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

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Bible Quotations For today
It is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and then have fallen away
Letter to the Hebrews 06/01-09: “Let us go on towards perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith towards God, instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. And we will do this, if God permits. For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over. Even though we speak in this way, beloved, we are confident of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 14-15/2025
Video & Text/April 13, 1975 – April 13, 2025: From Wounds to Victory, From Wars to Liberation and Peace/Elias Bejjani/April 13/2025
Palm Sunday ...The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem/Elias Bejjani/April 13, 2025
Lebanon’s Liberation from Hezbollah’s Occupation needs the following steps/Elias Bejjani/April 12, 2025
Two video links to two interviews with Yousef Y. El-Khoury.
Salam meets al-Sharaa in Syria, talks to tackle disappeared persons
Lebanon’s PM Visits Syrian President to Discuss Border Demarcation and Security
Lebanese president says Hezbollah disarmament will come through dialogue not 'force'
Lebanese army mourns officer killed in blast near Tyre
Saudi envoy Yazid bin Farhan meets with Aoun
President Aoun: No normalization talks with Israel; army active south of Litani without ‘Hezbollah interference’
Aoun says army implementing 1701, Lebanon determined to carry out reforms
Fadlallah: Those who don’t see Israel as enemy must not be part of dialogue
Hezbollah arms 'dialogue mechanism' to be activated after Easter amid optimism
All depositors will get their money back 'over time', Economy minister says
Bassil says supports state, presidency against any 'militia'
Lebanon eyes financial trust boost at IMF, World Bank spring meetings
Parity or power play? Beirut’s municipal race heats up amid shifting alliances
50 Years after Lebanon's Civil War Began, a Bullet-riddled Bus Stands as a Reminder
Lebanon: The Staggering Transition/Dr. Charles Chartouni/This is Beirut/April 14/2025
Lebanon looks back, but is April 13 best forgotten?/Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/April 14, 2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 14-15/2025
Video Link to a commentary by Raymond Ibrahim/KAFIR: Proof that Islam Hates and Demonizes All Non-Muslims
Video Link/Erdogan, the Neo-Ottoman: Turkish Without the Delight
Trump Says He Expects to Make a Decision on Iran Very Quickly
Trump Says Iran Must Give Up Dream of Nuclear Weapon or Face Harsh Response
Iran FM to head to Moscow, discuss US nuclear talks
Saudi FM receives phone call from Iranian counterpart
Italy Says Rome to Host Second Round of US-Iran Nuclear Talks
Iranian Foreign Minister Will Consult on Iran-US Talks During Visit to Russia
EU Ministers Adopt Iran Sanctions Over Citizen Detentions
Hamas will free hostages if end to Gaza war guaranteed
How Israeli settlers are able to seize Palestinian land with impunity in the West Bank
No Breakthrough in Gaza Talks, Egyptian and Palestinian Sources Say
Palestinian Authority to Introduce Major Reforms amid Mounting Pressure from Gaza War
EU to Boost Financial Support for Palestinian Authority
Israel Uncovers Hamas Financing Network Funded From Turkey
Report: Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Requests Asylum in Russia
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi visits Kuwait as part of short Gulf tour
Suspected US Airstrikes Kill at Least 6 People in Yemen
Trump considers pausing his auto tariffs as the world economy endures whiplash
Turkish Court Rejects Appeal Seeking Release of Key Erdogan Rival from Jail
Zelensky Urges Trump to Visit Ukraine to See War Devastation

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on April 14-15/2025
Is Lifting Sanctions Enough For Reconstruction In Syria?/Çeleng Omer/ MEMRI Daily Brief No. 752/April 14/2025
Palestinians: Slaughtering Jews While Falsely Using Al-Aqsa Mosque as a Pretext/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/April 14, 2025
Iranian and Armenian militaries drill as Azerbaijan hosts Israel-Turkey talks/Janatan Sayeh/ FDD's Long War Journal/April 14/2025
Why do Iraqi Shiites hate the new Syria and its leader?/Ahmad Sharawi/ FDD's Long War Journal/April 14/2025
Qatar Tacitly Approves Muslim Scholars’ Call for ‘Armed Jihad’ Against Israel/Natalie Ecanow & Mariam Wahba/FDD-Policy Brief/April 14/2025
What President Trump Must Demand to Eliminate Iran’s Nuclear Threat/Orde Kittrie, Andrea Stricker, Behnam Ben Taleblu/Insight/April 14/2025
Trump understands China is on its way to global domination and must be stopped/Elaine K. Dezenski/New York Post/April 14/2025
Against racism, for antisemitism: The message of a march in Paris/Ben Cohen/Jewish News Syndicate/April 14/2025 |
Maps that Are Fuel for the Fire of Negotiations/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
Trump, Khamenei, and the Return to Muscat/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 14-15/2025
Video & Text/April 13, 1975 – April 13, 2025: From Wounds to Victory, From Wars to Liberation and Peace
Elias Bejjani/April 13/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/04/142208/
On this very day, April 13, 1975, Lebanon entered one of the darkest chapters in its history. What took place was not merely the start of a civil war—it was the launch of a sinister and calculated scheme designed to destroy Lebanon’s identity, shatter its national unity, and transform it into a battlefield for foreign powers and their agendas.
This day marked the beginning of a period of blood and fire. Lebanon was dragged into long, devastating conflicts that violated its sovereignty, spilled the blood of its people, and opened the gates to foreign interventions. The state collapsed, its institutions crumbled, and its independence was hijacked by occupation plots, regional conspiracies, and internal betrayals.
But the most important truth remains: that dark day in Ain El-Remmaneh area was not simply the outbreak of civil war—it was the launch of an evil masterplan to annihilate Lebanon’s very existence, dismantle its society, and erase its unique identity. The plotters, both domestic and foreign, believed they could engulf our small nation. But they were met by a people of unwavering resilience and a sacred land that cannot be desecrated.
The crisis began with the cold-blooded assassination of Lebanese citizen Joseph Abu Aasi in Ain El-Remmaneh area and the attempted assassination of Sheikh Pierre Gemayel, head of the Kataeb Party. This was no random incident—it was the opening move in a deliberate conspiracy led by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Backed by jihadist, leftist, Ba'athist, and Arab nationalist movements, and aided by certain Arab regimes, the PLO aimed to turn Lebanon into an alternative homeland for Palestinians at the expense of the Lebanese people.
Yet, the free Lebanese rose up—Christians and sovereign-minded patriots from all sects united in resistance. Despite massacres, betrayals, and isolation, they endured. The PLO was expelled. The project of turning Lebanon into a substitute Palestinian homeland was defeated. And the right to national decision-making was reclaimed by the Lebanese people. Lebanon proved then, as it does now, that it is immune to foreign domination and cannot be ruled by the axes of political Islam—be they Sunni, Shiite, or the demagogic left in all their branches.
With the collapse of the Palestinian scheme, the Syrian Ba'athist regime stepped in. Under the false banner of the “Arab Deterrent Force,” President Hafez al-Assad’s Syrian army invaded and occupied Lebanon. It spread terror, imposed a reign of assassinations, arrests, massacres, and forced displacements. Freedoms were crushed. The state was suffocated. And Lebanon entered a long, dark tunnel of Ba'athist tyranny.
But Lebanon is no ordinary land—it is a divine endowment. The Syrian occupation eventually collapsed under the weight of its crimes. The Cedar Revolution of 2005 forced Assad’s army into a humiliating retreat. Hope was rekindled that Lebanon could rise again.
Yet that hope was short-lived. In place of the Syrian occupier came a more insidious and dangerous one: the Iranian occupation, imposed through Hezbollah—the Khomeinist, jihadist, terrorist militia. Cloaked in the false garb of “resistance” and “liberating Palestine,” Hezbollah hijacked the state, usurped the right to war and peace, and bound Lebanon to the Iranian regime’s expansionist “Wilayat al-Faqih” project.
Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into needless wars, filled the graves of honorable Shiites with its victims, and shattered the dreams of a generation. It severed Lebanon’s ties with its Arab brothers and the world. On October 8, 2023, it opened a reckless war front with Israel under direct orders from Tehran—another war Lebanon never asked for. Thousands of lives were lost, homes destroyed, and regions devastated. In the end, Hezbollah suffered a historic and crushing defeat.
Now, on April 13, 2025, hope is reborn. The era of Hezbollah’s occupation and Iranization is nearing its end. After its catastrophic failures, Hezbollah has lost most of its leaders, strongholds, and legitimacy. Across the region, Iran’s militias in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza are collapsing. The Assad regime has fallen. The Iranian expansionist project is in ruins. And the clerical regime in Tehran is now retreating, exposed and disgraced.
The Lebanese have always been a people of dignity and resistance—armed not with weapons of destruction, but with faith, hope, and a righteous cause. Their land is sacred. Their history is deeply rooted in the soil. Lebanon is not just a country; it is a divine inheritance. As the Old Testament says, it is the land of prophets, saints, and martyrs—protected by God. Those who seek to conquer it are destined to fall, because divine justice does not sleep.
We proclaim, with pride and certainty, that we have seen this divine justice with our own eyes. The PLO was expelled. The Syrian Ba’athists were humiliated and driven out. The Iranian regime and its militias are crumbling. Those who funded and abetted the occupations—whether in Yemen, Libya, or Somalia—have been scattered and broken. But Lebanon remains, sustained by its martyrs, its righteous people, and its unshakable faith.
To Hezbollah—the Persian, jihadist, terrorist militia—we say: your occupation has failed. Your weapons are a curse upon you. You are not a resistance but a mercenary militia in the service of a foreign regime. Lebanon is not yours. It never was, and it never will be.
In conclusion: because Lebanon is a sacred endowment to God, it will be liberated from the Iranian occupation. The Lebanese people, by God’s will, will prevail. The future belongs to them—not to any occupier, invader, or internal traitor. Eternal glory to our righteous martyrs who offered their lives with faith on the altar of freedom.

Palm Sunday ...The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Elias Bejjani/April 13, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/04/107794/
(Psalm118/26): "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of Yahweh! We have blessed You out of the house of Yahweh".
On the seventh Lantern Sunday, known as the "Palm Sunday", our Maronite Catholic Church celebrates the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The joyful and faithful people of this Holy City and their children welcomed Jesus with innocent spontaneity and declared Him a King. Through His glorious and modest entry the essence of His Godly royalty that we share with Him in baptism and anointing of Chrism was revealed. Jesus' Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem, the "Palm Sunday", marks the Seventh Lantern Sunday, the last one before Easter Day, (The Resurrection).
During the past six Lantern weeks, we the believers are ought to have renewed and rekindled our faith and reverence through genuine fasting, contemplation, penance, prayers, repentance and acts of charity. By now we are expected to have fully understood the core of love, freedom, and justice that enables us to enter into a renewed world of worship that encompasses the family, the congregation, the community and the nation.
Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time to participate in the Jewish Passover Holiday. He was fully aware that the day of His suffering and death was approaching and unlike all times, He did not stop the people from declaring Him a king and accepted to enter the city while they were happily chanting : "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”.(John 12/13). Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19/39-40). Jesus entered Jerusalem to willingly sacrifice Himself, die on the cross, redeem us and absolve our original sin.
On the Palm Sunday we take our children and grandchildren to celebrate the mass and the special procession while happily they are carrying candles decorated with lilies and roses. Men and women hold palm fronds with olive branches, and actively participate in the Palm Procession with modesty, love and joy crying out loudly: "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21/09).
On the Palm Sunday through the procession, prayers, and mass we renew our confidence and trust in Jesus. We beg Him for peace and commit ourselves to always tame all kinds of evil hostilities, forgive others and act as peace and love advocates and defend man's dignity and his basic human rights. "Ephesians 2:14": "For Christ Himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in His own body on the cross, He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us"
The Triumphal Entry of Jesus' story into Jerusalem appears in all four Gospel accounts (Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-19). The four accounts shows clearly that the Triumphal Entry was a significant event, not only to the people of Jesus’ day, but to Christians throughout history.
The Triumphal Entry as it appeared in Saint John's Gospel, (12/12-19), as follows : "On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!” Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written, “Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt. ”His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him. The multitude therefore that was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, was testifying about it. For this cause also the multitude went and met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “See how you accomplish nothing. Behold, the world has gone after him.” Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast. These, therefore, came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew came with Philip, and they told Jesus."
The multitude welcomed Jesus, His disciples and followers while chanting: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”.(John 12/13). His entry was so humble, meek simple and spontaneous. He did not ride in a chariot pulled by horses as earthly kings and conquerors do, He did not have armed guards, nor officials escorting him. He did not come to Jerusalem to fight, rule, judge or settle scores with any one, but to offer Himself a sacrifice for our salvation.
Before entering Jerusalem, He stopped in the city of Bethany, where Lazarus (whom he raised from the tomb) with his two sisters Mary and Martha lived. In Hebrew Bethany means "The House of the Poor". His stop in Bethany before reaching Jerusalem was a sign of both His acceptance of poverty and His readiness to offer Himself as a sacrifice. He is the One who accepted poverty for our own benefit and came to live in poverty with the poor and escort them to heaven, the Kingdom of His Father.
After His short Stop in Bethany, Jesus entered Jerusalem to fulfill all the prophecies, purposes and the work of the Lord since the dawn of history. All the scripture accounts were fulfilled and completed with his suffering, torture, crucifixion, death and resurrection. On the Cross, He cried with a loud voice: “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.(John19/30)
The multitude welcomed Jesus when He entered Jerusalem so one of the Old Testament prophecies would be fulfilled. (Zechariah 9:9-10): "Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth".
The crowd welcomed Jesus for different reasons and numerous expectations. There were those who came to listen to His message and believed in Him, while others sought a miraculous cure for their ailments and they got what they came for, but many others envisaged in Him a mortal King that could liberate their country, Israel, and free them from the yoke of the Roman occupation. Those were disappointed when Jesus told them: "My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom" (John 18/36)
Christ came to Jerusalem to die on its soil and fulfill the scriptures. It was His choice where to die in Jerusalem as He has said previously: "should not be a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem" (Luke 13/33): "Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem".
He has also warned Jerusalem because in it all the prophets were killed: (Luke 13:34-35): "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! "behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord".
Explanation of the Palm Sunday Procession Symbols
The crowd chanted, "Hosanna to the Son of David" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21/09), because Jesus was is a descendant of David. Hosanna in the highest is originated in the Psalm 118/25: "Please, LORD, please save us. Please, LORD, please give us success". It is a call for help and salvation as also meant by the Psalm 26/11: "But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me". Hosanna also means: God enlightened us and will never abandon us, Jesus' is a salvation for the world"
Spreading cloth and trees' branches in front of Jesus to walk on them was an Old Testament tradition that refers to love, obedience, submission, triumph and loyalty. (2 Kings 09/13): "They hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!". In the old days Spreading garments before a dignitary was a symbol of submission.
Zion is a hill in Jerusalem, and the "Daughter of Zion" is Jerusalem. The term is synonymous with "paradise" and the sky in its religious dimensions.
Carrying palm and olive branches and waving with them expresses joy, peace, longing for eternity and triumph. Palm branches are a sign of victory and praise, while Olive branches are a token of joy, peace and durability. The Lord was coming to Jerusalem to conquer death by death and secure eternity for the faithful. It is worth mentioning that the olive tree is a symbol for peace and its oil a means of holiness immortality with which Kings, Saints, children and the sick were anointed.
The name "King of Israel," symbolizes the kingship of the Jews who were waiting for Jehovah to liberate them from the Roman occupation.
O, Lord Jesus, strengthen our faith to feel closer to You and to Your mercy when in trouble;
O, Lord Jesus, empower us with the grace of patience and meekness to endure persecution, humiliation and rejection and always be Your followers.
O, Lord Let Your eternal peace and gracious love prevail all over the world.
A joyous Palm Sunday to all

Lebanon’s Liberation from Hezbollah’s Occupation needs the following steps
Elias Bejjani/April 12, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/04/142221/
Lebanon’s salvation lies in liberating its Shiite community from Hezbollah’s grip.
Hezbollah has turned Lebanon into a failed, isolated, and impoverished state.
The resistance narrative is fraudulent and has served only Iran’s expansionist agenda.
The state cannot coexist with a militia that operates above the law and constitution.
There can be no reform without restoring Lebanese sovereignty and dismantling Hezbollah’s parallel state.
International intervention under Chapter VII is necessary to enforce UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701.
The current ruling elite is complicit and benefits from the existing corrupt and criminal system.
Lebanon’s Shiites are victims of Hezbollah’s destructive ideology and policies.
A new national pact must be founded on state legitimacy, civil peace, and full independence.
Dialogue is futile when conducted under the intimidation of illegal weapons.
The path forward requires courageous leadership that prioritizes national interest over sectarian alliances.
The collapse of Hezbollah’s hegemony is the beginning of Lebanon’s rebirth.

