumes most of the 33 are still alive. During this first, 42-day phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from population centers, Palestinians would be allowed to start returning to their homes in northern Gaza and there would be a surge of humanitarian aid, with some 600 trucks entering each day. Details of the second phase still must be negotiated during the first. Those details remain difficult to resolve — and the deal does not include written guarantees that the ceasefire will continue until a deal is reached. That leaves the potential for Israel to resume its military campaign after the first phase ends.
The Israeli official said “detailed negotiations” on the second phase will begin during the first. He said Israel will retain some “assets” throughout the negotiations, referring to a military presence, and would not leave the Gaza Strip until all the hostages are back home. The three mediators have given Hamas verbal guarantees that negotiations will continue as planned and that they will press for a deal to implement the second and third phases before the end of the first, the Egyptian official said. The deal would allow Israel throughout the first phase to remain in control of the Philadelphi corridor, the band of territory along Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Hamas had initially demanded Israel withdraw from. Israel would pull out from the Netzarim Corridor, a belt across central Gaza where it had sought a mechanism for searching Palestinians for arms when they return to the territory's north. In the second phase, Hamas would release the remaining living captives, mainly male soldiers, in exchange for more prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the draft agreement. Hamas has said it will not free the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has in the past vowed to resume fighting until Hamas’ military and governing capabilities are eliminated. Unless an alternative government for Gaza is worked out in those talks, it could leave Hamas in charge of the territory.
In a third phase, the bodies of remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan to be carried out in Gaza under international supervision.
Growing pressure ahead of Trump's inauguration
Israel and Hamas have come under renewed pressure to halt the conflict in the lead-up to Trump's inauguration next week. His Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, recently joined U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators in the Gulf country’s capital, Doha. Trump said late Monday that a ceasefire was “very close.” “I understand ... there’s been a handshake and they are getting it finished -- and maybe by the end of the week,” he told the American cable channel Newsmax. Hamas has blamed Israel for the repeated setbacks in the negotiations, saying that on more than one occasion, the militant group had accepted a proposal from mediators only to see Israel reject it or launch a new military operation immediately afterwards. Israel and its close ally the United States have blamed setbacks on Hamas.

Blinken will make a case for post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza
Matthew Lee/The Associated Press/January 14, 2025
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to make a last-minute case Tuesday for a plan for the post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears tantalizingly close to completion. Blinken will tout the proposal, which has been in the works for a year, and discuss the importance of ensuring its success after the Biden administration leaves office in a speech to the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the speech. The official said the Gaza plan is just one part of the speech, which will also cover other areas of the administration’s Middle East policy, including Iran and potential normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.Blinken and his top aides have spent months trying to sell Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Gulf Arab nations on the plan, which outlines how Gaza would be run without Hamas in charge, details reconstruction priorities and provides for security in the territory that has been devastated by the war that began in October 2023 after Hamas attacks inside Israel. Those efforts initially met with resistance from all fronts, with Israel objecting to calls for its complete withdrawal from Gaza and the Palestinian Authority taking a lead role in governance as well as Arab nations insisting that a ceasefire had to be sealed before any discussion of a “day after” plan. A sticking point also has been Arab countries' demand for a pathway to a Palestinian state, which Israel has refused.
But during multiple trips to the region since last January, Blinken managed to get the Gulf Arab states, many of which would be asked to pay for reconstruction, on board with preparing the proposal. The plan calls for reform of the Palestinian Authority and for Arab countries to help train PA security forces in Gaza. The urgency of keeping the Gaza plan alive even without a ceasefire became more intense after the November election of President-elect Donald Trump. U.S. officials have brought Trump aides into the discussions over the past month to get their buy-in on the plan, which will require significant American involvement during Trump’s presidency. One fear was that the plan might be abandoned by Trump’s team in a similar fashion to the way former President George W. Bush’s administration tossed aside a U.S.-backed proposal for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq that was crafted while Bill Clinton was in the White House. That detailed, multi-volume plan designed to prevent Iraq from falling into chaos in the event of Saddam’s ouster was the result of the “Future of Iraq” project that was started after Congress called for regime change in Iraq while Clinton was in office.

ICC chief prosecutor wants Israeli objections over Netanyahu warrant to be rejected
Molly Quell/THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)/January 14, 2025
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has told judges that Israeli objections to the investigation into the 13-month war in Gaza should be rejected. Karim Khan submitted his formal response late Monday to an appeal by Israel over The Hague-based court’s jurisdiction after judges issued arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza. The embattled Israeli leader, who is also facing corruption charges in his homeland, called the arrest warrant “ a black day in the history of nations ” and vowed to fight the allegations. Individuals cannot contest an arrest warrant directly, but the state of Israel can object to the entire investigation. Israel argued in a December filing that it could look into allegations against its leaders on its own and that continuing to investigate Israelis was a violation of state sovereignty. The ICC was established in 2002 as the permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. The court’s 125 member states include Palestine, Ukraine, Canada and every country in the European Union, but dozens of countries don’t accept the court’s jurisdiction, including Israel, the United States, Russia and China. In Khan’s combined 55-page response, he says the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, allowed it to prosecute crimes that take place in the territory of member states, regardless of where the perpetrators hail from.
The judges are expected to render a decision in the coming months.