Two video links to two interviews with Yousef Y. El-Khoury.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/04/142300/
Two video links to two exceptional interviews with the distinguished writer and director, the sovereign, brave, and knowledgeable Yousef Y. El-Khoury. In these interviews, he embodies all the corrupt, outdated political, partisan, and official standards in Lebanon. The discussion includes an in-depth reading into the series of leftist heresies, the deceit, debauchery, and obscenity of all the merchants of the terrorist “resistance,” as well as the crimes and occupation of the Persian Hezbollah. El-Khoury also presents his clear vision for restoring full independence and repelling the fossilized and worn-out cultures from Lebanon — the Lebanon of art, civilization, identity, history, freedoms, uniqueness, and singularity.

Salam meets al-Sharaa in Syria, talks to tackle disappeared persons
Agence France Presse/April 14/2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met Monday in Damascus with Syria's interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa, accompanied by a Lebanese ministerial delegation comprising the ministers of foreign affairs, defense and interior. The meeting was also attended by Syrian Defense Minister Asaad al-Shaibani. Governmental sources told the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal that “the visit comes at a sensitive time to discuss a number of files, topped by the issue of those who disappeared in Syrian prisons, the file of agreements between the two countries, the issue of closing smuggling border crossings, the abolition of the Syrian-Lebanese council, the facilitation of the passage of trucks and exports from Lebanon to Arab countries, and the file of the displaced Syrians in Lebanon.”The two sides will also discuss the formation of special committees to study all files and find suitable solutions, the sources added. It is the first trip to Damascus by a senior Lebanese official since a new government was formed in Beirut in February, two months after an Islamist-led alliance ousted longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad. This visit is "key to correcting the course of ties between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect," a Lebanese official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media. Beirut and Damascus have been seeking to improve ties since the overthrow of Assad, whose family dynasty commanded a decades-long tutelage over Lebanon and is accused of assassinating numerous Lebanese officials who expressed opposition to its rule. The official said Monday's discussions were expected to include controlling and demarcating the porous, 330-kilometer shared border, as well as combatting smuggling. Last month during a visit to Saudi Arabia, the Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers signed an agreement to address security and military threats along the border, after clashes left 10 dead. Lebanon is expected to seek the new Syrian authorities' assistance on "the formation of a commission of inquiry into a large number of assassinations in Lebanon over which the former regime is accused," the official said. Salam is also expected to raise "the return of Syrian refugees," the official added. Lebanese authorities say the small, crisis-hit country hosts some 1.5 million Syrians who fled war in their country since 2011, while the U.N. refugee agency says it has registered some 750,000 of them. Salam said Sunday he would also raise the issue of Lebanese nationals who were detained and disappeared in Syria's notorious prisons under the Assad dynasty's iron-fisted rule. In January, former Lebanese premier Najib Mikati met with Sharaa, in the first visit by a Lebanese head of government to Damascus since Syria's civil war erupted. In December, Sharaa said his country would not negatively interfere in Lebanon and would respect its neighbor's sovereignty.

Lebanon’s PM Visits Syrian President to Discuss Border Demarcation and Security
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam led a high-level ministerial delegation to Syria on Monday for talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, marking the most significant diplomatic visit between the two countries since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December. "My visit to Damascus today aims to open a new page in the history of relations between the two countries, based on mutual respect, restoring trust, good neighborliness," Salam said in a statement on X.
At the center of discussions was implementing a March 28 agreement signed in Saudi Arabia by the Syrian and Lebanese defense ministers to demarcate land and sea borders and improve coordination on border security issues, Salam said in the statement.
The Lebanese-Syrian border witnessed deadly clashes earlier this year and years of unrest in the frontier regions, which have been plagued by weapons and illicit drug smuggling through illegal crossings. During Monday’s meeting, Salam and Sharaa agreed to form a joint ministerial committee to oversee the implementation of the border agreement, close illegal crossings and suppress smuggling activity along the border. The border area, especially near Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and Syria’s Qusayr region, has long been a corridor for illicit trade, arms trafficking, and the movement of fighters — including Hezbollah fighters who backed the Assad government during Syria’s 14-year civil war. Hezbollah has been significantly weakened in its recent war with Israel and since Assad's ousting, it lost several key smuggling routes it once relied on for weapons transfers.
Lebanon also pressed Syria to provide clarity on the fate of thousands of Lebanese nationals who were forcibly disappeared or imprisoned in Syrian jails in the 1980s and 1990s, during Syria’s nearly 30-year military presence in Lebanon. Human rights groups have long documented the lack of accountability and transparency regarding these cases, with families of the missing holding regular demonstrations in Beirut demanding answers. Syrian officials for their part raised the issue of Syrian nationals detained in Lebanese prisons, Salam said. Many of the detainees were arrested for illegal entry or alleged involvement in militant activity. Rights advocates in both countries have criticized the lack of due process in many of these cases and the poor conditions inside detention facilities.
Lebanon pledged to hand over people implicated in crimes committed by the Assad government and security forces, many of whom are believed to have fled to Lebanon after the government’s collapse, if found on Lebanese soil, a ministerial source told The Associated Press.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly comment. In return, Lebanese officials requested the extradition of Syrians wanted in Lebanese courts for high-profile political assassinations, "most notably those involved in the bombing of the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques, those convicted of assassinating President Bashir Gemayel, and other crimes for which the Assad regime is accused," Salam said. For decades, Lebanon witnessed a long series of politically motivated assassinations targeting journalists, politicians and security officials, particularly those opposed to Syrian influence. The 2013 twin bombings of the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques in Tripoli in northern Lebanon killed more than 40 people and intensified sectarian tensions already heightened by the spillover from the Syrian war.
Syria has never officially acknowledged involvement in any of Lebanon’s political assassinations. Salam said he also pushed for renewed cooperation on the return of Syrian refugees. Lebanese government officials estimate the country hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, of whom about 755,000 are officially registered with the UN refugee agency, or UNHCR, making it the country with the highest number of refugees per capita in the world. While Lebanese authorities have long urged the international community to support large-scale repatriation efforts, human rights organizations have cautioned against forced returns, citing ongoing security concerns and a lack of guarantees in Syria. Since the fall of Assad in December, an estimated 400,000 refugees have returned to Syria from neighboring countries, according to UNHCR, with about half of them coming from Lebanon, but many are hesitant to return because of the dire economic situation and fears of continuing instability in Syria.

Lebanese president says Hezbollah disarmament will come through dialogue not 'force'
Sally Abou Aljoud And Abby Sewell/AP/April 14, 2025
BEIRUT — Lebanon's president said Monday that the disarmament of the militant group Hezbollah will come through negotiations as part of a national defense strategy and not through “force.” The Lebanese government has made a decision that “weapons will only be in the hands of the state,” but there are “discussions around how to implement this decision,” President Joseph Aoun said in an interview with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera. Those discussions are in the form of a “bilateral dialogue” between the presidency and Hezbollah, he said. Lebanon has been under pressure by the United States to speed up the disarmament of Hezbollah but there are fears within Lebanon that forcing the issue could lead to civil conflict. “Civil peace is a red line for me,” Aoun said. Aoun said the Lebanese army — of which he was formerly commander — is “doing its duty” in confiscating weapons and dismantling unauthorized military facilities in southern Lebanon, as outlined in the ceasefire agreement that ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in late November, and sometimes in areas farther north.
Lebanon-Syria talks in Damascus
Also on Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam led a high-level ministerial delegation to Syria for talks with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, marking the most significant diplomatic visit between the two countries since the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in December. "My visit to Damascus today aims to open a new page in the history of relations between the two countries, based on mutual respect, restoring trust, good neighborliness," Salam said in a statement on X. At the center of discussions was implementing a March 28 agreement signed in Saudi Arabia by the Syrian and Lebanese defense ministers to demarcate land and sea borders and improve coordination on border security issues, Salam said in the statement. The Lebanese-Syrian border witnessed deadly clashes earlier this year and years of unrest in the frontier regions, which have been plagued by weapons and illicit drug smuggling through illegal crossings. During Monday’s meeting, Salam and Sharaa agreed to form a joint ministerial committee to oversee the implementation of the border agreement, close illegal crossings and suppress smuggling activity along the border. The border area has long been a corridor for illicit trade, arms trafficking, and the movement of fighters — including Hezbollah militants who backed the Assad government during Syria’s 14-year civil war. Hezbollah has been significantly weakened in its recent war with Israel and since Assad's ousting, it lost several key smuggling routes it once relied on for weapons transfers. Seeking clarity on disappeared and imprisoned Lebanese in Syria
Lebanon also pressed Syria to provide clarity on the fate of thousands of Lebanese nationals who were forcibly disappeared or imprisoned in Syrian jails in the 1980s and 1990s, during Syria’s nearly 30-year military presence in Lebanon. Syrian officials for their part raised the issue of Syrian nationals detained in Lebanese prisons, Salam said. Rights advocates in both countries have criticized the lack of due process in many of these cases and the poor conditions inside detention facilities. Lebanon pledged to hand over people implicated in crimes committed by the Assad government and security forces, many of whom are believed to have fled to Lebanon after the government’s collapse, if found on Lebanese soil, a ministerial source told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly comment. In return, Lebanese officials requested the extradition of Syrians wanted in Lebanese courts for high-profile political assassinations, Salam said. Lebanon witnessed a series of politically motivated assassinations targeting journalists, politicians and security officials, particularly those opposed to Syrian influence. The 2013 twin bombings of the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques in Tripoli in northern Lebanon killed more than 40 people and intensified sectarian tensions already heightened by the spillover from the Syrian war. Syria has never officially acknowledged involvement in any of Lebanon’s political assassinations. Salam said he also pushed for renewed cooperation on the return of Syrian refugees. Lebanese government officials estimate the country hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, of whom about 755,000 are officially registered with the U.N. refugee agency, or UNHCR, making it the country with the highest number of refugees per capita in the world. While Lebanese authorities have long urged the international community to support large-scale repatriation efforts, human rights organizations have cautioned against forced returns. Since the fall of Assad in December, an estimated 400,000 refugees have returned to Syria from neighboring countries, according to UNHCR, with about half of them coming from Lebanon, but many are hesitant to return because of the dire economic situation and fears of continuing instability in Syria. Syria's ambassador to Russia denies requesting asylum
Also on Monday, Russia’s state Tass news agency reported that Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Bashar Jaafari has requested asylum in Russia. The report, which wasn’t confirmed by the authorities, followed Russian media claims that the interim government had asked Jaafari, a longtime ally of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, to return to Damascus. Jaafari later denied asking for asylum in an interview with RIA Novosti, another Russian state news agency.
Sally Abou Aljoud And Abby Sewell, The Associated Press

Lebanese army mourns officer killed in blast near Tyre
LBCI/April 14/2025
The Lebanese army announced the death of Warrant Officer Fadi Mohammad Al-Jassem, who was killed Monday in an explosion at a military position in the Wadi Al-Aaziyyeh area near Tyre, southern Lebanon. According to a statement, the blast was caused by a suspicious object at one of the sites where the army operates. The army said funeral arrangements would be announced at a later time.

Saudi envoy Yazid bin Farhan meets with Aoun
Naharnet/April 14/2025
The Saudi envoy in charge of the Lebanese file, Prince Yazid bin Farhan, met Monday morning with President Joseph Aoun in Baabda, LBCI TV reported. The meeting tackled “the developments in Lebanon and the region,” LBCI said. Aoun had visited Saudi Arabia last month on his first trip to a foreign country since being elected president. During that visit, Aoun and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman stressed “the importance of the full implementation of the Taif Agreement and the relevant U.N. resolutions.”They also emphasized the need for “the state’s expansion of its sovereignty across Lebanese territory” and “monopolizing weapons in the hands of the Lebanese state,” while underscoring “the national role of the Lebanese Army and the importance of supporting it, and the need for the Israeli occupation army’s withdrawal from all Lebanese territory.”

President Aoun: No normalization talks with Israel; army active south of Litani without ‘Hezbollah interference’
LBCI/April 14/2025
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stated that the Lebanese army is carrying out its duties south of the Litani River, dismantling tunnels and seizing weapons without interference from Hezbollah. He emphasized that Hezbollah recognizes Lebanon's interests and that international and regional circumstances are favorable to this cooperation. President Aoun also noted coordination with Syrian leadership to secure the borders and expressed hope for the establishment of committees to demarcate both land and maritime borders. In a Monday interview with Al Jazeera, President Aoun clarified that the issue of normalization with Israel has not been raised with Lebanon. He reiterated that Lebanon is committed to the resolutions of the Beirut Summit and the Riyadh Conference, supporting the formation of military, civilian, and technical committees to stabilize the country’s southern borders. The Lebanese president also affirmed Lebanon’s support for returning to the 1949 armistice agreement. He added that discussions on weapon exclusivity would be bilateral, specifically between the presidency and Hezbollah. President Aoun also stressed that the decision to centralize weaponry in the state's hands has been made, with its implementation to occur through dialogue, not force

Aoun says army implementing 1701, Lebanon determined to carry out reforms
Naharnet/April 14/2025
President Joseph Aoun said Monday that the army is implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 in the southern villages and towns."The army is fully performing its duties in the villages and towns from which the Israelis withdrew, which confirms its ability to protect the citizens," Aoun said as he met with member of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. During his meeting with U.S. official Paul Grove, Aoun said Lebanon is determined to overcome any obstacles that may arise in the path of reform.
"The reform process has begun, and it is certainly in Lebanon's interest before being a response to the international community's calls," Aoun told Grove. Grove stressed for his part the willingness of his country to continue to support Lebanon.

Fadlallah: Those who don’t see Israel as enemy must not be part of dialogue
Naharnet/April 14/2025
Hezbollah will not hold a dialogue over its weapons with "those who do not consider Israel an enemy", the group's MP Hassan Fadlallah said Monday, as President Joseph Aoun renewed his appeal for Hezbollah to lay down its weapons. Aoun said many times that Hezbollah's disarmament can only happen through dialogue and not by force and that Hezbollah "has shown a lot of leniency, flexibility and cooperation over the arms issue."Hezbollah for its part is reportedly ready to hold talks with Aoun about its weapons in the context of a national defense strategy but only after Israel withdraws from south Lebanon and stops its strikes and violations. "We will not engage in a dialogue with those who are promoting and justifying the Israeli aggressions, these people have gone beyond logic, integrity, and patriotism," Fadlallah said, accusing the United States of orchestrating a "campaign against the resistance."Fadlallah said Hezbollah has completed 80 percent of the shelter and restoration project of areas hit by Israel in more than a year of war with Hezbollah, despite "obstruction attempts" and called on the state to shoulder its responsibilities in the reconstruction of the destroyed buildings and civil infrastructure. Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji said last week that Lebanon has been clearly informed by U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus and others that it can't rebuild what Israel has destroyed unless Hezbollah is disarmed.
"We refuse to link the reconstruction to anything else," Fadlallah said.

Hezbollah arms 'dialogue mechanism' to be activated after Easter amid optimism
Naharnet/April 14/2025
The dialogue proposed by President Joseph Aoun over the issue of Hezbollah’s arms does not involve holding national dialogue sessions in the vein of those that were held in the past, a media report said. “There will be a specific mechanism for dialogue between Hezbollah and Presiden Aoun, with participation and full coordination from Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Monday. “This mechanism will be more effective and practical than a broad dialogue conference that would be strongly opposed by some sides,” the daily added, quoting informed sources as saying that “this course enjoys support from Hezbollah as well as from its rivals.”“This mechanism will be activated after the holidays,” the sources added, expressing optimism over a possible “calm solution for the weapons file that would be based on realism and understanding by the two sides -- the state and Hezbollah -- based on the two sides’ awareness of the dangers of the current period in Lebanon and the region.”