Israeli foreign minister sees a majority in government to support Gaza agreement
Reuters/January 14, 2025
JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday he believed there would be a majority in the government to support a Gaza hostage deal if one is finally agreed, despite vocal opposition from hard-line nationalist parties in the coalition. “I believe that if we achieve this hostage deal, we will have a majority in the government that will support the agreement,” he said in a press conference in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

Israel army says intercepted missile fired from Yemen
AFP/January 14, 2025
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Tuesday that it had “successfully intercepted” a missile fired from Yemen that sent sirens blaring across the center of the country in the early morning hours.
“An examination by the IAF (Israel air force) and the Home Front Command found that the missile fired from Yemen toward Israeli territory was successfully intercepted,” the army said in a statement. The military had previously said it made “several attempts” to shoot down the missile, adding it had “likely” succeeded. It later reported that shrapnel from the missile “fell inside a civilian house” in the community of Mevo Beitar, near Jerusalem, and that additional shrapnel was found in the nearby town of Tzur Hadassah. Tuesday’s attack came less than a day after Yemen’s Houthis said they had launched a missile toward the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, which Israeli forces said was intercepted “prior to crossing into Israeli territory.”The Houthis also claimed the Tuesday morning attack, saying they had launched a “hypersonic ballistic missile” at “occupied Jaffa,” a reference to Tel Aviv. Later on Tuesday the militia claimed to have launched two attacks on Israel. The Israeli military did not issue any alerts or report intercepting any projectiles. There were no sirens in either city and the Israeli military did not mention any incidents. The Iran-backed Houthis have pledged to continue their attacks until “the end of the aggression against the Palestinians.” Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, the Houthis have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel in what they say is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. The militia controls swathes of Yemen, and Israel has struck Houthi targets several times inside the country including in the capital Sanaa.

Israelis, Gazans anxiously awaiting truce deal
AFP/January 15, 2025
JERUSALEM: Israelis and Gazans on Tuesday anxiously awaited a long-sought truce deal, with relatives of hostages calling for their release, and displaced Palestinians praying for a chance to return home. Multiple officials from mediating countries involved in the negotiations have said a deal on a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange is closer than ever, with Qatar saying negotiations were in their “final stages.”In Israel, since the early morning, the families of hostages and their supporters gathered outside the parliament and the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demand that every effort be made to secure a deal after months of disappointment. “Time is of the essence, and time does not favor the hostages,” said Gil Dickmann, cousin of former hostage Carmel Gat, whose body was recovered from a Gaza tunnel in September. “Hostages who are alive will end up dead. Hostages who are dead might be lost,” Dickmann said at a rally in Jerusalem. “We have to act now.” Earlier on Tuesday, Dickmann and several other relatives of hostages still being held in Gaza met with Netanyahu to press him to agree to a deal. “If we stop the war, we will receive all the hostages immediately,” said Eli Shtivi, father of former hostage Ilan Shtivi. “So, that is what needs to be done.” The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
On that day, militants also took 251 people hostage, of whom 94 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has since killed 46,645 people, the majority civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. The extensive military offensive has left much of Gaza in ruins, displacing most of its residents during the course of more than 15 months of war. The longing to end the war is deeply felt in Gaza as well. “I’m anxiously awaiting the truce. I will cry for days on end,” said Umm Ibrahim Abu Sultan, a resident of Gaza City now living in Khan Yunis after being displaced along with her five children. “We lost everything.”
She expressed disbelief at the possibility of reuniting with her husband, who remained in Gaza City. “I’m waiting for the announcement of the agreement. I just want to go back to my home, my area, and my family. It feels like we’re coming back from the dead,” she said.
Displaced Gazan Hassan Al-Madhoun said he had been waiting for 15 months for a deal. “I can’t even imagine how I’ll feel when we return to Jabalia and to our destroyed home,” he said. “It will take time to process the extent of the loss. The martyrs are still buried under the rubble.”
Back in Israel, however, not everyone was in favor of a ceasefire.“They (Hamas) need to raise their hands and say, ‘That’s it. We’re giving you the hostages back because you won,’ and that’s not what’s happening,” said Barbara Haskel at a rally protesting the proposed deal.

Palestinian health ministry says Israeli air strike kills 6 in West Bank
AFP/January 14, 2025
JENIN, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian health ministry said Tuesday that an Israeli air strike on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank killed six people, including a teenager, with the Israeli military confirming it carried out an attack in the area. “There are six martyrs and several injured as a result of the Israeli bombing of Jenin refugee camp,” the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement. The Israeli military did not offer details but said it had carried out “an attack in the Jenin area.”The Palestinian ministry said among those killed was 15-year-old Mahmud Ashraf Mustafa Gharbiya. Palestinian security forces of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) slammed the raid by the Israeli military. “The pre-planned intervention ... thwarts all efforts being made to maintain security and order and restore life to normal,” said Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the Palestinian forces, in a statement.
“It reflects the occupation’s premeditated intentions to disrupt every national endeavour aimed at protecting our people.”Israeli forces make frequent raids on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Violence in the territory has soared since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023. Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 831 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the health ministry. At least 28 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids in the territory over the same period, according to Israeli official figures. In recent weeks Jenin has also seen intra-Palestinian violence, with PA forces clashing with militants. The clashes broke out amid a major PA raid on the Jenin camp after the December 5 arrest of a Jenin Battalion commander on charges of possessing weapons and illicit funds. Armed factions in Jenin and elsewhere see themselves as offering more effective resistance to the Israeli occupation than the PA, which coordinates security matters with Israel.

Egypt’s El-Sisi, Biden discuss Gaza ceasefire, hostages-for-prisoners swap deal, Egypt presidency says
AFP/January 14, 2025
CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and US President Joe Biden discussed in a phone call on Tuesday the ongoing mediation efforts by Cairo, Doha and Washington to reach a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza.
They also discussed a hostages-for-prisoners exchange deal, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. A spokesperson for the Egyptian leader said "the two presidents reviewed the latest developments in the negotiations and stressed the importance of the concerned parties' commitment to overcoming obstacles and showing the necessary flexibility to reach an agreement".

Emirati observation satellite launches successfully from California
Arab News/January 15, 2025
LONDON: The Emirati-developed observation satellite MBZ-SAT successfully launched on Tuesday evening from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in the US state of California. Described by developers as the most advanced observation satellite in the Middle East, it was carried into space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the Emirates News Agency reported. The satellite was entirely developed by Emirati engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. Final testing by the team ahead of launch took place at SpaceX’s facilities in the US. Developers said the satellite will enhance disaster-management efforts by continuously capturing high-resolution images that can reveal details in areas as small as 1 sq. meter.

Iran, European countries to continue talks over Tehran's nuclear programme, report says
Reuters/January 14, 2025
Talks held in Geneva between Iran, Britain, France and Germany will see dialogue continue regarding Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, Iran's official news agency reported on Tuesday. "The talks were serious, frank, and constructive. We discussed ideas involving certain details in the sanctions-lifting and nuclear fields that are needed for a deal," Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister for international and legal affairs, wrote on X on Monday. "Sides concurred that negotiations should be resumed and to reach a deal, all parties should create and maintain the appropriate atmosphere. We agreed to continue our dialogue," he added. The talks held on Monday followed earlier discussions in November. At that time, an Iranian official told Reuters that finalising a roadmap with Europeans would "put the ball in the U.S. court to revive or kill the nuclear deal." In 2018, the U.S., led by then-President Donald Trump, exited Iran's 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran. That prompted Tehran to violate the pact's nuclear limits, with moves such as rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output. Indirect talks between U.S. President Joe Biden's administration and Tehran to try to revive the pact have failed. Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought to wreck Iran's economy to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme, ballistic missile programme and regional activities.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on January 14-15/2025
Dr.Walid Phares/MY LETTER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP
"Recommendations on National Security and Foreign Policy:
January 11, 2025)
Dear President-Elect
With just a few days before you again enter the Oval Office and your teams land in their departments and agencies, I write this open letter to you to thank you for assuming the responsibility of ensuring the survival of our country. Our nation is, indeed, facing major threats and requires the kind of grand strategies you are capable of implementing in order to save us from ourselves. Your leadership at this critical moment – and the leaders you have appointed – make us hopeful.
My modest role in advising you and your campaign from December 2015 into January 2017 made me proud. You recently told me (at Mar a Largo) that my advice needed to be heeded then to ensure success in the fields of national security and foreign policy during your first term.
I recall our much earlier discussions, watching as you analyzed and scribbled on the maps covering your desk, leading to your vision for a “warm peace” in the Middle East, fostering an Arab-Israeli coalition, protecting minorities, and eradicating threats like #ISIS and other jihadist forces and #Khomeinist militias. I was honored to witness the genesis of the #Trump Doctrine—ending endless wars, securing the country’s borders, and ensuring national security—during those early briefings.
The past four years led this country to near catastrophe and the future was bleak. We experienced not only a crisis of global instability with the war in Ukraine and the October 7 initiated conflicts between jihadist forces and Israel, but also rising violence in the cities and a resurgence of terrorism within our own borders.
As the Islamic regime in Iran continues on the path to acquiring tactical and eventually strategic nukes, and the global conflicts also continue, the world we once knew became not only unrecognizable, but any glimpse into the future was unsettling. But your returned leadership at this decisive moment, as we face such significant crises, inspires hope for a brighter future, and we once again see an opportunity to restore stability.
With all this in mind, I write not just to thank you, but also to offer recommendations on the critical challenges facing our nation and the free world, especially regarding global hotspots.
1. Ukraine: Facilitate peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Begin with a durable ceasefire, followed by exploring “land for endless peace” agreements and other diplomatic tools. The peoples of both countries, especially the youth, have no desire to continue this war. Give them peace.
2. Israel and Jihadist Threats: Support the replacement of Hamas with moderate, pro-peace leaders in #Gaza. Mobilize the Arab Coalition to assist in de-radicalizing the region.
3. #Lebanon: Dismantle terror militias, including Hezbollah, backed by the Islamic regime in Iran. The Lebanese majority seeks peace and prosperity.
4. #Syria and #Libya: Provide support to civil societies, minorities, and moderate populations to stabilize the region, blocking any radicalization.
5. Engage Turkey diplomatically, first within the
@NATO
community, then promote broader talks potentially involving #Russia, #Britain, and #France (permanent members of the UN Security Council), regarding the future of both countries.
5. #Iran: Speak directly to the Iranian people, as Reagan did with Eastern Europe, to encourage a peaceful transition, a comprehensive change in leadership, and to avoid war. Give priority and maximum support to civil society, particularly women, youth and minorities, and release all political prisoners.
6. #Iraq: Empower Iraq’s youth—both Shia and Sunni—and continue supporting the #Kurds and other minorities, as they have consistently remained our friends and most steadfast allies.
7. Regional Alliances: Call for a second #Riyadh Summit. #SaudiArabia, the #UAE, and #Egypt should join #Israel for a second wave of #AbrahamAccords. Peace-promoting forces across #Libya, #Morocco, #Sudan, #Afghanistan, and Africa are also ready.