All depositors will get their money back 'over time', Economy minister says
Naharnet/April 14/2025
Lebanese depositors will get their money back "but it may take time", Economy Minister Amer Bisat said Monday. "Nobody will lose their deposits but it may take time," Bisat told American news agency Bloomberg, adding that he believes that parliament will pass a draft law on restructuring Lebanon's banking sector within few weeks. Cabinet had approved the law Saturday, in a bid to unlock international aid to help it emerge from an economic crisis it has suffered since 2019. The state, the central bank and local banks will share the bulk of losses, Bisat explained. Lebanese officials including new central bank governor Karim Souaid are due to meet IMF representatives later this month at a World Bank meeting in Washington. Lebanon's economic crash since 2019 has seen the Lebanese pound lose most of its value against the U.S. dollar and pushed much of the population into poverty, with ordinary people locked out of their savings. The international community has long demanded major fiscal reforms to unlock billions of dollars in international aid to restart the Lebanese economy in the wake of the crisis, blamed on mismanagement and corruption. President Joseph Aoun said Monday that reforms are not just a response to the international community's calls but should be carried out for Lebanon's own benefit.

Bassil says supports state, presidency against any 'militia'
Naharnet /April 14/2025
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said his party supports the state against any "militia", as President Joseph Aoun renewed his appeal for Hezbollah to lay down its weapons. "We have never been and we will never be a militia," Bassil said Sunday, adding that his party supports the state, the Lebanese army, the presidency, and all constitutional and legitimate institutions against any militia. "When the state fails, when the militias win, we go back to war," he said in a speech marking the anniversary of the outbreak of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. The FPM was against the election of President Aoun and withheld confidence from PM Nawaf Salam's government. In its ministerial statement, the government also said that the Lebanese state should be the sole bearer of arms. Bassil called Sunday for reforms, distancing Lebanon from regional conflicts, and protecting it. "Resisting the occupation is a right but it is necessary to build a state that protects the country," he said. A source close to Hezbollah had said that most military sites belonging to the group in southern Lebanon have been placed under Lebanese Army control. A November 27 ceasefire that ended more than a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war, stipulated that only United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon's army should be deployed in the south. The deal required Hezbollah to dismantle its remaining military infrastructure in the south and move its fighters north of the Litani River.

Lebanon eyes financial trust boost at IMF, World Bank spring meetings
LBCI/April 14/2025
A week before the 2025 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington, the official Lebanese delegation has outlined its plan of action. It intends to present to IMF officials a revised approach, demonstrating that Lebanon has shifted its handling of the financial and economic crisis and is genuinely committed to launching a path of reform and recovery. The meeting brought together Lebanon’s finance and economy ministers, the newly appointed central bank governor, three presidential advisers, and officials from the Finance Ministry. They agreed to attend the meetings with a unified position, bolstered by the Cabinet’s approval of two draft laws—one to amend banking secrecy regulations and another to restructure the banking sector. However, implementation is pending the passage of legislation to address the financial gap and assign accountability. The delegation will also present an overview of Lebanon’s financial, monetary, and economic conditions, along with a detailed plan to address various challenges within a broader reform framework and contribute to the country’s recovery. The Lebanese delegation is also expected to discuss with the World Bank how to initiate the reconstruction loan process, specifically to remove debris from areas damaged by the war.  About $250 million has been secured so far, and Lebanon aims to secure an additional $750 million during the Washington meetings, bringing the total to $1 billion.

Parity or power play? Beirut’s municipal race heats up amid shifting alliances
LBCI/April 14/2025
Last Tuesday, two Lebanese MPs — Edgard Traboulsi and Nicolas Sehnaoui — were told by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at Ain el-Tineh that he was willing to proceed with any law that would guarantee parity in the Beirut municipal council. He even signaled readiness to call a parliamentary session to discuss the matter. However, the two MPs were surprised when Berri stated in a Sunday press interview that amending the municipal elections law was now unlikely due to time constraints. While the reasons behind Berri’s change in stance remain unclear, MPs from the Development and Liberation bloc argue that now is not the time for a potentially fruitless constitutional debate that could derail the elections—something firmly opposed by the Hezbollah-Amal Movement alliance. From their perspective, postponing elections would serve Israel’s interests by undermining stability in the south. Meanwhile, sources indicate a strong Sunni stance against amending any legal provisions related to the structure of the municipal council without also introducing changes to the powers of the governor, who holds executive authority in Beirut.
Amid these tensions, political coordination is intensifying to safeguard parity through a broad alliance involving various parties. Advanced talks have been held between MP Nabil Badr, Al-Ahbash, the Free Patriotic Movement, and the Islamic Group.
Badr said contacts are also underway with the Lebanese Forces, and a final response is pending. The outreach extends to Hezbollah and the Amal Movement as well, in hopes of securing parity, which now appears under threat in the absence of mobilization by the Future Movement—once the dominant electoral force in Beirut. Today, Badr says the alliance he is helping to form will uphold parity, especially since the Future Movement’s base is expected to rally behind it if the party does not directly contest the elections. Meanwhile, the "Association of Islamic Charitable Projects" claims to now hold the largest Sunni voting bloc in Beirut, totaling 14,000 voters. These dynamics reflect growing uncertainty ahead of the municipal vote. No final lists have been formed yet, and the shape of electoral alliances remains fluid. However, the race is expected to be competitive, with multiple lists likely to emerge—including one backed by MPs Ibrahim Mneimneh and Paula Yacoubian. They argue that invoking “parity” is merely a smokescreen used by establishment parties to avoid genuine electoral confrontation.

50 Years after Lebanon's Civil War Began, a Bullet-riddled Bus Stands as a Reminder
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
It was an ordinary day in Beirut. In one part of Lebanon's capital, a church was inaugurated, with the leader of the Christian Kataeb party there. In another, Palestinian factions held a military parade. Kataeb and Palestinians had clashed, again, that morning. What happened next on April 13, 1975, would change the course of Lebanon, plunging it into 15 years of civil war that would kill about 150,000 people, leave 17,000 missing and lead to foreign intervention. Beirut became synonymous with snipers, kidnappings and car bombs.
Lebanon has never fully grappled with the war's legacy, and in many ways it has never fully recovered, 50 years later. The government on Sunday marked the anniversary with a small ceremony and minute of silence, a rare official acknowledgement of the legacy of the conflict. The massacre Unrest had been brewing. Palestinian militants had begun launching attacks against Israel from Lebanese territory. Leftist groups and many Muslims in Lebanon sympathized with the Palestinian cause. Christians and some other groups saw the Palestinian militants as a threat. At the time, Mohammad Othman was 16, a Palestinian refugee in the Tel al-Zaatar camp east of Beirut. Three buses had left camp that morning, carrying students like him as well as militants from a coalition of hardline factions that had broken away from the Palestinian Liberation Organization. They passed through the Ein Rummaneh neighborhood without incident and joined the military parade. The buses were supposed to return together, but some participants were tired after marching and wanted to go back early. They hired a small bus from the street, Othman said. Thirty-three people packed in. They were unaware that earlier that day, small clashes had broken out between Palestinians and Kataeb Party members guarding the church in Ein Rummaneh. A bodyguard for party leader Pierre Gemayel had been killed.
Suddenly the road was blocked, and gunmen began shooting at the bus “from all sides,” Othman recalled. Some passengers had guns they had carried in the parade, Othman said, but they were unable to draw them quickly in the crowded bus. A camp neighbor fell dead on top of him. The man’s 9-year-old son was also killed. Othman was shot in the shoulder. “The shooting didn’t stop for about 45 minutes until they thought everyone was dead,” he said. Othman said paramedics who eventually arrived had a confrontation with armed men who tried to stop them from evacuating him, The Associated Press said. Twenty-two people were killed.
Conflicting narratives
Some Lebanese say the men who attacked the bus were responding to an assassination attempt against Gemayel by Palestinian militants. Others say the Kataeb had set up an ambush intended to spark a wider conflict. Marwan Chahine, a Lebanese-French journalist who wrote a book about the events of April 13, 1975, said he believes both narratives are wrong. Chahine said he found no evidence of an attempt to kill Gemayel, who had left the church by the time his bodyguard was shot. And he said the attack on the bus appeared to be more a matter of trigger-happy young men at a checkpoint than a “planned operation.”There had been past confrontations, "but I think this one took this proportion because it arrived after many others and at a point when the authority of the state was very weak,” Chahine said. The Lebanese army had largely ceded control to militias, and it did not respond to the events in Ein Rummaneh that day. The armed Palestinian factions had been increasingly prominent in Lebanon after the PLO was driven out of Jordan in 1970, and Lebanese Christians had also increasingly armed themselves. “The Kataeb would say that the Palestinians were a state within a state,” Chahine said. “But the reality was, you had two states in a state. Nobody was following any rules." Selim Sayegh, a member of parliament with the Kataeb Party who was 14 and living in Ein Rummaneh when the fighting started, said he believes war had been inevitable since the Lebanese army backed down from an attempt to take control of Palestinian camps two years earlier. Sayegh said men at the checkpoint that day saw a bus full of Palestinians with “weapons apparent” and "thought that is the second wave of the operation” that started with the killing of Gemayel's bodyguard.
The war unfolded quickly from there. Alliances shifted. New factions formed. Israel and Syria occupied parts of the country. The United States intervened, and the US embassy and Marine barracks were targeted by bombings. Beirut was divided between Christian and Muslim sectors. In response to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, a Shiite militant group was formed in the early 1980s with Iranian backing: Hezbollah. It would grow to be arguably the most powerful armed non-state group in the region. Hezbollah was the only militant group allowed to keep its weapons after Lebanon's civil war, given special status as a “resistance force” because Israel was still in southern Lebanon. After the group was badly weakened last year in a war with Israel that ended with a ceasefire, there has been increasing pressure for it to disarm.
The survivors
Othman said he became a fighter after the war started because “there were no longer schools or anything else to do.” Later he would disarm and became a pharmacist. He remembers being bewildered when a peace accord in 1989 ushered in the end of civil war: “All this war and bombing, and in the end they make some deals and it’s all over.” Of the 10 others who survived the bus attack, he said, three were killed a year later when Christian militias attacked the Tel al-Zaatar camp. Another was killed in a 1981 bombing at the Iraqi embassy. A couple died of natural causes, one lives in Germany, and he has lost track of the others.
The bus has also survived, as a reminder.
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the attack, it was towed from storage on a farm to the private Nabu Museum in Heri, north of Beirut. Visitors took photos with it and peered into bullet holes in its rusted sides. Ghida Margie Fakih, a museum spokesperson, said the bus will remain on display indefinitely as a “wake-up call” to remind Lebanese not to go down the path of conflict again. The bus “changed the whole history in Lebanon and took us somewhere that nobody wanted to go,” she said.

Lebanon: The Staggering Transition
Dr. Charles Chartouni/This is Beirut/April 14/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/04/142312/
Foreign observers wonder why the transition seems to be so awkward at a time when the proper conditions for an orderly political change are in place. Far from being accidental, these botched opportunities are ascribed to systemic factors related to undermined national legitimacy, curtailed sovereignty, dysfunctional governance, and regional imperial inroads that distorted the very nature of domestic political life. Fifty years after the onset of the Civil War, Lebanon is still trapped in the middle of the centrifugal entropies that have eaten at the very roots of its raison d’être. Nothing was left in place, and nothing is likely to be brought back into order as long as the fundamentals of national legitimacy and functioning statehood are not restored.
The idleness of the current political debate around the restoration of state sovereignty is still marred by ideological obfuscations, moral equivocations and calculated malevolence, which add to the miseries of our country: “Misnaming things adds to the world’s misfortune.” After the disastrous war launched by Hezbollah in 2023 and its cortège of calamities, it was time to take a pause and review retrospectively and critically our actual whereabouts and decide on the new course that we needed to take if we were to overcome the self-inflicted damnations. Unfortunately, Hezbollah and the totalitarian enthrallment that took over the Shiite community are not yet ready to overcome the state of arrogance, denial of reality and self-righteousness that have hobbled the critical retrospection.
The newly elected and nominated executive power has failed so far to undergo a reality check and has deliberately chosen to overlook the emerging geostrategic realities in order to take stock of the desolation left by the senseless war of 2023 and come to terms with its strategic, political and moral consequences. The tragedies that have befallen the country are the results of ideological mystification, flawed strategic calculations and elusive political objectives. Lebanon has no responsibility whatsoever and should hold Hezbollah exclusively responsible for the actual predicament. The Lebanese government should honor its commitment and expand the scope of peacemaking toward the formalization of a peace treaty with Israel to put an end to the unending cycles of violence.
The positions of the executive branch are totally wrong, since it refuses to assume its part of the responsibility in the truce agreement and move ahead with its political and military assignments and, worse still, it works on accommodating Hezbollah’s mutating agenda. The statements of the president, the prime minister and their lieutenants are defiant and irresponsibly challenging the international resolutions while time is running out and the faltering chances of the truce are numbered by the day. Such is the lamentable behavior of the rump parliament run by a corrupt autocrat for over thirty-three years. The rhetoric of victimization and self-pitying belligerence has become self-defeating and partakes of a mechanism of psychotic defenses.
The purported actors should either engage the international dynamic and take upon themselves the fulfillment of its mandates or prepare for the resumption of war and its irreversible geostrategic ramifications. The escapist posture connotes immaturity and betrays the weaknesses of a deeply fractured political landscape and a disintegrating polity. This state of prostration displays the structural fault lines of a failed polity, its inability to evolve democratic consensuses, operate functional non-corrupt governance and assume its responsibilities within the international community. The lack of cohesion of the executive branch, the servility of a rump parliament and an instrumentalized judiciary have battered the notion of the constitutional state, the separation of powers and the full exercise of sovereignty.
Otherwise, the impact of negotiations between the United States and Iran is decisive insofar as military denuclearization, the end of the Iranian destabilization strategy, and its network of terrorist movements, rogue states and organized criminality are concerned. The failure to address these thorny issues is likely to backfire, lead to war, and put at stake the civil concord in a country deeply polarized and where the faltering credentials of the Islamic regime are running their course. The presumed support of the neo-totalitarian axis is, in all probability, defaulting and unlikely to be enlisted in any conflict scenario. The Iranian regime and its Lebanese clone have no other choice but to bet on civil war and the spawning of chaos.
In counterpart, the neo-Ottoman imperialist drive of the Islamist regime in Istanbul is thwarted by a highly determined Israeli counteroffensive bent on setting the coordinates of a new geopolitical order along the intersection of strategic containment and the integration of the domestic political dynamics and their shifting fault lines. Unfortunately, nothing is promising in Lebanon and the Near East as long as the foundations of geostrategic and political stability remain unsettled and conflicts are not abating.

Lebanon looks back, but is April 13 best forgotten?
Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/April 14, 2025
Do we really have to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of the Lebanese civil war? We are still too busy still thinking of the more recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and we are not even sure it is over yet. More importantly, the people who fought each other in that so-called civil war are now the staunchest of allies in a political confrontation with Hezbollah about its arms and its role in the current war. What is the point of reminding them that at one point they were killing each other?
Memory, as the philosopher Bashshar Haydar explained, is internalized. This ideally means that past events are digested and what remains are the useful lessons, with the useless toxic bits discarded. Historically, the Lebanese norm is a form of amnesia, but ignoring a painful past also means a desire to move on, a will to forgive and forget, of looking forward instead of back. The point is to take measures for it not to happen again, and there are many popular proverbs that support this attitude of “turning the page,” “mention it but never repeat it,” “stuff it in the saddle bag,” and ignore it. This is not South Africa with truth commissions and accountability, unsure how it helps the healing if you have to reopen old wounds. Accountability also needs a clear picture of the guilty party, which may not help if you have to find a way of living together again. Clarity is also overrated — each side deals with the truth in their own way, and there develops a common language. After the 1860 massacres in Mount Lebanon there was an agreement that “what is past is past” and the parties resisted European suggestions of separate cantons. The result was a formula for coexistence that remains to this day, a council with representation from all communities, and where none can dominate over the others. This was repeated over the years: in the constitution of 1926, the National Pact of 1943 and the Taif agreement of 1989.
The Lebanese love their freedom to the point of anarchy
In 2005, during the Cedar Revolution, demonstrators asked for the truth and for accountability via a UN-sponsored investigation and a Special Tribunal for Lebanon. But when the truth came and was confirmed by the tribunal, it was too hot to handle and was quietly ignored. Nobody is asking for accountability; the truth became a memory, and was internalized, and we moved on. Agreements are, of course, always broken, and they are repaired or patched up with slogans such as “no victor and no vanquished“’ after 1958, “one Lebanon and not two,” or the Baabda Declaration of 2012 where the different parties pledged to recuse themselves from following their instincts to interfere in the Syrian war and respect Lebanese sovereignty. This was again broken by Hezbollah, which not only joined the action in Syria, but also dragged the country into another destructive war with Israel.
A new generation seems to think differently and is asking. what is wrong with us? Hezbollah did not exist before 1982, so it cannot be the only problem. They are asking for a radical revision of the system almost to the point of destroying it. The revolt of October 2019 had a nihilistic and populist bent to it; the masses were shouting slogans against the whole political class, political parties, banks, the economic system, and the power-sharing formula which they describe as sectarianism. Some even ask for a strong leader, an Ataturk or a benevolent dictator because we have all failed and deserve no better. What they seem to be asking for resembles nothing in Lebanon. But my hope is that through these discussions they will end up appreciating their history better and maintaining the spirit of the power-sharing formula that characterizes the country. What makes me optimistic is that sometimes there is a difference between what people think, what they say, and what they end up doing. The best way to understand this is to observe what is happening now.
Hezbollah is not being held responsible — there are no calls for accountability for the destruction, deaths and human suffering that resulted from a war that it chose to wage with no consultation with the rest of the country. It is not being asked for damages; the whole country is accepting it will assume responsibility for reconstruction. Instead Hezbollah is being encouraged to apply the Taif Agreement by disarming and joining the political process. It is a subconscious repetition of the old slogans, letting bygones be bygones, “the past is past,” there are “no winners and no losers,” and there is “one Lebanon, not two.” During the war this fall, displaced Hezbollah supporters were received with open arms, even in the areas that opposed it most. Those who fought each other are now the staunchest of allies
It is almost like a selective memory is paving the way again for an eventual amnesia, forgetting what happened and moving on. Even though it sounds like I am advocating against the commemoration of April 13, I find one reasoning for doing so to be valid, that of historian Makram Rabah of the American University of Beirut. Rabah, who specializes in memory and oral history, advocates for the commemoration in order to avoid the misuse of memory by spoilers and trouble-makers. This does not necessarily mean that there should be an official common account of history, but of a continuous discussion of a variety of perspectives. One danger is that an official version of a common history has sometimes accompanied the call for memory. This is done with the best of intentions — such as the aim to maintain social cohesiveness and preserve national unity, sovereignty, and equality among citizens, similar to Kemalist Turkiye. This can, in fact, hinder a positive discussion, with anyone who thinks critically of the official version then accused of fomenting division and becoming a threat to national unity and social cohesion. Then the common version becomes like an oppressive big brother-type narrative, with its own vocabulary that no one can question. Another obvious conclusion to avoid is that there is a zero-sum game between freedom and security. The Lebanese love their freedom to the point of anarchy. But when chaos sets in, they become more accepting of authority to the point they also tolerate limits to their freedoms. The argument is that both the PLO in the 1960s and Hezbollah as states within a state were regional phenomena which could only flourish in Lebanon because of the weak state and excessive freedom. Neither could have succeeded in an authoritarian society such Assad’s Syria or Saddam’s Iraq, but we should also avoid moving toward seeing them as desirable models.
**Nadim Shehadi is an economist and political adviser. X: @Confusezeus

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 14-15/2025
Video Link to a commentary by Raymond Ibrahim/KAFIR: Proof that Islam Hates and Demonizes All Non-Muslims
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-L6DQwyxls&t=1s
Raymond Ibrahim/April 14/2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s tattoos are back in the news. A few months ago I discussed his Crusader tattoos, but now it’s his tattoo of an Arabic word — kafir — that is creating much outrage amongst Muslims. Below I break down what this troubling word means in Arabic and Islamic law, and what Muslims are really angry about:
Koran verses describing kuffar as “worst of beasts” (8:55, 98:6); cattle, and just as dumb (47:12, 8:65); “guilty,” “unjust,” and “criminal” (10:17, 45:31, 68:35; 39:32); “sworn enemies” of Muslims and Islam (4:101); “disliked” and “accursed” by Allah (2:89, 3:32, 33:64). The Islamic deity is himself their declared enemy (2:98) who requires that “terror be cast into their hearts” (3:151). Muslim clerics arguing against the execution of a Muslim murderer of American diplomat John Granville -- because the blood of a Muslim is superior to that of a kafir -- here: https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2013/1... Egyptian Sheikh Hashish explaining that “of course the blood of the Muslim is superior. This is not open to debate,” here: https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2019/0...
Original Arabic video here: • لا يقتل المسلم بالكافر لان المسلم اعل...
لا يقتل المسلم بالكافر لان المسلم اعلى شأنا ً من الكافر
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0wcC4ad43U

Video Link/Erdogan, the Neo-Ottoman: Turkish Without the Delight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKKWGhI3voc&t=3s
Clifford D. May & Sinan Ciddi/ Foreign Podicy/April 14/2025
If you were to visit Turkey years ago, it might’ve felt both Middle Eastern and European. It was Muslim and secular. It was, more or less, free and democratic.
Host Cliff May says the food was great, too. Now? Well, he’s told the food is still great.
To explain what has happened and what is happening in Turkey, Cliff is joined by his FDD colleague Sinan Ciddi.
About Sinan
Sinan is also an Associate Professor of National Security Studies at the Marine Corps University in Quantico. Earlier, Sinan was Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, based at Georgetown University. He continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. He received his doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He’s the author of Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People’s Party: Secularism and Nationalism.
If you were to visit Turkey years ago, it might’ve felt both Middle Eastern and European. It was Muslim and secular. It was, more or less, free and democratic.
Host Cliff May says the food was great, too. Now? Well, he’s told the food is still great.
To explain what has happened and what is happening in Turkey, Cliff is joined by his FDD colleague Sinan Ciddi.
About Sinan
Sinan is also an Associate Professor of National Security Studies at the Marine Corps University in Quantico. Earlier, Sinan was Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, based at Georgetown University. He continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. He received his doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He’s the author of Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People’s Party: Secularism and Nationalism.

Trump Says He Expects to Make a Decision on Iran Very Quickly
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he expected to make a decision on Iran very quickly, after both countries said they held "positive" and "constructive" talks in Oman on Saturday and agreed to reconvene this week. Trump, who has threatened military action if no deal is reached on halting Iran's nuclear program, told reporters aboard Air Force One that he met with advisers on Iran and expected a quick decision. He gave no further details.
"We'll be making a decision on Iran very quickly," he said. Axios cited two sources with knowledge of the issue as saying that a second round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran would take place next Saturday in Rome. The talks held in Oman on Saturday were the first between Iran and a Trump administration, including the US president's 2017-2021 first term. Officials said they took place in a "productive, calm and positive atmosphere."On Saturday, Trump told reporters the US-Iran talks were going "okay," adding, "Nothing matters until you get it done, so I don’t like talking about it, but it’s going okay. The Iran situation is going pretty good, I think."

Trump Says Iran Must Give Up Dream of Nuclear Weapon or Face Harsh Response
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
President Donald Trump said on Monday he believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on Tehran's atomic facilities. "I think they're tapping us along," Trump told reporters after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met in Oman on Saturday with a senior Iranian official. Both Iran and the United States said on Saturday that they held "positive" and "constructive" talks in Oman. A second round is scheduled for Saturday, and a source briefed on the planning said the meeting was likely to be held in Rome.
The source, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the discussions are aimed at exploring what is possible, including a broad framework of what a potential deal would look like. "Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. Asked if US options for a response include a military strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities, Trump said: "Of course it does." Trump said the Iranians need to move fast to avoid a harsh response because "they're fairly close" to developing a nuclear weapon. The US and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden's term, but they made little, if any progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.

Iran FM to head to Moscow, discuss US nuclear talks
AFP/April 14, 2025
Tehran: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is set to visit Moscow this week to discuss recent nuclear negotiations with the United States held in Oman, the foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday, ahead of a new round of talks planned for Rome. On Saturday, Araghchi held talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat, the highest-level Iranian-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 accord. “Dr. Araghchi will travel to Moscow at the end of the week,” said spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, adding that the trip was “pre-planned” and would be “an opportunity to discuss the latest developments related to the Muscat talks.”Iran and the United States separately described Saturday’s discussions as “constructive.”The negotiations came weeks after US President Donald Trump sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Tehran refused. Russia, a close ally of Iran, and China have held discussions with Iran in recent weeks over its nuclear program. Moscow welcomed the Iran-US talks as it pushed for a diplomatic solution and warned that military confrontation would be a “global catastrophe.”Another round of talks between Iran and the United States is scheduled for Saturday, April 19. Iran has yet to confirm the location but the Dutch foreign minister and diplomatic sources said that the upcoming discussions would be held in the Italian capital. The official IRNA news agency reported that they would be held in Europe, without elaborating. Baqaei said the next set of talks would continue to be indirect with Omani mediation, adding that direct talks were “not effective” and “not useful.”He had previously said that the only focus of the upcoming talks would be “the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions,” and that Iran “will not have any talks with the American side on any other issue.”Late Sunday, IRNA reported that Tehran’s regional influence and its missile capabilities were among its “red lines” in the talks.In 2018, during Trump’s first term in office, Washington withdrew from the 2015 agreement and reinstated biting sanctions on Tehran. Iran continued to adhere to the agreement for a year after Trump’s withdrawal but later began rolling back its compliance. Iran has consistently denied that it is seeking nuclear weapons. Baqaei reiterated that Iran would host United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi in the coming days but noted that the details of his trip were still “to be decided on.”In a post on X, Grossi confirmed that he would be heading to Tehran “later this week.”“Continued engagement and cooperation with the Agency is essential at a time when diplomatic solutions are urgently needed,” he said. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency last visited Iran in November when he held talks with top officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian. In its latest quarterly report in February, the IAEA said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms (605 pounds) of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, which far exceeds the 3.67 percent limit set under the 2015 deal and is much closer to the 90 percent threshold required for weapons-grade material.

Saudi FM receives phone call from Iranian counterpart
Arab News/April 14, 2025
RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call on Monday from his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, Saudi Press Agency reported.  During the call, the two officials discussed developments in the region and efforts being made with regard to them.

Italy Says Rome to Host Second Round of US-Iran Nuclear Talks
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
A second round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran will be held in Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was reported as saying on Monday by the country's main news agency ANSA. Iran and the US said they held "positive" and "constructive" talks in Oman on Saturday and agreed to reconvene this week. "We received a request from the interested parties and from Oman, which is playing the role of mediator, and we have given a positive response," Tajani was quoted by ANSA as saying at the world Expo exhibition in the Japanese city of Osaka. Rome has often hosted these type of talks, Tajani said, and is "prepared to do everything it takes to support all negotiations that can lead to a resolution of the nuclear issue, and to building peace". Earlier, US news agency Axios, citing two unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter, reported that the second round of the US-Iranian talks would be held in Rome on Saturday. US President Donald Trump, who has threatened military action if no deal is reached on halting Iran's nuclear program, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he met with advisers on Iran and expected a quick decision. He gave no further details. The previous day he had told reporters that the Iran situation was "going pretty good, I think."

Iranian Foreign Minister Will Consult on Iran-US Talks During Visit to Russia
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will visit Russia this week, the foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, and will consult with Moscow regarding the latest talks between Iran and the United States in Oman. Iran is building up its diplomatic efforts to resolve its nuclear dispute with the West as well as release pressure from its sanctioned economy, and is set to receive UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi this week, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei. Iran and the US said they held "positive" and "constructive" talks in Oman last week and agreed to reconvene on Saturday in a dialogue meant to address Tehran's escalating nuclear program. The foreign minister's trip to Moscow would take place at the end of the week, Baghaei said. In Iran the week ends on Friday. The trip "was planned in advance, but there will be consultations regarding the talks with the US," Baghaei said.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon. Tehran says its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes. US President Donald Trump has threatened military action if no deal is reached on halting Iran's nuclear program, and said on Sunday that he met with advisers on Iran and expected a quick decision. Russia, with a veto-wielding permanent seat at the UN Security Council, has played a role in nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran as an ally of Tehran and a signatory to a 2015 nuclear agreement which the US abandoned in 2018. Moscow has called for a focus on diplomatic contacts instead of actions that may lead to an escalation. Last week, Russia, China and Iran held consultations at expert level on the Iranian nuclear program in Moscow.

EU Ministers Adopt Iran Sanctions Over Citizen Detentions
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
European Union foreign ministers on Monday adopted sanctions against seven Iranian individuals and two organizations over the detention of EU citizens, which the bloc calls a policy of state-sponsored hostage-taking, diplomats said. A list of those sanctioned, seen by Reuters, included the director of Tehran's Evin prison and several judges and other judicial officials. The main prison in the city of Shiraz was among the organizations sanctioned. EU sanctions consist of a freeze on any assets held in the European Union and a ban on any travel into the bloc. In recent years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security. Among them are at least 20 European citizens, diplomats say. Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from countries through such arrests, allegations denied by Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality. France, which has two of its nationals detained in what it has described as conditions akin to torture, has led efforts to add pressure on Iran over the issue. "I am happy that we can take these sanctions today against seven people and two entities, including the Shiraz prison," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters on his arrival at an EU meeting in Luxembourg. "It's about time, because the conditions in which some of our compatriots - French and European - are being held are unworthy," he added. As part of efforts to raise pressure on Iran, France is preparing a complaint at the International Court of Justice against Iran for violating the right to consular protection.

Hamas will free hostages if end to Gaza war guaranteed
AFP/April 14, 2025
CAIRO: A senior Hamas official said on Monday that the Palestinian group is prepared to release all Israeli hostages in exchange for a “serious prisoner swap” and guarantees that Israel will end the war in Gaza. Hamas is engaged in negotiations in Cairo with mediators from Egypt and Qatar – two nations working alongside the United States to broker a ceasefire in the besieged territory. “We are ready to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a serious prisoner swap deal, an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the entry of humanitarian aid,” Taher Al-Nunu, a senior Hamas official, said. However, he accused Israel of obstructing progress toward a ceasefire. “The issue is not the number of captives,” Nunu said, “but rather that the occupation is reneging on its commitments, blocking the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and continuing the war.”“Hamas has therefore stressed the need for guarantees to compel the occupation (Israel) to uphold the agreement,” he added.Israeli news website Ynet reported on Monday that a new proposal had been put to Hamas. Under the deal, the group would release 10 living hostages in exchange for US guarantees that Israel would enter negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire. The first phase of the ceasefire, which began on January 19 and included multiple hostage-prisoner exchanges, lasted two months before disintegrating. Efforts toward a new truce have stalled, reportedly over disputes regarding the number of hostages to be released by Hamas. Meanwhile, Nunu said that Hamas would not disarm, a key condition that Israel has set for ending the war. “The weapons of the resistance are not up for negotiation,” Nunu said. The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday that at least 1,574 Palestinians had been killed since March 18, when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,944.