8. #LatinAmerica: Friendly governments in nations like #Argentina, #Peru and #ElSalvador should be supported, and friendly peoples in such places as in #Brazil, #Colombia and #Venezuela should also be partnered with. Those who have been striving to achieve economic growth and governance reforms in order to mirror the American dream will help their communities achieve their hopes at home.
9. #Asia: Strengthen the alliance with #Japan, and foster defense and economic partnerships with #SouthKorea. You can, and have, effectively handled the leaders of both #NorthKorea and #China. It may be time to turn some attention to their peoples.
And lastly, yet first in priority,
10. Immigration and #BorderSecurity: Reclaim the southern border with a sensitive but firm plan for repatriating foreign nationals residing illegally within the borders of the U.S. while reforming the immigration system to align with America’s values and needs.
Mr. President, with the support of Congress and the majority of American voters, you now have the mandate, and thus the opportunity, to not only change the direction of the path the United States finds itself heading down, but to lead the world toward a more stable and prosperous future. While this is not an easy task you have assumed, I do believe with you at the helm, it can be done.
Wishing you and your administration success,
Dr. Walid Phares
Former foreign policy advisor to President #DonaldTrump

Qatar's Al-Jazeera, Bullhorn for the Muslim Brotherhood, Promotes Jihad, Radical Islam, Terrorism. Even Israelis and Palestinians Agree!
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/January 14, 2025
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21311/qatar-al-jazeera-palestinians
""Among the Islamist terrorist organizations that Qatar and Al-Jazeera have supported over the years are the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hizbullah, the Al-Nusrah Front/ Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham, ISIS, Hamas, and even the Shiite Iranian proxies in Yemen, Ansar Allah (the Houthis)..." — MEMRI, May 6, 2024.
"The Al-Jazeera TV network is an arm of the Qatari regime. It is owned by the government and carries out its foreign policy by means of indoctrination of the Arabic-speaking masses worldwide. Al-Jazeera, therefore, should not be discussed as a means of telecommunications, but instead as an unyielding and forceful political tool of Qatari foreign policy under the guise of a mass media network." — MEMRI, May 6, 2024.
"Al-Jazeera was the prime power for toppling the secular authoritarian regime in Egypt, when Qatar, by means of Al-Jazeera, supported the Muslim Brotherhood in ousting then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Al-Jazeera, the single most significant platform for mainstreaming jihadi and Muslim Brotherhood ideology, was the power that accorded [Muslim Brotherhood member] Mohamed Morsi his victory [in Egypt's 2012 presidential election]." — MEMRI, May 6, 2024.
Al-Jazeera's role in providing a platform for promoting extremist Islamist ideologies goes back decades: "The case of promoting Al-Qaeda is of particular interest.... Al-Jazeera's official role in the current Israel-Hamas war is nowhere more evident that its exclusive broadcast of Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif... at the very time that Hamas terrorists were carrying out their mega-terror attack in Israel... Deif declared the launch of 'Operation Al-Aqsa Flood' and incited all Palestinians to join the war, using all means in their possession – guns, knives, Molotov cocktails, and vehicles." — MEMRI, May 6, 2024.
They [Israelis and Palestinians] have both come to the conclusion that Al-Jazeera's goal is to promote radical Islam and terrorism. It now remains to be seen whether the US and other countries will follow suit and stop the Qatari-owned TV station from supporting terrorism, poisoning the hearts and minds of millions worldwide, and ravaging global security.
They Israelis and Palestinians have both come to the conclusion that Al-Jazeera's goal is to promote radical Islam and terrorism. It now remains to be seen whether the US and other countries will follow suit and stop the Qatari-owned TV station from supporting terrorism, poisoning the hearts and minds of millions worldwide, and ravaging global security.Pictured: The headquarters of Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images)
The Palestinians have finally discovered that Qatar's Al-Jazeera television network -- which has long been serving as a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and virtually all other Islamic terrorist groups -- is "broadcasting inciteful content, spreading misinformation, and interfering in internal Palestinian affairs, which [the Palestinian Authority Ministerial Committee] claimed stirred division and instability."
On January 1, the Palestinian Authority (PA) announced the suspension of Al-Jazeera's broadcast operations in the West Bank, ordering the temporary suspension of work by all journalists, staff and associated channels affiliated with Al-Jazeera, adding:
"The decision will remain in effect until the network resolves its legal status, which was deemed in violation of applicable laws and regulations in Palestine.
"The suspension is reportedly temporary and will remain in effect until the network addresses its legal status in accordance with Palestinian regulations."
The PA's decision to freeze Al-Jazeera's broadcast operations came in response to the network's coverage of clashes between PA security forces and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin Refugee Camp in the northern West Bank. The clashes erupted last month after the gunmen, many of whom are affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, stole two vehicles belonging to the PA.
The incident seriously embarrassed the PA, which ordered its security forces to launch a major security operation against the Iran-backed gunmen in the camp. As part of the crackdown, the PA has cut off water and electricity supplies to the residents of the camp:
"The Jenin Refugee Camp has been under intense pressure for over a month, as residents grapple with the ongoing violent campaign led by the Palestinian Authority (PA) forces. The situation has worsened for the camp's 14,000 residents, who face severe shortages in food, water, electricity, and medical care, as well as significant restrictions on movement."
Since the beginning of the security operation, Al-Jazeera broadcast several reports accusing the PA and its security forces of killing innocent civilians inside Jenin Refugee Camp. Al-Jazeera, in addition, interviewed several Palestinian and Arab political analysts and activists who strongly criticized the PA and accused it of collaboration with Israel. The reports enraged the PA leadership and finally prompted it to ban Al-Jazeera from operating.