How Israeli settlers are able to seize Palestinian land with impunity in the West Bank
Jonathan Gornall/Arab News/April 14, 2025
LONDON: Attacks on Palestinian villagers in the West Bank by Israeli settlers, and the seizure or demolition of their properties under lopsided laws, are nothing new. But, ever since the start of the war in Gaza, the number and nature of such incidents has intensified.
Several attacks over the past few weeks have added to the impression that not only have settlers been given carte blanche to do as they please, but also that discipline within the ranks of the Israeli army operating in the West Bank is breaking down.
Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 917 Palestinians, including militants, in the West Bank. On March 27, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, revealed that in the first three months of this year alone, 99 Palestinians had been killed during operations by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
Tens of thousands had been displaced from their homes, 10 UN-run schools had been forced to close, and 431 homes lacking impossible-to-acquire Israeli-issued building permits had been demolished — twice as many as over the same period last year.
Occasionally, such attacks are caught on camera. That was the case at the beginning of this month, when footage circulated purportedly showing masked settlers attacking the village of Duma in the northern West Bank, setting fire to homes.
On Feb. 29, dozens of settlers, accompanied by Israel Defense Forces personnel, descended on Jinba, a shepherding community, where, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “uniformed and civilian-dressed Israelis raided the village, broke into all the homes, dumped food, vandalized appliances and terrorized the locals.”The supposed trigger for the attack on the village, after which dozens of Palestinian men were rounded up and arrested, was an alleged assault on a settler shepherd. In fact, phone footage later emerged appearing to show the man in question approaching Palestinians and their flock on an all-terrain vehicle and physically assaulting one of them.
“Land seizures and violence by settlers is not new, but there has been a huge increase,” Alon Cohen-Lifshitz, an architect and adviser to the Israeli nongovernmental organization Planners for Planning Rights, or Bimkom, told Arab News.
“What has changed is that there is now widespread collaboration between the settlers, the army, the authorities, and the police. Now, the army is the settler.”Often those involved in violence and intimidation are from IDF reserve units, whose members are settlers and are deployed near their own settlements, and “sometimes they are wearing uniforms, sometimes not.” Rarely is anyone arrested. “The police put obstacles in the way of Palestinians who come to submit complaints,” said Cohen-Lifshitz. “The army, the police, and the settlers have become a single unit, working together against the poorest, most fragile and marginalized communities that don’t do any harm. These people are not involved in anything, but they live in fear of the settlers.” Their “crime” is that “they are living on land which Israel and the settlers want to control and ethnically cleanse,” he added. Planning law is also being deployed against Palestinians in the West Bank. “Israel is using it like a weapon to conquer land,” said Cohen-Lifshitz. It was planning law, he said, that led to the creation of settlements and the fragmentation of the West Bank, and “there are plans for the Palestinians, too, but the aim of these is to limit the development, to create very small areas in which building is allowed, but at a very high density, which is not how it used to be in Palestinian villages.
“There, it was about 10 units per hectare. Now the plans for Palestinian areas propose urban densities of 100 units, allowing the authorities to justify demolitions outside these areas.”Over the past two years, however, “there has been a huge expansion in settlement outposts and farms. But, as far as we know, not a single permit for Palestinian building has been approved.”Apparent indiscipline in the IDF ranks has not escaped the notice of the military top brass, who appear keen to ascribe poor conduct to reserve soldiers rather than core personnel. Although he did not comment on the violence in Duma, Israel’s top commander in the occupied West Bank, Major General Avi Bluth, condemned the actions of reservists during a raid on the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem on April 2. Images shared on social media showed vandalized apartments, where furniture was broken and Israeli nationalist slogans spray painted on walls. In a video shared by the army last week, Bluth said that “the conduct in Dheisheh by our reserve soldiers is not what we stand for.”“Vandalism and graffiti during an operational mission are, from our perspective, unacceptable incidents. It is inconceivable that IDF soldiers do not act according to their commanders’ orders,” he added. It would be a mistake, however, to interpret the escalation in violence in the West Bank as the result of a collapse of discipline, said Ahron Bregman, a senior teaching fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, who served in the Israeli army for six years and took part in the 1982 Lebanon war. “This is not about discipline. This is something else — the execution of a plan,” he said. “The war in Gaza is all but over. The main front now is the West Bank, where I think the Israelis are trying to implement a big plan to empty it of its people and annex it.”
The IDF, in Bregman’s view, has changed.
“Many IDF units, especially infantry, are now dominated by right-wing settlers. They have managed to penetrate these units to such an extent that I think it is not an exaggeration to say that many units, especially infantry, which is relevant because they are on the ground, are led by settlers.”The driving force, he believes, is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a defense minister and is responsible for the administration of the West Bank. Leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, Smotrich is himself a settler, who, in the words of a profile in The Times of Israel, “has long been a vociferous supporter of West Bank settlements and just as strongly opposes Palestinian statehood, subscribing to the view that Jews have a right to the whole land of Israel.”The support of Israeli ministers for the settlers goes beyond mere words. Last year, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gave more than 120,000 firearms to settlers. More recently, Smotrich and Orit Strock, the settlements and national missions minister, gifted 21 ATVs to illegal farms and outposts in the South Hebron hills, to be used “for security purposes.” Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a US-registered non-profit that collects data on conflict and protest around the world, says its findings support the anecdotal evidence that violence against Palestinians in the West Bank is escalating. “It is not always clear who is responsible,” Ameneh Mehvar, ACLED’s senior Middle East analyst, told Arab News. “Is it always settlers, or soldiers, security squads, regional defense battalions? There is a blurring of lines. But we have definitely seen problematic behavior by soldiers in the past few weeks.”Traditionally, she said, “the IDF’s rules of engagement in the West Bank were different. The policy of the Central Command was to limit violence and maintain the status quo — for practical reasons, as much as anything else, because settlers and Palestinians live side by side. “But since Oct. 7, things have become much worse. There is a spirit of revenge and the soldiers feel they have the support of the rhetoric of far-right, pro-settler politicians. It isn’t necessarily that senior commanders are ordering more violence, but that junior commanders on the ground are allowing it. “So what we’re seeing is a mix of this permissible environment, and the redeployment to the West Bank of soldiers from Gaza, coming back from the war there with the mindset that Palestinians are not humans. They use the same rules of engagement — that everyone is dangerous, anything is allowed, shoot first, and ask questions later.”
The pro-settlement parties in Israel, she said, “are no longer fringe actors, but are part of the mainstream in Israeli politics, and their aim is obviously annexation of parts of the West Bank. “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s biggest interest is staying in power, and in order to keep his coalition together he has been giving a lot of incentives to the pro-settlement parties and politicians.”The IDF’s ongoing so-called “Iron Ball” operation in the northern West Bank is taking place against this background. According to the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, the assault on Jenin Camp, which began two months ago, is “by far the longest and most destructive operation in the occupied West Bank since the Second Intifada in the 2000s.”The UN says that tens of thousands of residents from Jenin, Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and Far’a refugee camps have been displaced, as the IDF has embarked on “systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and homes, aiming to permanently change the character of Palestinian cities and refugee camps at a scale unjustifiable by any purported military or law enforcement aims.”Although the world’s attention has been focused on Israeli actions in Gaza and Lebanon, “what is happening in the West Bank is not a sideshow,” said Mehvar. “Before Oct. 7, settler attacks were already on the rise. But now the West Bank is a powder keg that could explode at any time.”

No Breakthrough in Gaza Talks, Egyptian and Palestinian Sources Say
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
The latest round of talks in Cairo to restore the defunct Gaza ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said on Monday. The sources said Hamas had stuck to its position that any agreement must lead to an end to the war in Gaza. Israel, which restarted its military campaign in Gaza last month after a ceasefire agreed in January unraveled, has said it will not end the war until Hamas is stamped out. The group has ruled out any proposal that it lay down its arms. But despite that fundamental disagreement, the sources said a Hamas delegation led by the group's Gaza Chief Khalil Al-Hayya had shown some flexibility over how many hostages it could free in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel should a truce be extended. An Egyptian source told Reuters the latest proposal to extend the truce would see Hamas free an increased number of hostages. Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, told Army Radio on Monday that Israel was seeking the release of around 10 hostages, raised from previous Hamas consent to free five. Hamas has asked for more time to respond to the latest proposal, the Egyptian source said. "Hamas has no problem, but it wants guarantees Israel agrees to begin the talks on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement" leading to an end to the war, the Egyptian source said.
AIRSTRIKES
Hamas freed 33 Israeli hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees during the six-week first phase of the ceasefire which began in January. But the second phase, which was meant to begin at the start of March and lead to the end of the war, was never launched. Since restarting their military campaign last month, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and uprooted hundreds of thousands, seizing swathes of territory and imposing a total blockade on all supplies to the entire enclave.
Meanwhile, 59 Israeli hostages remain in the hands of Hamas. Israel believes up to 24 of them are alive. Palestinians say the wave of Israeli attacks since the collapse of the ceasefire has been among the deadliest and most intense of the war, hitting an exhausted population surviving in the enclave's ruins. In Jabalia, a community on Gaza's northern edge, rescue workers in orange vests were trying to smash through concrete with a sledgehammer to recover bodies buried underneath a building that collapsed in an Israeli strike. Feet and a hand of one person could be seen under a concrete slab. Men carried a body wrapped in a blanket. Workers at the scene said as many as 25 people had been killed. The Israeli military said it had struck there against fighters planning an ambush. In Khan Younis in the south, a camp of makeshift tents had been shredded into piles of debris by an airstrike. Families had returned to poke through the rubbish in search of belongings."We used to live in houses. They were destroyed. Now, our tents have been destroyed too. We don't know where to stay," said Ismail al-Raqab, who returned to the area after his family fled the raid before dawn.
EGYPT'S SISI MEETS QATARI EMIR
The leaders of the two Arab countries that have led the ceasefire mediation efforts, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, met in Doha on Sunday. The Egyptian source said Sisi had called for additional international guarantees for a truce agreement, beyond those provided by Egypt and Qatar themselves. US President Donald Trump, who has backed Israel's decision to resume its campaign and called for the Palestinian population of Gaza to leave the territory, said last week that progress was being made in returning the hostages. The war was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 50,900 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.

Palestinian Authority to Introduce Major Reforms amid Mounting Pressure from Gaza War
Ramallah: Kifah Zboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
The Palestinian Central Council will hold an extraordinary meeting to establish the position of vice president to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The meeting, set for April 23 and 24, will cap a series of reforms and changes to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that Abbas had kicked off in recent weeks under internal and foreign pressure prompted by Israel’s war on Gaza. Some 180 members of the council have been invited to the meeting in Ramallah where they will establish the new post, but not necessarily name a person to fill it. Abbas had announced during an emergency Arab summit in Cairo in March that he was forging ahead with changes in the PA, revealing that he will name a vice president for Palestine and for the Palestine Liberation Organization. He also said he will restructure leadership frameworks in the state and pump new blood in the PLO, Fatah and state agencies. The National Council, which acts as the Palestinian parliament, had in 2018 tasked the Central Council with assuming its duties. The Council meeting will also discuss efforts to reclaim Gaza and national unity. Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that discussions are underway over whether the post of vice president and the appointment of a figure should take place during the meeting; or whether the appointment should take place at a later date. Regardless of the decision, what matters is that the decision to establish the post has been taken, said the sources, explaining that it meets local and international calls for reforms. Debate had raged for years over the establishment of the position given Abbas’ age – 90 – but the war on Gaza has forced him to take decisive steps. Arab countries have conditioned any support to the PA in Gaza after the war to it introducing wide-scale reforms and changes. The US has been making the call for years, but Abbas has repeatedly avoided the issue.

EU to Boost Financial Support for Palestinian Authority
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
The European Union will increase its financial support for the Palestinian Authority with a three-year package worth around 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion), the European Commissioner responsible for the Middle East told Reuters in an interview. Dubravka Suica, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, said the financial support would go hand in hand with reforms of the Palestinian Authority, which has been accused by critics of corruption and bad governance. "We want them to reform themselves because without reforming, they won't be strong enough and credible in order to be an interlocutor, not for only for us, but an interlocutor also for Israel," Suica said. The commissioner's remarks came ahead of a first "high-level political dialogue" between European Union foreign ministers and senior Palestinian officials including Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in Luxembourg on Monday. The EU is the biggest donor to the Palestinians and EU officials hope the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, may also one day take responsibility for Gaza after the war between Israel and Hamas comes to an end. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, however, has so far rejected the idea of handing over Gaza to the PA and shunned the EU's broader aim of a two-state solution, which would include the establishment of a Palestinian state. Suica said 620 million euros would go to financial support and reform of the PA, 576 million euros to "resilience and recovery" of the West Bank and Gaza and 400 million euros would come in loans from the European Investment Bank, subject to the approval of its governing body. She said average EU support for the PA had amounted to about 400 million euros over the past 12 years. "We are investing now in a credible manner in the Palestinian Authority," Suica said.

Israel Uncovers Hamas Financing Network Funded From Turkey
FDD/April 14/2025
Latest Developments
Six Israeli Arabs Indicted: Israeli police and the Shin Bet announced on April 10 that they had uncovered a terror financing network linked to Hamas in Turkey. Operated by Israeli Arab citizens, the nexus funneled millions of shekels from Hamas operatives in Turkey into the West Bank to support terrorist activities. The State Attorney’s Cyber Unit office indicted six suspects — Fadi Arabi, Muhammad Tzitz, Adham Dolani, William Hanna, Sami Hanna, and Suhail Bashir — on charges including contact with foreign agents and handling terrorist funds.
Israel Intensifies Operations in West Bank: The IDF said on April 9 that it had expanded counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank, arresting two terrorists and seizing weapons, including “combat equipment,” during overnight raids. Israel Police’s elite Unit 33 wounded and arrested Mahmoud al-Bana, a key commander in the defunct Lions’ Den terrorist group. The operations additionally led to the arrest of arms dealer Khalil al-Hanbali by the IDF’s Duvdevan commando unit.
West Bank Hamas Cell Arrested in Intelligence Operation: The Shin Bet and Israel Police announced on March 31 the arrest of six Palestinian suspects from the northern West Bank city of Nablus for planning attacks under the direction of Hamas operatives based in Turkey. Israeli security forces seized an M-16 rifle, $60,000 in cash, and located a buried explosive device, which was safely dismantled, the Shin Bet said. The investigation revealed the cell’s financial and operational links to Hamas abroad and detailed how the Islamist group transferred funds to its operatives in the West Bank.
FDD Expert Response
“After more than a year of ongoing conflict, Hamas in Gaza is currently unable to mount a significant military response against Israel. Nevertheless, this incapacity does not imply that the group has ceased its attempts to orchestrate attacks on other fronts. Hamas’s operations in Turkey serve as one such example, and a concerning development is the increasing sophistication of these efforts, including the recruitment of Israeli Arabs to become a part of a network that supports terrorism.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal
“Foiling terrorist attacks directed by Hamas’s base in Turkey is a frequent occurrence. In 2024 alone, the Shin Bet prevented two similar attacks intended to strike inside Israel, again directed by Hamas personnel inside Turkey. Interpreting these attacks as the clandestine activities of a terrorist organization is a mistake. Hamas has the open support and commitment of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently reiterated his desire for ‘Allah…[to] destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.’” — Sinan Ciddi, Non-resident Senior Fellow

Report: Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Requests Asylum in Russia
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
Syria's ambassador to Moscow has requested asylum in Russia, state news agency TASS reported on Monday, citing a source. The Russian news outlet provided no further details on the reported request by Bashar Jaafari, who was appointed ambassador to Russia in 2022 after 15 years as Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations. Reuters was not able to immediately contact Jaafari, 69. Syria's embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russian President Vladimir Putin granted asylum to former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad when he fled to Moscow with his family after being toppled by a lightning opposition offensive at the end of last year. Syria's foreign ministry last week recalled Jaafari to Damascus, state media reported, saying the move was part of a reorganization of the diplomatic corps after Assad's fall. Jaafari had been one of the most well-known international representatives of the former regime. He had been vocal in his defense of the Syrian government during the country's 14-year civil war, including his denial it had carried out chemical weapons attacks. Moscow has supported Damascus since the early days of the Cold War, recognizing its independence in 1944 as Syria sought to throw off French colonial rule. Syria is also home to two important Russian military bases - the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia province and a naval facility at Tartous on the coast. Russia is seeking to retain control of these as it builds ties with the country's new leadership.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi visits Kuwait as part of short Gulf tour
Arab News/April 14, 2025
LONDON: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Kuwait on Monday afternoon on the second leg of a two-state tour of the Arabian Gulf. He was greeted at the Amiri Airport by Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, senior ministers and other officials. The national anthems of both countries were played and the Egyptian president and his delegation were honored with a 21-gun salute. The two leaders were expected to discuss several of issues of mutual interest, as well as enhanced cooperation between their countries, following the signing of 10 memorandums of understanding in September last year covering the industrial, environmental, tourism, housing, construction, media and sports sectors, the Kuwait News Agency reported. The emir of Kuwait visited Egypt in April last year, his first state visit after assuming power in December 2023.El-Sisi flew to Kuwait from Qatar, where he discussed economic partnerships with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. They agreed to a package of direct investments worth up to $7.5 billion, with the aim of supporting and strengthening sustainable economic development in both countries, the Middle East News Agency reported.

Suspected US Airstrikes Kill at Least 6 People in Yemen
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
Suspected US airstrikes around Yemen's Houthi-held capital killed at least six people and wounded 26 overnight, the Houthis said Monday as they also claimed shooting down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone. Since its start nearly a month ago, the intense campaign of US airstrikes under President Donald Trump targeting the Houthis over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters — related to the Israel-Hamas war — has killed over 120 people, according to casualty figures released Monday by the Houthis' Health Ministry. Footage aired by the Houthis' al-Masirah satellite news channel showed firefighters spraying water on a raging fire they described as being sparked by the airstrikes. Rubble littered a street as rescuers carried one person away from the site, which the group claimed was a ceramics factory in the Bani Matar neighborhood of Sanaa, the capital. The US military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not acknowledge the strikes. That follows a pattern for the command, which now has authorization from the White House to conduct strikes at will in the campaign that began March 15. The American military also hasn’t been providing any information on targets hit. The White House has said over 200 strikes have been conducted so far.
Houthis claim another American drone shot down
The Houthis separately claimed Sunday night they shot down an MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen's Hajjah governorate, which sits to the northwest of the country on the Red Sea on the country's border with Saudi Arabia. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, described the downing in a prerecorded video message as the fourth in two weeks by the group. Saree said the Houthis targeted the drone with “a locally manufactured missile.” They have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft. Iran denies arming the group, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi group despite a United Nations arms embargo. General Atomics Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes over 40,000 feet (12,100 meters) and remain in the air for over 30 hours. They have been flown by both the US military and the CIA for years over Afghanistan, Iraq and now Yemen. Central Command said it was aware of “reports” of the drone being shot down, but did not elaborate.US strikes come as part of monthlong intense campaign. An AP review has found the new US operation against the Houthis under President Donald Trump appears more extensive than that under former President Joe Biden, as Washington moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel and dropping bombs on cities. The new campaign of airstrikes started after the Houthis threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The group has loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning many vessels could be targeted. The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success. The US campaign shows no signs of stopping, as the Trump administration has also linked its airstrikes on the Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.