"Some media outlets, first and foremost Al-Jazeera, spread lies about the situation in Jenin Refugee Camp," charged Anwar Rajab, spokesperson for the PA security forces. In an implicit reference to Iran, Rajab said:
"Some regional parties are trying to escalate the situation in Palestine through the outlaws [gunmen]. We call on our people to look after the children to prevent them from falling pray to the extremism Islamic State (ISIS) ideology."
Hours before the PA announced the suspension, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate revealed that a number of Palestinian journalists had filed complaints against the TV network for its "non-objective media coverage, which included provocative material and reports that were misleading and incite internal strife." The syndicate added:
"[T]he current editorial policy of Al-Jazeera Network management reflects incitement and spreading discord in Palestinian society... and its coverage of events serves its incitement agenda and ignores journalistic professionalism."
It is hard to say that the Palestinian Authority was surprised by Al-Jazeera's incitement and lack of journalistic professionalism.
For decades, the PA was prepared to tolerate incitement and lack of journalistic professionalism as long as they were directed against Israel. For decades, the PA has been aware that Al-Jazeera serves as a mouthpiece for Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and other radical Islamic Jihadists in the Middle East, including Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
The PA refrained from taking action against Al-Jazeera, mainly out of fear of facing a backlash from human rights and press-freedom organizations, as well as fear of angering rich and powerful Qatar.
The PA also did not see a need to act against Al-Jazeera so long as the network did not incite against the PA leadership and its security forces.
Al-Jazeera's support for the gunmen in Jenin Refugee Camp and its recurring criticism of the PA over the past month finally convinced the PA leadership that the network poses a threat to PA President Mahmoud Abbas's regime in the West Bank.
According to an investigative report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI):
"The Al-Jazeera TV network is an arm of the Qatari regime. It is owned by the government and carries out its foreign policy by means of indoctrination of the Arabic-speaking masses worldwide. Al-Jazeera, therefore, should not be discussed as a means of telecommunications, but instead as an unyielding and forceful political tool of Qatari foreign policy under the guise of a mass media network.
"Among the Islamist terrorist organizations that Qatar and Al-Jazeera have supported over the years are the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hizbullah, the Al-Nusrah Front/ Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham, ISIS, Hamas, and even the Shiite Iranian proxies in Yemen, Ansar Allah (the Houthis)...
"Al-Jazeera was the prime power for toppling the secular authoritarian regime in Egypt, when Qatar, by means of Al-Jazeera, supported the Muslim Brotherhood in ousting then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Al-Jazeera, the single most significant platform for mainstreaming jihadi and Muslim Brotherhood ideology, was the power that accorded [Muslim Brotherhood member] Mohamed Morsi his victory [in Egypt's 2012 presidential election]."
For many years, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and Chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, a key element of Muslim Brotherhood thought in the Muslim world, was given a weekly hour-long religious program on Al-Jazeera which he used to espouse antisemitic, homophobic and anti-Western views and to praise the Holocaust and promise another one – this time "at the hand of the believers."
According to the MEMRI report, Al-Jazeera's role in providing a platform for promoting extremist Islamist ideologies goes back decades:
"The case of promoting Al-Qaeda is of particular interest. Two months before 9/11, Al-Jazeera gave an Al-Qaeda spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, free rein to speak uninterrupted for 10 minutes, and to call for 12,000 mujahideen (warriors) to join Al-Qaeda.
"Al-Jazeera employed a correspondent, Tayseer Allouni, who was sentenced in Spain to seven years in prison for transferring funds to Al-Qaeda...
"Al-Jazeera's official role in the current Israel-Hamas war is no where more evident that its exclusive broadcast of Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif on the morning of Saturday, October 7, 2023, at the very time that Hamas terrorists were carrying out their mega-terror attack in Israel, killing over 1,300 and taking more than 250 Israelis and foreign nationals hostage into the Gaza Strip. In the recording, Deif declared the launch of 'Operation Al-Aqsa Flood' and incited all Palestinians to join the war, using all means in their possession – guns, knives, Molotov cocktails, and vehicles."
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Al-Jazeera has been serving as the semi-official mouthpiece of Hamas. The station regularly broadcasts exclusive footage of terrorist attacks on Israeli soldiers and provides a free platform for the terror group's leaders and spokesmen.
It is no wonder that Israel decided several months ago to shut Al-Jazeera. The Israeli decision was denounced by many governments and human rights organizations, with some dubbing it a "dark day for democracy." Israel closed down Al-Jazeera because the TV network was openly assisting Hamas. Similarly, the Palestinian Authority has banned Al-Jazeera after accusing it of incitement, spreading misinformation, and supporting Iran-backed Islamist armed groups in the West Bank.
Both Israel and the PA understand that Al-Jazeera is not an ordinary media outlet concerned with news and journalistic professionalism. They have both come to the conclusion that Al-Jazeera's goal is to promote radical Islam and terrorism. It now remains to be seen whether the US and other countries will follow suit and stop the Qatari-owned TV station from supporting terrorism, poisoning the hearts and minds of millions worldwide, and ravaging global security.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
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Did the Crusaders Spoil ‘Five Centuries of Peaceful Coexistence’ with Islam?
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/January 14, 2025
If Fake News is a “threat to democracy,” what about Fake History? Although more subtle — Fake History is certainly much harder to expose than Fake News — the former is every bit as dangerous, if not more so.