Trump considers pausing his auto tariffs as the world economy endures whiplash
Josh Boak And Michael Liedtke/April 14, 2025
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday suggested that he might temporarily exempt the auto industry from tariffs he previously imposed on the sector, to give carmakers time to adjust their supply chains.
“I’m looking at something to help some of the car companies with it,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. The Republican president said automakers needed time to relocate production from Canada, Mexico and other places, "And they need a little bit of time because they’re going to make them here, but they need a little bit of time. So I’m talking about things like that.”The statement hinted at yet another round of reversals on tariffs as Trump's onslaught of import taxes has panicked financial markets and raised deep concerns from Wall Street economists about a possible recession. When Trump announced the 25% auto tariffs on March 27, he described them as “permanent.” His hard lines on trade have become increasingly blurred as he has sought to limit the possible economic and political blowback from his policies. Last week, after a bond market sell-off pushed up interest rates on U.S. debt, Trump announced that for 90 days his broader tariffs against dozens of countries would instead be set at a baseline 10% to give time for negotiations. At the same time, Trump increased the import taxes on China to 145%, only to temporarily exempt electronics from some of those tariffs by having those goods charged at a 20% rate. “I don’t change my mind, but I’m flexible,” Trump said Monday. Trump's flexibility has also fueled a sense of uncertainty and confusion about his intentions and end goals. The S&P 500 stock index was up slightly in Monday afternoon trading, but it's still down nearly 9% this year. Interest rates on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes were also elevated at roughly 4.4%.
Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist for the Northern Trust global financial firm, said the whiplash had been so great that he might have to “get fitted for a neck brace.”Tannenbaum warned in an analysis: “Damage to consumer, business, and market confidence may already be irreversible.”Maroš Šefčovič, the European commissioner for trade and economic security, posted on X on Monday that on behalf of the European Union he engaged in trade negotiations with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. "The EU remains constructive and ready for a fair deal — including reciprocity through our 0-for-0 tariff offer on industrial goods and the work on non-tariff barriers," Šefčovič said. The U.S. president also said that he spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook and “helped” him recently. Many Apple products, including its popular iPhone, are assembled in China. Apple didn’t respond to a Monday request for comment about the latest swings in the Trump administration’s tariff pendulum.
Even if the exemptions granted on electronics last week turn out to be short-lived, the temporary reprieve gives Apple some breathing room to figure out ways to minimize the trade war’s impact on its iPhone sales in the U.S. That prospect helped lift Apple’s stock price by about 3% during Monday’s afternoon trading. Still, the stock gave up some of its earlier 7% increase as investors processed the possibility that the iPhone could still be jolted by more tariffs on Chinese-made products in the weeks ahead. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said Apple is clearly in a far better position than it was a week ago, but he warned there's still “mass uncertainty, chaos, and confusion about the next steps ahead.” One possible workaround Apple may be examining during the current tariff reprieve is how to shift even more of its iPhone production from its longtime hubs in China to India, where it began expanding its manufacturing while Trump waged a trade war during his first term as president. The Trump administration has suggested that its tariffs had isolated China as the U.S. engaged in talks with other countries. But China is also seeking to build tighter relationships in Asia with nations stung by Trump's tariffs. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Monday met in Hanoi with Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary To Lam with the message that no one wins in trade wars. Asked about the meeting, Trump suggested the two nations were conspiring to do economic harm to the U.S. by “trying to figure out how do we screw the United States of America.”

Turkish Court Rejects Appeal Seeking Release of Key Erdogan Rival from Jail
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
Judicial officials on Monday rejected an appeal seeking the release of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from jail pending the outcome of his corruption trial, the country's state-run news agency reported. Imamoglu, a prominent opposition figure and a key challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s more than two-decade rule, was detained on March 19 and formally jailed on corruption charges four days later. His arrest is widely perceived to be politically motivated, aiming to sideline a major rival ahead of presidential elections, which currently are scheduled for 2028 but could take place earlier. The mayor’s arrest and subsequent removal from office has triggered the largest wave of anti-government protests in Türkiye in over a decade. The government insists that the judiciary operates independently and without political interference. On Monday, the Istanbul Criminal Court of First Instance ruled to reject the appeals made by Imamoglu’s lawyers, deciding that his detention would continue, the Anadolu Agency reported. Lawyers representing the mayor had argued that the investigation into Imamoglu was allegedly conducted in violation of legal standards. They are expected to renew the appeals request. The court also rejected appeals requests for Murat Ongun — the chairman of a media company affiliated with the Istanbul municipality and close Imamoglu aide — and other suspects who were arrested on corruption charges alongside the mayor, the agency said. A lawyer representing Imamoglu could not confirm the report, saying the decision had not been formally communicated to him.

Zelensky Urges Trump to Visit Ukraine to See War Devastation
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged US counterpart Donald Trump on Sunday to visit his country to better understand the devastation wrought by Russia's invasion. "Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead," he said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview broadcast Sunday. With a visit to Ukraine, Trump "will understand what (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin did.""You will understand with whom you have a deal," Zelensky added.
Zelensky's invitation follows the heated row at the White House in late February between the Ukrainian president, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance, which played out in front of press. Vance at the time accused Ukraine of hosting foreign leaders on "propaganda tours" to win support. Zelensky repeated his denial of that allegation and told CBS that if Trump chose to visit Ukraine, "we will not prepare anything. It will not be theater.""You can go exactly where you want, in any city which (has) been under attacks."Trump is pushing for a quick end to the more than three-year war, with the United States holding direct talks with Russia despite its unrelenting attacks on Ukraine. Washington has also held talks with Ukrainian officials on a potential truce, while European nations are discussing a military deployment to reinforce any Ukraine ceasefire.
Kyiv has previously agreed to a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire but Moscow has turned it down. "Putin can't be trusted. I told that to President Trump many times. So when you ask why the ceasefire isn't working -- this is why," Zelensky said.
"Putin never wanted an end to the war. Putin never wanted us to be independent. Putin wants to destroy us completely -- our sovereignty and our people."Zelensky spoke to CBS Friday in his hometown Kryvyi Rig, where a Russian strike earlier this month killed 18 people, including nine children. The Ukrainian leader said he had "100 percent hatred" for Putin, asking "how else can you see a person who came here and murdered our people, murdered children?"However, he added that the animosity "doesn't mean we shouldn't work to end the war as soon as possible."As negotiations continue over ending the war, Zelensky said that a just peace would be "to not lose our sovereignty or our independence," and pledged to eventually reclaim any territory currently held by Russia. "We, no matter what, will take back what is ours because we never lost it -- the Russians took it from us."

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on April 14-15/2025
Is Lifting Sanctions Enough For Reconstruction In Syria?
Çeleng Omer/ MEMRI Daily Brief No. 752/April 14/2025
The civil war that erupted in Syria since 2011 has caused significant losses to the Syrian economy, estimated at more than $500 billion. The country's GDP has shrunk by over 85 percent, dropping from $62 billion before the conflict to less than $8 billion in 2024, as the economy's various sectors collapsed. Additionally, more than half of the Syrian population has been displaced internally or become refugees abroad, while over 90 percent of the population living below the poverty line.
The economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EU have had a huge impact on the Syrian economy in recent years. Although these sanctions failed to force the Assad regime to adopt a peaceful resolution and implement UN Security Council Resolution No. 2254 for political transition, they effectively undermined the Assad regime's ability to regain its pre-2011 strength, ultimately leading to its fall on December 8, 2024.
Today, after the fall of the Baath regime and Bashar Al-Assad's escape to Russia, the Salafi Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) has taken power in Damascus, and appointed its leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad Al-Jolani), as the president of the transitional phase. This new authority calls upon Western countries to lift sanctions in order to begin the reconstruction in Syria.
The cost of reconstruction is estimated at no less than $300 billion, a massive amount equivalent to five times the country's pre-conflict GDP; Syria's resources and capabilities are insufficient to secure this sum on their own in the foreseeable future. Although some countries, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, may be interested in financing the reconstruction process, and Turkey is seeking to obtain contracts for the reconstruction to operate its companies, these parties will not be able to proceed, not only due to sanctions but also because of the lack of a suitable circumstances in Syria.
While there is no ready-made formula for achieving economic recovery, certain conditions must be met to create a conducive environment for it. The new authority in Damascus repeatedly assert that the sanctions imposed on Syria hinder economic recovery, and prevent the investment flows and necessary financing. This assessment is relatively accurate. However, the pressing question remains: Will the new rule led by Al-Sharaa take concrete steps to convince the international community that it is on the right path? After all, the Baath regime and Bashar Al-Assad have long used sanctions as a pretext for economic failure and the obstruction of the reconstruction process.
Islamic Jurisprudence Adopted In The Constitutional Declaration
Western officials repeatedly emphasize the need for an inclusive and representative transitional process that includes ethnic and religious components, as well as women, along with credible governance and the necessity to combat extremism and terrorism to lift sanctions. Such a process is crucial not only to provide assurances for lifting sanctions but also to reassure foreign investors, financiers, and Syrians about the future of their country.
However, Al-Shara and his government have not taken these steps so far. In the approximately 100 days since taking power, the Damascus authorities have carried out unsettling actions, including:
The appointment of foreign jihadists and warlords, who are blacklisted by the U.S., as brigade and division commanders in the new army. For example, Mohammad Al-Jassim, known as Abu Amsha, leader of "Suleiman Shah faction," was appointed as the commander of a military division in Hama, while his partner, Saif Bulad, known as Abu Bakr, leader of "Al-Hamzat faction," was appointed as the commander of a military division in Aleppo. Both were granted the rank of brigadier general and have been under U.S. sanctions since 2023 due to dreadful human rights violations in the Kurdish region of Afrin, which has been under Turkish occupation since 2018. In addition, reports have surfaced about the appointment of a Turkish jihadist named Omar Mohammed Cheftachi, also known as Mukhtar Al-Turki, as the commander of the Damascus capital garrison.
The massacre of hundreds of Alawite civilians in the Syrian coastal region, with human rights reports indicating the involvement of extremist Islamist groups comprising jihadists from Arab countries, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Additionally, Syrian armed factions that were previously part of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and are now integrated into the new Syrian army such as "Suleiman Shah, Al-Hamzat, and Ahrar Al-Sharqiyah" reportedly participated in these massacres, which were condemned by the U.S. Department of State. Although the Damascus government has formed an investigative committee to investigate these crimes, doubts remain about its credibility due to the backgrounds of some of its members and their alleged bias toward the Islamist groups accused of perpetrating the massacres.
The unilateral issuing of a constitutional declaration that centralized all executive, legislative, and judicial powers in the hands of the interim president for the transitional phase and setting the transition period at five years. The constitutional declaration also adopted Islamic jurisprudence and an Arab identity, effectively excluding non-Arab ethnic groups (such as the Kurds, who constitute the second -argest ethnic group in Syria, making up 15-20 percent of the population), as well as religious minorities (such as the Druze, Alawites, and Christians), in addition to marginalizing the role of women. This has raised concerns about the establishment of a theocratic and autocratic regime similar to that of Iran or Afghanistan. Various Kurdish and Druze parties, as well as secular groups, have outright rejected this constitutional declaration, as its content directly contradicts the agreement signed between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the government in Damascus on March 10,2025.
The previous examples clearly indicate the direction of the current authority in Damascus and its unwillingness or inability to meet the requirements for lifting sanctions and creating the necessary ground for economic recovery.
The U.S. And The EU Should Not Grant A Blank Check To The Islamist Authority In Damascus. So, even if the sanctions were lifted or further eased (the U.S. granted some exemptions for six months and the EU for a year), the government's current actions and behavior, such as the presence of thousands of foreign jihadists in Syria (some of them in high-ranking positions), massacres and hate speech against minorities, a unilateral constitutional declaration, and more, serve as clear evidence of its failure to respond to demands for inclusive and representative governance. Instead, they indicate a pursuit by Islamists to monopolize power.
Under an exclusionary Islamist government that is hostile to religious minorities and ethnic components, the influx of funds and investments would result in strengthening corruption networks and empower warlords and fat cats within the Islamist authority through their monopoly of power.
Moreover, the haphazard and ill-considered lifting of sanctions on Damascus authority could inadvertently lead to the indirect financing of jihadists and terrorist groups activities. Therefore, strict regulations should be imposed to ensure reconstruction funds do not go towards armament and military capacity building, but rather to serve the people and repair infrastructure such as hospitals and schools. The U.S. and the EU should not grant a blank check to the Islamist authority in Damascus. Instead, they must continue applying maximum pressure to ensure the establishment of an inclusive government that represents all components and minorities, particularly the Kurds. Additionally, they should emphasize the need for good governance based on principles of democracy, participation, transparency, and accountability.
Until Damascus complies with these criteria, Washington and Brussels can adopt more effective ways to support the Syrian people, such as expanding sanctions exemptions for northeastern Syria, where the International Coalition forces operate alongside its partner the Syrian Democratic Forces, and granting official recognition to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
*Çeleng Omer, a prominent economist from Kurdish-led North and East Syria, is a former resident of Afrin and professor at Afrin University. He was forced to flee the region due to the ongoing Turkish occupation.

Palestinians: Slaughtering Jews While Falsely Using Al-Aqsa Mosque as a Pretext
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/April 14, 2025
Peaceful and permitted outdoor tours to the grounds around the Al-Aqsa Mosque are regularly described by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas as violent incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It is time for the US and other Western countries to impose consequences on Palestinian leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas and his senior representatives, for spreading falsehoods and libels against Israel and Jews. It is precisely this type of rhetoric that incentivizes Palestinians to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews. The message to Palestinian leaders should read: "Stop using the Al-Aqsa Mosque as an excuse to slaughter Jews. The mosque remains intact, and is not facing any threat, despite Palestinian libels and lies." Failure to comply would result in international donors imposing financial sanctions on the Palestinian leadership.
If anyone is desecrating the mosque, it is those who exploit it to encourage their people to carry out terrorist attacks.
Peaceful and permitted outdoor tours to the grounds around the Al-Aqsa Mosque are regularly described by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas as violent incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. "The Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are ours. They are all ours, and they [Jews] have no right to defile them with their filthy feet. We salute every drop of blood spilled for the sake of Jerusalem. This blood is clean, pure blood, shed for the sake of Allah... Every martyr will be placed in Paradise, and all the wounded will be rewarded by Allah." — PA President Mahmoud Abbas. (Image source: MEMRI)
As the Hamas-Israel war continues in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has resumed its false claim – first propagated in 1929 by Adolf Hitler's subsequent ally, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, and again and again after that -- that that Jews are violently "storming" the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and planning to divide it in time and space between Jewish and Muslim worshipers.
Such claims were also used by the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group to justify the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which Gazan terrorists murdered 1,200 Israelis and wounded of thousands. On that day, another 251 Israelis were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where 59 -alive and dead – remain in captivity. It is worth noting that Hamas called its invasion of Israel "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood."
Shortly after the October 7 massacre, Hamas published a report highlighting the motives behind the cross-border attack on Israel. According to Turkey's Anadolu Agency, the report, titled "Our Narrative, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood," said that:
"Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was a necessary step and a natural reaction against Israel's plans to eliminate the Palestinian cause, seize lands, Judaize the Palestinian lands, and establish complete control over Al-Aqsa Mosque and holy sites."
Needless to say, Israel has not established complete control over Al-Aqsa Mosque. In 1967, after the Six-Day War, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan gave total control and management of the mosque to the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, an organ of the Jordanian Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Holy Places. An agreement signed in 2013 between the Palestinian Authority and Jordan recognized Jordan's role in managing the holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Last month, tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers converged on the mosque to attend special prayers for the end of the holy month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr feast. In previous years, similar numbers of Muslim worshipers enjoyed unlimited access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This, however, did not stop the PA and Hamas from peddling Husseini's useful lie that Jews are imposing restrictions on Muslims' freedom of worship and plotting to control the mosque.
On April 12, the PA's Ministry of Foreign Affairs inaccurately claimed in a statement that Jews were planning "to storm the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Jewish holidays." According to the ministry, the Jews' goal is to "divide the mosque in time and space [between Jews and Muslims] and Judaize the Christian and Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem."
Hamas, for its part, said:
"[Jewish] threats posed to Al-Aqsa Mosque require mobilization and action at all levels to thwart the [Israeli] occupation's ambitions and systematic plans to impose a new reality at the mosque and expel the Muslims."
The PA and Hamas were referring to routine visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, where two ancient Jewish temples once stood. Notably, the Jewish visitors do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque during their outdoor tour of the Temple Mount compound. Moreover, the Islamic Waqf authorities do not ban non-Muslims from visiting the grounds around the mosque, so long as they do not set foot inside the mosque itself.
Over the past decade, however, the PA and Hamas have been deliberately and falsely been exploiting visits by Jews in order to incite Palestinians and other Muslims against Israel and Jews. Peaceful and permitted outdoor tours to the grounds around the Al-Aqsa Mosque are regularly described by the PA and Hamas as violent incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Palestinian campaign of anti-Israel incitement reached its peak in 2015, when PA President Mahmoud Abbas joined the club of falsely accusing Jews of desecrating the mosque:
"We salute every drop of blood spilled for the sake of Jerusalem. This blood is clean, pure blood, shed for the sake of Allah... Every martyr will be placed in Paradise, and all the wounded will be rewarded by Allah.... The Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are ours. They are all ours, and they [Jews] have no right to defile them with their filthy feet. We shall not allow them to do so..."
Shortly after Abbas's threat, Palestinians launched the Knife Intifada, a wave of stabbings and car-ramming attacks that resulted in the murder of 38 Israelis between October 2015 and March 2016.
This was not the first time that Palestinian leaders used a purported threat to the Al-Aqsa Mosque as an excuse to slaughter Jews.
In 2000, the Palestinians launched the Al-Aqsa Intifada also under the false pretext that Israel was planning to seize control of the mosque. The intifada, which mainly consisted of a massive wave of suicide bombings against Israelis, came shortly after a brief and peaceful visit by Israeli politician Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount compound.
A year after the intifada erupted, Marwan Barghouti, a senior official with Abbas's ruling Fatah faction, described his role in the lead-up to the uprising:
"I knew that the end of September [2000] was the last period [of time] before the explosion, but when Sharon reached the al-Aqsa Mosque, this was the most appropriate moment for the outbreak of the intifada.... The night prior to Sharon's visit, I participated in a panel on a local television station and I seized the opportunity to call on the public to go to the al-Aqsa Mosque in the morning, for it was not possible that Sharon would reach al-Haram al-Sharif just so, and walk away peacefully. I finished and went to al-Aqsa in the morning.... We tried to create clashes without success because of the differences of opinion that emerged with others in the al-Aqsa compound at the time.... After Sharon left, I remained for two hours in the presence of other people, we discussed the manner of response and how it was possible to react in all the cities and not just in Jerusalem. We contacted all [the Palestinian] factions."
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas might disagree on many issues, but when it comes to spreading defamation against Israel and Jews, the two parties are invariably in full agreement. Over the past few decades, the claim that Jews are plotting to seize control of the Al-Aqsa Mosque has resulted in the death of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians. PA and Hamas leaders bear full responsibility for the violence and bloodshed.
It is time for the US and other Western countries to impose consequences on Palestinian leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas and his senior representatives, for spreading falsehoods and libels against Israel and Jews. It is precisely this type of rhetoric that incentivizes Palestinians to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews. The message to Palestinian leaders should read: "Stop using the Al-Aqsa Mosque as an excuse to slaughter Jews. The mosque remains intact, and is not facing any threat, despite Palestinian libels and lies." Failure to comply would result in international donors imposing financial sanctions on the Palestinian leadership.
If anyone is desecrating the mosque, it is those who exploit it to encourage their people to carry out terrorist attacks.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. His work is made possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Iranian and Armenian militaries drill as Azerbaijan hosts Israel-Turkey talks
Janatan Sayeh/ FDD's Long War Journal/April 14/2025
Iran and Armenia held their first joint military exercises, “Peace,” near their shared border region of Nodruz on April 9 and 10, according to the Armenian Defense Ministry and the Islamic Republic News Agency. The Iranian contingent was led by the Ashura Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces, which operates across Iran’s northeastern provinces of East Azerbaijan, Ardebil, and Zanjan. This division includes three key brigades: Ashura 31, Ansar al Mahdi 36, and Abbas 37.
Norduz is situated at the meeting point of the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, Armenia, and Iran. Tehran conducted an extensive three-day military drill in 2022 near its border with Azerbaijan, where the IRGC Ground Forces’ Ashura Division constructed a temporary bridge over the Aras River, which separates Iran from Azerbaijan.
IRGC Ground Forces Operational Deputy Commander Valiollah Madani stated that the purposes of the exercise were to strengthen border security and to preserve the “territorial integrity of [Iran’s] neighboring countries,” potentially hinting at Azerbaijan’s encroachment into Armenian territory.
Iran supports Armenia to counter Azerbaijan’s expansion
It is not the first time Islamic Republic officials have expressed firm opposition to territorial changes in the Caucasus. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stressed Iran’s heightened sensitivity to border issues involving Armenia during his May 2024 meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. His stance was later reinforced by IRGC member and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who reassured his Armenian counterpart that Iran would firmly oppose any redrawing of regional borders.
Iran and Armenia deepened their relations in 2024, following the third wave of clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. Tehran and Yerevan’s reported $500 million arms agreement encompassed a range of military hardware, including the transfer of Shahed-136, Shahed-129, Shahed-197, and Mohajer drones, along with air defense systems such as the 3rd Khordad, Majid, 15th Khordad, and Arman. Although both Iran and Armenia have denied the deal, Yerevan has grown increasingly reliant on Tehran following its departure from Russia’s Collective Security Treaty Organization and the lack of assurances from NATO.
Baku hosts Jerusalem-Ankara talks over Syria
The drill was held on the same day that Israeli and Turkish delegations met in Azerbaijan to discuss military deconfliction in Syria, where Israel has struck at least three Turkish airbases in the country as part of efforts to prevent the establishment of Ankara’s military presence there.
National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi led the Israeli delegation, while Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan later confirmed the talks, calling for a mechanism akin to those Ankara maintains with the US and Russia. Turkish sources said efforts are underway to establish a hotline to avoid future clashes, a move Israeli officials likened to the existing Israel-Russia coordination channel.
Armenia is Iran’s only remaining leverage against the Turks
Turkey has increasingly filled the vacuum left by Iran in Syria, the Caucasus, and with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ankara’s Bayraktar TB2 medium-altitude and long-endurance drones helped Baku secure the Zangezur Corridor, a route linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, after the 2023 Nagorno-Karabakh war, eliminating its reliance on Iran while also connecting Turkey to mainland Azerbaijan. Turkish-backed rebels ousted the Bashar al Assad regime in Syria, which Iran had long supported, while Syria’s new Ankara-aligned leader has quashed most pro-Tehran networks in the country.
The PKK, having reportedly received Iranian drones to fight Turkey, has agreed to disarmament, possibly making Armenia Iran’s last leverage against Turkey and Azerbaijan.
**Janatan Sayeh is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies focused on Iranian domestic affairs and the Islamic Republic’s regional malign influence.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2025/04/iranian-and-armenian-militaries-drill-as-azerbaijan-hosts-israel-turkey-talks.php

Why do Iraqi Shiites hate the new Syria and its leader?
Ahmad Sharawi/ FDD's Long War Journal/April 14/2025
One might assume that the most unpopular individuals in Iraq are US President Donald Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, interim Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al Jolani, holds a top spot as one of the most despised figures in Iraq.
Since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime, statements from Iraqi politicians, actions by Iran-backed militias against Syrians, and public rhetoric from Iraqi Shiites targeting Sharaa have become increasingly strident and widely circulated. The reasons for this animosity can be attributed to two main factors: first, Sharaa’s former role as a member of Al Qaeda in Iraq following the US invasion of Iraq, and second, his position as a Sunni who weakened the primarily Shiite, Iran-led Axis of Resistance by overthrowing Assad.
The hatred towards Sharaa has been prominently showcased in Shiite pop culture. Iraq’s Shiite community in Iraq is known for its performances of nasheeds—musical pieces that often reference Islamic beliefs, history, religion, and current events. In these performances, the munshid (singer) typically recites a poem or song to an audience, with the music creating an interactive experience. These nasheeds often center on the martyrdom of Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a major figure in Shiite Islam, and other significant events.
Sharaa has been the subject of a nasheed that highlights the animosity Iraq’s Shiite community holds towards him. The following chant, sung by famous nasheed singer Karrar Karbalaei, explicitly references Sharaa multiple times. Below is a translation of the verses portraying the Syrian, who is referenced as Jolani:
Jolani is a copy of Al Shimr,
He inherited treachery from his ancestors,
He slaughters for love, not for life,
Everyone who loves Haidar, in his state, blood flourishes …
Hajjaj slaughters with his own hand,
And he repeats every cruel scene,
He thinks the hunt will last, and no wolf will come out to warn him.
The nasheed compares Sharaa to Al Shimr, an Arab commander who initially fought alongside Husayn at the battle of Karbala but later betrayed and killed him. The verse about slaughtering everyone who loves Haidar refers to a believed intent by Sharaa to kill Shiites. The name Haidar is a reference to Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad, who many Shiites revere as their first imam.
When Ahmad al Sharaa was a young man, he abandoned his studies in Syria and crossed into Iraq just weeks before the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. He chose to join Al Qaeda, which was deeply involved in the bloodshed against Iraqis. Sharaa was imprisoned in 2006 by the United States for five years in different prisons, including Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca.
Under the leadership of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Al Qaeda in Iraq became notorious as one the most brutal groups in the world, and it was the forerunner of the Islamic State. Zarqawi, in his infamous fanaticism, declared all Iraqi civilians who participated in Iraq’s 2005 parliamentary elections as legitimate targets, sanctioning their bloodshed. He went further by launching an all-out war against the Shiites in Iraq, igniting the devastating sectarian conflict that tore through the country in the years that followed. In 2013, The Times of Israel reported that Sharaa, then known as Jolani, was “a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi” before the US killed Zarqawi in 2006.
The hostility towards Sharaa is not just rooted in historical grievances, however. It is also sharply reflected in Iraq’s current political discourse. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, who leads the State of Law Coalition, bluntly described the recent developments in Syria as “sedition.” Speaking at a gathering with tribal leaders in Karbala, Maliki remarked that those who assumed power in Syria after Assad’s fall were once prisoners in Iraq—a direct reference to Sharaa.
Reinforcing this sentiment, Mahmoud al Hayani, a senior member of the Coordination Framework, a political coalition of Iran-backed militias, told Iraqi media that Iraqis have “serious concerns and reservations” about Sharaa for his involvement in terrorism within Iraq.
Within Iraq’s parliament, which is dominated by Shiite factions such as the Reform and Construction Bloc, which includes many leaders from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), there is also noticeable hesitation. Abbas al Jubouri, a member of this bloc, declared that the Iraqi parliament remains “cautious” in stating its position towards Syria’s transitional government. Many Iraqi leaders are waiting to see if the new Damascus regime’s claims about embracing pluralistic values are sincere and if it will avoid marginalizing non-Sunnis.
This skepticism is understandable, given Sharaa’s leadership of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the group that led the offensive toppling Assad and whose members form a core of Syria’s new government and security services. While Sharaa has publicly espoused moderation and claimed HTS is disbanded, the jihadist organization he led began as Al Qaeda’s local branch in Syria, and Sharaa remains a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US.
Another reason behind the cautious stance of notable leaders in Baghdad lies in their alignment with Iran. Many of Iraq’s Shiite militias and leaders, as part of the regional Axis of Resistance led by Iran, find themselves bound by Tehran’s agenda, which discourages Iraq from expanding its ties with the new Syrian government. Additionally, the new Syrian leadership possesses substantial evidence implicating Iraqi Shiite militias that fought alongside the Assad regime in repressive actions during the Syrian Civil War. These are the same militia leaders who are now working hard to prevent any sort of official relations between Iraq and the new government in Damascus.
Recently, a video surfaced on social media showing a masked militia group calling itself the “Ya Ali Popular Brigades” conducting organized campaigns against Syrians in Iraq. The footage showed group members raiding Syrian workers’ workplaces, searching their phones, and physically assaulting and humiliating them.
Activists have speculated that the faction is linked to the Shiite armed movement and say it targets Syrians who openly supported the Syrian revolution. These targets include individuals who, for instance, display the new Syrian flag in their shops. According to reports from media outlets, the campaign began when Iraqi accounts shared the addresses of Syrians who had expressed support for operations against remnants of the Assad regime in Syria. The group issued a statement on X declaring that the Ya Ali Popular Brigades had been explicitly launched to target Syrians who it perceived to be praising the crimes of figures like Hayat Tahrir al Sham’s leader, Abu Mohammad al Jolani (Sharaa), and others it accused of crimes against Alawites and Christians.
**Ahmad Sharawi is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies focused on Iranian intervention in Arab affairs and the levant.

Qatar Tacitly Approves Muslim Scholars’ Call for ‘Armed Jihad’ Against Israel
Natalie Ecanow & Mariam Wahba/FDD-Policy Brief/April 14/2025
For Israel, Qatar’s silence on a fatwa calling for “armed jihad” against the Jewish state is deafening. On April 9, Israel’s Foreign Ministry implored Doha to publicly reject the religious edict, which the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) issued on March 31. The fatwa instructs Muslim governments to support Hamas “militarily, economically, and politically” and to besiege Israel by “land, air, and sea.” American Muslims, the IUMS said, should “use all available means to pressure” the Trump administration to end the war in Gaza.
The IUMS is a global network of Islamic scholars. The organization reportedly receives funding from the Qatari royal family and is broadly aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that originated in Egypt. The grand mufti of Egypt issued a rejection of the March 31 fatwa on behalf of Dar al-Iftaa, Cairo’s Islamic advisory, justiciary, and governmental body.
A senior Israeli official said that Qatar’s failure to denounce the IUMS fatwa “is disappointing” given the emirate’s role in Gaza ceasefire negotiations. Qatar is implicitly endorsing what the official described as “a call for murder” while parading as an honest broker.
Qatar’s Historic Support for the Muslim Brotherhood
The Muslim Brotherhood does not formally operate inside Qatar, but Doha has long supported the Islamist movement and exported its ideology through the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera Media Network. The late Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, widely seen as a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, chaired the IUMS from its founding in 2004 until 2018. Qaradawi endorsed the kidnapping and murder of American soldiers in Iraq and Palestinian suicide bombings against Israelis. He also hosted a long-running talk show on Al Jazeera. When Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government fell in 2013, Qaradawi relocated to Qatar, where he died in 2022.
Qatar is also a longtime sponsor of Hamas, which grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s. Doha offered Hamas leaders sanctuary after Jordan expelled them in 1999. Qatar backed Hamas’s takeover of Gaza in 2007. Hamas officially relocated its politburo to Doha in 2012. Qatar has since provided Hamas-run Gaza with over $1 billion, primarily to support local infrastructure. However, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency now assesses that Qatari money contributed to Hamas’s force buildup ahead of its October 7, 2023, invasion. Hamas’s late military chief, Mohammed Deif, likely skimmed millions per month off Qatar’s aid to fund Hamas terrorism.
Egypt’s Islamic Body Rejects Fatwa
The IUMS fatwa reflects an ideological rift between Egypt and Qatar despite the ostensible cooperation of both countries in mediating Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks. Grand Mufti Dr. Nazir Ayyad outlined six major points in his rejection of the IUMS’s fatwa. The first point asserted that “no single entity or group [has] the right to issue fatwas” on the religious concept of jihad, warning that such acts could endanger the security and stability of Islamic countries. Second, Dar al-Iftaa affirmed that while supporting the Palestinian people is a religious, humanitarian, and moral duty, this does not include “specific agendas or adventures with uncalculated consequences.” In the third point, the grand mufti directly rejected the IUMS’s Fatwa, claiming that jihad can only be declared by a legitimate state and political authority and not through “statements by entities or unions that lack any legitimate authority and do not represent Muslims legally or in reality.”
The IUMS Episode Should Color Washington’s Approach to Gaza Talks
Qatar’s tacit approval of the IUMS fatwa aligns with its historic support for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Washington should bear this episode in mind as Gaza ceasefire talks waver. Qatar has done little, if anything, to distance itself from Hamas and show that it is the honest broker it claims to be. So long as Qatar sides with its Islamist clients, the Trump administration should not rely on the emirate to secure the release of the remaining hostages — a 21-year-old American among them.
**Natalie Ecanow is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Mariam Wahba is a research analyst. For more analysis from Natalie, Mariam, and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Natalie on X @NatalieEcanow. Follow Mariam on X @themariamwahba. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security.