Unlike the “news,” which is ephemeral, the presumed lessons of history are much more concrete and long-lasting. Take the historical writings of John Esposito, an award-winning professor of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is the author of more 35 books on Islam; editor-in-chief of numerous Oxford reference works, including The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and The Oxford History of Islam; advisor to the award-winning PBS documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (2002); and, perhaps most notably, a go-to expert on Islam, certainly in his heyday after 9/11, when he was frequently called on to brief the State Department, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security and various branches of the military.
Clearly, such a man knows his Islam. (Incidentally, I was a graduate student at Georgetown University’s Center of Contemporary Arab Studies some 25 years ago, where he was treated like a celebrity whose word on Islam was law.)
But political correctness seems to be having the final say regarding Islam — even in his work.
The Claim
Consider the following passage from Esposito’s book, Islam the Straight Path (p. 64):
Five centuries of peaceful coexistence elapsed before political events and an imperial-papal power play led to centuries-long series of so-called holy wars that pitted Christendom against Islam and left an enduring legacy of misunderstanding and distrust.
Yes, you read that correctly. Esposito is saying is that, since Year One of the Islamic calendar (622), to the First Crusade (1095), for nearly five centuries (473 years to be exact), Muslims and Christians lived in “peaceful coexistence.”
This claim obscenely ignores several cataclysmic and foundational events of world history. In just the first century following the death of Muhammad, from 632 to 732, the newly founded Muslim state invaded and conquered three-quarters of the Christian world, including the Middle East and North Africa , which was the older, richer, and more sophisticated part of Christendom. The Islamic jihad also conquered Spain and nearly France before it was finally halted in 732 at the Battle of Tours.
These conquests, like most, were bloody and savage. Contemporary sources, both Christian and Muslim, talk of the slaughter or enslavement of thousands upon thousands of Christians — the former lamenting the fact, the latter boasting. Perhaps most importantly, the sources — specifically the Muslim ones — make it unequivocally clear that all these atrocities were committed in the name of jihad: the reason Muslims were invading and conquering the lands of “infidels” was because Islam commanded it.
This was but the first of those “five centuries of peaceful coexistence” between Muslims and Christians before the First Crusade in 1095. There’s no room here to go over the other intervening centuries. In one year 1009 alone, Caliph Hakim bi-amr-Allah ordered the ritual destruction of 30,000 churches in Egypt and Syria — so let’s just fast-forward to the decades before the First Crusade.
“Mostly Peaceful”?
In 1019, “the first appearance of the bloodthirsty beasts … the savage nation of Turks entered Armenia … and mercilessly slaughtered the Christian faithful with the sword,” writes Matthew of Edessa, a chief contemporary source for this period (d.1144). In 1049, the Turks reached the unwalled city of Arzden and “put the whole town to the sword, causing severe slaughter, as many as one hundred and fifty thousand persons.”
Another eyewitness, Aristakes the Greek, notes that “without mercy, they [Turks] incinerated those who had hidden themselves in houses and churches.” Eight hundred oxen and 40 camels were required to cart out the vast plunder, mostly taken from Arzden’s churches — all 800 of which were afterwards ritually torched.
During the Turkish siege of Sebastia (modern-day Sivas) in 1060, 600 churches were destroyed and “many women and children were led into captivity.” Another raid on Armenian territory saw “many and innumerable people who were burned [to death].”
Between 1064 and 1065, Sultan Muhammad bin Dawud Chaghri — known among fawning Westerners as Alp Arslan, the “Brave Lion” — besieged Ani, the capital of Armenia. Once inside, the Turks “began to mercilessly slaughter the inhabitants of the entire city … and piling up their bodies one on top of the other…. Innumerable and countless boys with bright faces and pretty girls were carried off together with their mothers.”
Not only do several Christian sources document the sack of Armenia’s capital, so do Muslim ones, often in apocalyptic terms: “I wanted to enter the city and see it with my own eyes,” one Arab explained. “I tried to find a street without having to walk over the corpses. But that was impossible.”
Historic Atrocities
Nor was there much doubt concerning what fueled the Muslim Turks’ animus: “This nation of infidels comes against us because of our Christian faith and they are intent on destroying the ordinances of the worshippers of the cross and on exterminating the Christian faithful,” a man named David, who headed an Armenian region, explained to his countrymen in Matthew of Edessa’s account. Therefore, “it is fitting and right for all the faithful to go forth with their swords and to die for the Christian faith.” That they did — to no avail.
As the Turks moved further westward into Asia Minor, they visited the same atrocities on the Greeks of the Eastern Roman (or “Byzantine”) Empire.
Emperor Alexios I Komnenos summarized it in a letter to his friend, Count Robert of Flanders, who would become one of the first leaders of the crusade:
The holy places are desecrated and destroyed in countless ways. … Noble matrons and their daughters, robbed of everything, are violated one after another, like animals. Some [of their rapists] shamelessly place virgins in front of their own mothers and force them to sing wicked and obscene songs until they have finished having their ways with them … men of every age and description, boys, youths, old men, nobles, peasants and what is worse still and yet more distressing, clerics and monks and woe of unprecedented woes, even bishops are defiled with the sin of sodomy [meaning they were raped].
Fighting Back
And so, after the passage of nearly five centuries of this sort of “peaceful coexistence,” we at last come to the origins of the First Crusade. At the Council of Clermont in 1095 Pope Urban II told everyone in attendance what was happening to the Christians of the East:
They [Muslim Turks] have completely destroyed some of God’s churches and they have converted others to the uses of their own cult [mosques]. They ruin the altars with filth and defilement. They circumcise Christians and smear the blood from the circumcision over the altars or throw it into the baptismal fonts. They are pleased to kill others by cutting open their bellies, extracting the end of their intestines, and tying it to a stake. Then, with flogging, they drive their victims around the stake until, when their viscera have spilled out, they fall dead on the ground. They tie others, again, to stakes and shoot arrows at them; they seize others, stretch out their necks, and try to see whether they can cut off their heads with a single blow of a naked sword. And what shall I say about the shocking rape of women? . . . [W]ho is to repair this damage, if you do not do it?… Rise up and remember the manly deeds of your ancestors!
At that point, all the knights in attendance cried Deus Vult — God wills it — and the First Crusade was off.
So now you know what really led directly to the First Crusade, which, in John Esposito’s make-believe world, sadly brought an end to “five centuries of peaceful coexistence” between Muslims and Christians.
Incidentally, the only time that Esposito alludes to the historic persecution of Christians by Muslims is by denying it. In regards to the knights crying, “Deus Vult” at Clermont, for example, he writes, “This was ironic because, as one scholar has observed, ‘God may indeed have wished it, but there is certainly no evidence that the Christians of Jerusalem did, or that anything extraordinary was occurring to pilgrims there to prompt such a response at that moment in history.’”
The scholar that Esposito quotes is Francis E. Peters, in his essay, “Early Muslim Empires.” Clearly this academic is as delusional or dishonest as Esposito. To claim that nothing extraordinary was happening to Christian pilgrims is itself extraordinary. Here, for example, is what Michael the Syrian, a contemporary chronicler, wrote: (Note: I quote actual contemporaries and eyewitness to show what was happening then; Esposito quotes his colleagues.)
As the Turks were ruling the lands of Syria and Palestine, they inflicted injuries on Christians who went to pray in Jerusalem, beat them, pillaged them, [and] levied the poll tax… [Moreover,] every time they saw a caravan of Christians, particularly of those from Rome and the lands of Italy, they made every effort to cause their death in diverse ways.
Such was the fate of one German pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1064. According to one of the pilgrims:
Accompanying this journey was a noble abbess [a head nun] of graceful body and of a religious outlook. Setting aside the cares of the sisters committed to her and against the advice of the wise, she undertook this great and dangerous pilgrimage. The pagans captured her, and in the sight of all, these shameless men raped her until she breathed her last, to the dishonor of all Christians. Christ’s enemies performed such abuses and others like them on the Christians.
So, there it is: the truth about John Esposito’s “five centuries of peaceful coexistence” between Muslims and Christians — until those evil European Christians spoiled it all by launching the First Crusade.
Now ask yourself this: If Esposito and so many other academics and “experts” who are regularly consulted about Islamic history can lie so flagrantly about an entire five centuries in an effort to blame Christians for initiating “bad blood” with Muslims, what else are they lying about when it comes to Islam’s relationship with the West?
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained
BBC/January 14, 2025
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is one of the longest-running and most violent disputes in the world. Its origins go back more than a century. There have been a series of wars between Israel and Arab nations. Uprisings - called intifadas - against Israeli occupation, and reprisals and crackdowns by Israel have also taken place.
The consequences of the historic dispute over issues including land, borders and rights are still being felt, and include the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
What was Israel before 1948 and how was it created?
Britain took control of the area known as Palestine in World War One, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled that part of the Middle East.
An Arab majority and a Jewish minority lived there, as well as other ethnic groups.
Tensions between the Jewish and Arab populations deepened when the UK agreed in principle to the establishment of a "national home" in Palestine for Jewish people.
Jews had historical links to the land, but Palestinian Arabs also had a claim dating back centuries and opposed the move. The British said the rights of Palestinian Arabs already living there had to be protected.
Between the 1920s and 1940s the number of Jews arriving grew, with many fleeing persecution in Europe. The murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust gave added urgency to demands for a safe haven.
The Jewish population reached 630,000, just over 30% of the population, by 1947.
In 1947, against a backdrop of growing violence between Jews and Arabs - and against British rule - the United Nations (UN) voted for Palestine to be split into separate Jewish and Arab states. Jerusalem would become an international city.
No Arab nations supported this. They argued the plan gave the Jews more of the land, even though their population was smaller.
Britain abstained. It decided to withdraw and to hand the problem to the UN at the end of 14 May 1948.
Jewish leaders in Palestine declared an independent state known as Israel hours before British rule ended. Israel was recognised by the UN the following year.
What was the 1948 Arab-Israeli war?
The day after Israel declared independence, it was attacked and surrounded by the armies of five Arab nations.
The conflict came to be known in Israel as its war of independence.
A Haganah (Jewish Underground) fighter is pictured just before the start of the Israeli war of independence in 1948. He is wearing a hat and glasses and is pointing a gun.
By the time the fighting ended with an armistice in 1949, Israel controlled most of the territory.
Agreements left Egypt occupying the Gaza Strip, Jordan occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Israel occupying West Jerusalem.
About 750,000 Palestinians fled, or were forced from, their homes on land which became Israel and ended up as refugees.
The event is known in Arabic as the Nakba (Catastrophe).
Arab Legion soldiers fire on fighters of the Haganah, the Jewish Agency self-defence force, in March 1948. A number of fighters are pointing rifles over a wall.
In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands of Jews left, or were expelled from, Muslim majority countries across the Middle East and North Africa, with many going to Israel.
What was the 1967 Middle East war?
What is known as the Six-Day War changed boundaries in the Middle East and had major consequences for Palestinians.
The war saw Israel fight Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
It started when Israel, fearing an attack by Egypt and Syria, launched a strike on Egypt's air force.
By the time the fighting ended, Israel had captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, most of the Golan Heights from Syria, and East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan.
About a million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem came under Israel's control.
Israel's occupation of these areas has lasted until this day.
Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and returned the Sinai.
It annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, making them part of Israel, although this has not been recognised by most of the international community.
What is the status of the West Bank now?
The West Bank - land between Israel and the River Jordan - is home to an estimated three million Palestinians.
Along with East Jerusalem and Gaza, it is part of what are widely known as the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The Palestinians have always opposed Israel's presence in these areas and want them to be part of a future independent state, something backed by the vast majority of the international community.
Israel still has overall control of the West Bank, but since the 1990s, a Palestinian government - known as the Palestinian Authority - has run most of its town and cities.
There are about 150 Israeli settlements, housing about 700,000 Jews, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinians want all Israeli settlements to be removed and they are considered illegal under international law.
However, Israel's government disputes this. It says the biggest settlements at the very least are permanent and that all settlements are rooted in its historical rights.
It does not recognise the right of the Palestinians to have their own state and argues that the West Bank is part of the Israeli homeland.
The Israeli government announced plans to expand settlements after coming to power in 2022. It says the creation of a Palestinian state would be a threat to Israeli security.
In July 2024, the top court of the UN, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said that Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal. It said that Israel should withdraw all settlers and that it was in breach of international agreements on racism and apartheid.
Israel's borders explained in maps
What is the dispute over Jerusalem?
Israel and the Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital.
Israel, which already controlled West Jerusalem, occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and later declared the entire city its permanent capital. It says Jerusalem cannot be divided.
The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Most of the population of East Jerusalem is Palestinian, only a small minority of whom have chosen to become Israeli citizens.
The compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's old city.
[AFP]
Holy sites in Jerusalem are at the centre of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The most sacred site - known to Muslims as Al Aqsa Mosque compound, or Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and to Jews as Temple Mount - lies in East Jerusalem.
The UN and most international opinion consider East Jerusalem to be Palestinian land occupied by Israel.
What has happened in the Gaza Strip?
The Gaza Strip is a stretch of land surrounded by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. It is 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide.
Home to about 2.3 million people, it is one of the most densely populated places on Earth.
Even before the current war between Israel and Hamas, Gaza had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Many people were living below the poverty line and depending on food aid to survive.
Gaza's boundaries were drawn up as a result of the 1948 Middle East war, when it was occupied by Egypt.
Egypt was driven out of Gaza in the 1967 war and the Strip was occupied by Israel, which built settlements and placed Gaza's Palestinian population under military rule.
In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza, though it retained control of its shared border, airspace and shoreline, giving it effective control of the movement of people and goods.
The UN still regards Gaza as Israeli-occupied territory because of the level of control Israel has.
Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006, and ejected its rivals from the territory after intense fighting the following year.
Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade in response, with Israel controlling most of what was allowed into the territory.
In the years that followed, Hamas and Israel fought several major conflicts - including those in 2008-09, 2012 and 2014. The last major conflict between the two sides was in May 2021, which ended in a ceasefire after 11 days.
Every round of fighting has seen people killed on both sides, the vast majority of them Palestinians in Gaza.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas fighters launched an assault from Gaza, killing about 1,200 people in Israel and taking more than 250 hostages.
This triggered a massive Israeli military offensive in Gaza. More than 46,000 people have been killed, the majority of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Days before Israel marked a year since the 7 October attacks, UN humanitarian agencies signed a declaration demanding an end to "appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza".
Why are Israel and Hamas fighting in Gaza?
Gaza in maps: How a year of war has drastically changed the territory
Bowen: Year of killing and broken assumptions has taken Middle East to edge of deeper, wider war
Which countries recognise a Palestinian state?
In May 2024, 143 out of 193 members of the United Nations' General Assembly voted in favour of a Palestinian bid for full UN membership, something that is only open to states. Known as the State of Palestine at the UN, it has an official status of "Permanent Observer State", which gives it a seat but not a vote.
Some European countries, along with the US, do not recognise a Palestinian state and say they will only do so as part of a long-term political solution to the conflict in the Middle East. In the UK, MPs voted in favour of recognition in 2014, but the government has not done so. In 2021, the then Conservative government said: "The UK will recognise a Palestinian state at a time of our choosing, and when it best serves the objective of peace."
Israel says it has a historical right to the West Bank and opposes an independent Palestinian state, saying it would pose an unacceptable threat.
What about Palestinian refugees?
There are about 5.9m Palestinians registered by the UN as refugees.
They are descendants of the Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes on land which became Israel in the 1948-49 Middle East war.
Most live in Jordan, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria and Lebanon.
Palestinians insist on the right of refugees to return but Israel has refused this. It criticises the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, for allowing refugee status to be inherited by successive generations.
What is Unrwa and why has Israel banned it?
What is the two-state solution?
The "two-state solution" is an internationally backed formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It proposes an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would exist alongside Israel.
Israel rejects a two-state solution. It says any final settlement must be the result of negotiations with the Palestinians, and statehood should not be a precondition.
The Palestinian Authority backs a two-state solution but Hamas does not because it is opposed to the existence of Israel.
Hamas says that it could accept an interim Palestinian state based on 1967 de facto borders, without officially recognising Israel, if refugees were given the right to return.
Earlier efforts to settle the conflict saw Israel and Palestinian leaders sign a deal called the Oslo Peace Accords, in 1993. This was intended to provide a framework for peace talks. However, talks eventually collapsed with each side blaming the other.