What President Trump Must Demand to Eliminate Iran’s Nuclear Threat
Orde Kittrie, Andrea Stricker, Behnam Ben Taleblu/Insight/April 14/2025
The United States and Iran are set to hold landmark talks on April 12, President Donald Trump announced earlier in the week, just weeks after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refused the idea. The watershed event follows the president’s letter to Khamenei in early March in which he posed a stark ultimatum to Tehran: negotiate a deal within two months that removes the nuclear threat, or face punishing U.S. sanctions and possibly strikes on the regime’s nuclear facilities.
“I’d rather see a peace deal than the other [option],” Trump said, referring to military action against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. “But the other will solve the problem.” Two weeks later, the president reiterated his threat: “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
While any agreement with the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism — which continues to talk about assassinating Trump — would be fraught with moral, strategic, and political risks, definitively ending Iran’s atomic quest rightly remains a top U.S. national security priority.
The U.S. negotiating team in Oman — reportedly led by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — must insist upon a new nuclear deal that is based on one simple premise: Iran’s full, permanent, and verifiable nuclear disarmament.
First and foremost, this means Iran must verifiably dismantle, export, or destroy all assets, equipment, and facilities which enable the regime to enrich uranium or produce plutonium — the key fuels for nuclear weapons. Iran has no need to produce such fuels.
Tehran must also completely disclose and terminate all work on nuclear weaponization — its efforts to build a nuclear explosive device. While evidence shows Iran has worked on nuclear weapons since the mid-1980s, it has never been forced to fully account for or verifiably end such efforts.
Tehran must also allow the International Atomic Energy Agency — the UN’s nuclear watchdog — to have unimpeded access to all suspect sites and to ensure full verification of an Iranian nuclear deal. Over the past several decades, Iran has repeatedly moved or destroyed evidence of nuclear weapons work, restricted access to suspicious sites, and weakened or backed out of its monitoring agreements. This cannot continue.
Iran must also fully and permanently implement its legal nonproliferation obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Chemical Weapons Convention, both of which it has long thwarted. It is essential that an Iranian obligation to permanently abide by its NPT obligations override the NPT’s withdrawal provisions, as Iran has periodically threatened to withdraw from the NPT.
In addition, Iran must accept the reimposition of UN Security Council sanctions on its missile and arms programs, as well as giving up its nuclear-capable missile delivery systems and space-launch vehicles, which could be used to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile to target the U.S. homeland.
Tehran must also terminate and disclose proliferation cooperation with states like China, Russia, and North Korea.
The Trump administration must refuse any offers of a limited and reversible deal like President Barack Obama’s flawed nuclear agreement from 2015. President Joe Biden also pursued a similarly limited and reversible deal. Both efforts let Iran maintain and eventually expand much of the infrastructure needed to develop nuclear weapons. Trump withdrew from the Obama-era accord in 2018 and levied tough sanctions in pursuit of a better deal. Settling for a limited and reversible agreement would only enable Tehran to resurrect its weapons program once Trump leaves office.
Should Iran refuse his terms for a disarmament deal, Trump must double down on the pressure and make good on his threats.
The president has already begun to increase sanctions against Iran, with a February restoration of his first term’s “maximum pressure” policy that cratered Tehran’s economy and leveled its oil exports. These must be scaled up if Iran stalls at the negotiating table.
Trump has also signaled a willingness to carry out strikes, moving significant military assets into the region which could destroy Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities.
If Iran fails to promptly agree to dismantle its nuclear program, the president should also pivot aggressively to support the Iranian people’s quest for a representative government. After all, so long as Tehran’s theocrats are at the helm, they are likely to pursue the world’s most dangerous weapons.
If the president can peacefully obtain the full, permanent, and verifiable disarmament of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, such an agreement would surely be worthy of U.S. Senate ratification.
It would also solidify Trump’s role as a historic dealmaker.
*Orde F. Kittrie is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and law professor at Arizona State University. Follow him on X @ordefk. Andrea Stricker is a research fellow and deputy director of FDD’s Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program. Follow her on X @StrickerNonpro. Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow and senior director of FDD’s Iran program. Follow him on X @therealBehnamBT. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

Trump understands China is on its way to global domination and must be stopped
Elaine K. Dezenski/New York Post/April 14/2025
President Trump is launching a tariff blitz on the world for one reason: China.
China’s economy is built on a system that distorts free trade.
Determined to grow at any cost, China has been overproducing everything. It started with roads and rail lines, then moved to apartments and mansions, and now it’s cars, refrigerators and semiconductors.
These goods are dumped on foreign markets, including in America. Trump’s tariffs may be disruptive, but they can serve a function — forcing a global realignment that is far overdue.
Since the early 2000s, China has leveraged cheap labor and lax environmental standards to flood the world with low-cost goods, displacing American industries. More than 3.5 million US jobs have been lost to China.
In 2023, a Chinese company, Ching Tai Wire and Cable, announced a new factory in Dongguan — while, one year later, Michigan’s National Standard, a leading wire manufacturer, shut down after 117 years in business.
Over the last decade, China’s economic model accelerated, using “transferred” technology from Western companies to push out competitors, costing American companies between $225 billion and $600 billion a year.
Intellectual property theft and other unfair practices allowed China to advance from low-quality goods to high-tech manufacturing in areas like computing, robotics and semiconductors.
China aims to dominate global markets through “non-market” strategies such as subsidies, currency manipulation, monopolies, and restrictions on foreign companies operating in China. These state-driven policies have led to a manufacturing boom in China.
The Chinese car company BYD is now building a factory in Zhengzhou that will sprawl over 50 square miles, the size of San Francisco, and 10 times the size of Tesla’s largest factory.
In 2021, China produced nearly one-third of the world’s goods, and experts predict that could rise to 43% by 2050 without intervention.
China’s strategy has fundamentally damaged America’s industrial sectors, but we are not alone. European, Japanese, and South Korean companies also find themselves up against Chinese champions that manufacture entire supply chains: screens, semiconductors, memory chips, batteries, cameras, and cases — even mining and processing the critical minerals like lithium or gallium that those parts rely on.
China’s export dumping has also hurt economies globally, from Brazil to South Africa. Half of all dumping investigations last year were aimed at China.
Even countries that are traditionally allies of China, like Russia, are feeling the impact. After Western companies left Russia in 2022, imports of Chinese cars surged, prompting Russia to impose new trade barriers on Chinese imports.
True, China’s overproduction and government subsidies have left its economy vulnerable. Youth unemployment is high, municipalities are drowning in debt, and the housing market is in crisis. Despite this, China’s government is unwilling to slow down production. For the second year in a row, the Communist Party has set a growth target of about 5%, which means more production — more cars, more steel, more dishwashers — regardless of demand or market conditions.
Central planning overrides market signals and profit incentives.
While Trump’s tariff policies may seem erratic, they could succeed if they unify the world against China. As Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday, “We can probably reach a deal with our allies . . . And then we can approach China as a group.”
This is the right approach. Allies are essential, but they also need the United States.
Now is the time to implement a global tariff regime that blocks the flood of cheap Chinese exports, challenges China’s threats against Taiwan, and combats its efforts to spread economic instability worldwide.
Our supply chains should be rewired for allies, not adversaries. Even a much-needed resurgence of US manufacturing will need global partners to process minerals, supply components, and assemble products.
Together, the world could build a better, fairer, and more open global economy.
China should be forced to adapt — or fend for itself.
**Elaine Dezenski is senior director and head of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
https://nypost.com/2025/04/10/opinion/trump-understands-china-is-on-its-way-to-global-domination-and-must-be-stopped/

Against racism, for antisemitism: The message of a march in Paris
Ben Cohen/Jewish News Syndicate/April 14/2025 |
The most egregious aspect of the demonstration was its contemptuous approach to Jew-hatred, which has risen precipitously in France, as elsewhere in Europe, since the atrocities in Israel 18 months ago. Thousands of people marched through Paris at the end of March in what was billed as a protest against racism. It was another display of the long-standing alliance between the far left and Islamist groups, exemplified by the numerous Palestinian flags dotted alongside the red banners deployed by the organizers.
The march illustrated how the term “racism” has been appropriated by parts of the left to describe measures aimed at combating the spread of Islamism. Many of the demonstrators lashed out at Bruno Retailleau, the French interior minister, for his allegedly racist statements about Algeria, a French colony until its independence in 1962, and his support for a ban on the wearing of the Islamic veil—a rule that is imposed on women alone—in French institutions of higher education.
Yet closer inspection of both issues reveals that Retailleau has not uttered racist comments on either. On Algeria, Retailleau’s complaint is that the authorities in Algiers have consistently refused to accept Algerian nationals slated for deportation by France, including one man who carried out a deadly terrorist attack in the city of Mulhouse in February, leading him to warn that a 1968 agreement facilitating Algerian immigration to France would be reviewed unless that position is reversed. On the veil, he has eschewed bigoted language about “Islam” and “foreigners,” arguing instead that the “veil is not merely a piece of fabric; it is a banner for Islamism and a symbol of the subjugation of women to men.”
Once upon a time, that was an assertion made by the left.
But perhaps the most egregious aspect of the demonstration was its contemptuous approach to the problem of antisemitism, which has risen precipitously in France, as elsewhere in Europe, in the 18 months that have elapsed since the Hamas mass atrocities in Israel. There were no banners, no chants, no signs condemning the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust and its consequent unleashing of antisemitic rhetoric and violence against Jewish communities across the globe.
Indeed, the entire event suggested that in order to combat racism, the French far left—a large bloc that won 182 parliamentary seats in last year’s legislative elections—has embraced Jew-hatred as a strategy. A poster publicizing the march urged attendees to “fight the extreme right, its ideas and its networks.” To accentuate its point, the poster was dominated by an image of Cyril Hanouna, a right-wing pundit of Tunisian Jewish origin.
Hanouna was displayed in extreme close-up with his eyes narrowed in hostility and a curving, beak-like nose protruding over a snarling mouth. You don’t have to be an antisemitism expert to trace the lineage of an image like this one. In the French context, it is painfully reminiscent of the crude propaganda aimed at Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, the French Jewish army officer falsely convicted of espionage in 1894 amid a wave of bestial antisemitic violence.
It also brought to mind the Nazi demonization of the Jews and, more recently, social media memes like the “Happy Merchant,” an antisemitic caricature much loved by semi-literate, far-right delinquents like the American Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
The offending image of Hanouna was eventually withdrawn but not before the guilty party here—the far-left “La France Insoumise” (“France Rising”)—angrily voiced its outrage at the accusation of antisemitism (a routine tactic whenever someone has the temerity to suggest that the far left is hostile to Jews qua Jews.) The party’s leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, visibly lost his temper when asked about the image during a television interview, bellowing the words “Enough is Enough!” at news anchor Francis Letellier.
Yet for all of Mélenchon’s protestations, this is exactly what we have come to expect from him. Mélenchon has ventured into antisemitism several times in his career. Random highlights include his 2013 statement accusing the then-Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, who is Jewish, of no longer “thinking in French but thinking in the language of international finance.” More recently, he leapt to the defense of his comrade Jeremy Corbyn, the antisemitic former leader of the British Labour Party, declaring that “Corbyn had to endure without help the crude accusation of antisemitism from the chief rabbi of England and the various Likud networks of influence.” He then added that Corbyn, “instead of fighting back, spent his time apologizing and giving pledges. (…) I will never give in to it for my part.”
Along with the various Islamist associations present in France, La France Insoumise has been a key transmitter of antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, at the same time dismissing outright, much as Corbyn did in Britain, the concerns of the Jewish community. French President Emmanuel Macron alluded to this in a speech on April 2, when he presented an award on behalf of LICRA, a long-established French organization that combats racism and antisemitism. “The antisemitic poison consists of only one ingredient, hatred … a hatred born on the far right, which has prospered on the far right and has managed to spread beyond the far right,” Macron stated. “Today, unfortunately, it has reached certain ranks of the far left and the left, for whom anti-Zionism serves as an alibi for the expression of antisemitism.”
While these sentiments are laudable, the historical record shows that the far left has often trafficked in the hatred of Jews with the same enthusiasm as the Nazis and ultranationalists on the facing side of the horseshoe. As I wrote last year, anti-Zionism in our time has undergone a process of Nazification to the point where, in my view, we should remove the hyphen from this term to underline that what is presented as political opposition to the Zionist movement is more properly understood as a full-blown antisemitic conspiracy theory with the State of Israel at its core.
The unmistakable message delivered by the Paris march against racism, along with satellite marches in other French cities, was this: Jews are not allies; Jews fabricate claims of bigotry and discrimination against them; and Jews are guilty of perpetrating a “genocide” against Palestinians rooted in “Zionist ideology.” In the ultimate irony, the implication here is that to be a good anti-racist, it helps if you are an antisemite.
*Ben Cohen is a senior analyst with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) and director of FDD’s rapid response outreach, specializing in global antisemitism, anti-Zionism and Middle East/European Union relations.
https://www.jns.org/against-racism-for-antisemitism-the-message-of-a-march-in-paris/

Maps that Are Fuel for the Fire of Negotiations
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
The Houthi youth cannot believe what he is reading. Positive messages have emerged from the Iranian-American meeting in Muscat. He had never expected that the supreme leader would allow Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi to meet with Steve Witkoff – the envoy of the man who ordered the killing of General Qassem Soleimani. Yemen is going through some tough times. The American jet resembles a phantom and may even almost resemble fate. It roams the skies as it searches for the rockets and drones that were engineered by Soleimani and concealed in Yemen’s mountains and valleys. The Houthi youth secretly acknowledges to himself that the American jets are not being shot down and the US fleet still stands, despite the exciting statements of the armed forces spokesman.
The youth begins to have doubts. Is it time to set aside the Houthi arsenal and put an end to the Houthis’ time in power? Will the rocket attacks on ships sailing the Red Sea come to a complete halt or is this just time for a truce? Is there truth to the statements that said the proxies are mere fuel for the fire that needed to be lit to prepare for the negotiations? He can’t believe it. The Lebanese youth can’t believe his eyes. The Lebanese civil war erupted on April 13, 1975. The country that was deluded in believing that it was a player became an arena where several wars played out. Tough Lebanese and regional warriors fought it out in this small country. The flood of funerals started and has never really stopped. Lebanese groups made gambles and came up with delusions that were far greater than the fragile country could stand. The Lebanese turned to foreign allies that are more powerful than them and they ultimately became fighters in a battle that turned them into mere pawns, not partners.
Funerals, funerals, funerals.
Kamal Jumblatt was assassinated after committing miscalculations related to geography while Hafez al-Assad was in power in Syria. Jumblatt once told former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi: “It appears that we have launched a cause that is bigger than us.” Hawi would later tell me: “If only we hadn’t fired a single bullet.” The parties fought long and hard and were defeated. They would later celebrate false victories.
Bashir Gemayel also made miscalculations when he relied on regional forces to upend internal balances. A president-elect, he was killed before he even stepped foot in the presidential palace. Rene Moawad was killed for committing the sin of seeking to implement the Taif Accord on the basis of moderation, treating wounds and easing concerns. He was assassinated weeks into his presidency. Rafik al-Hariri. The man who tried to help the country emerge from under the rubble and who tried to restore Lebanon’s standing as it grappled with the Assads in Syria and Iranian influence. He was assassinated in Beirut. He was killed for trying to steal Lebanon away from the feast of wars, roles and sizes. He was killed on the regional frontline. Hassan Nasrallah was killed in the Israeli war on Lebanon after the US and Israel retaliated to the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation by destroying Iran’s regional proxies.
Funerals, funerals, funerals. The Lebanese youth browses the news. Dreams have turned into rubble. Lebanon is losing its youth and children. The Lebanese are either buried, in exile or watching the region burn by the barbaric Israeli jets and living in anticipation of the full implementation of resolution 1701 and following Oratgus’ recommendations.
The youth wonders: Is it time for Hezbollah to retire its arsenal? Was sacrificing the proxies necessary to fuel the fire for the negotiations and improving Iran’s conditions at the talks? What about those who have been killed and left behind scores of widows, orphans and decimated villages? It has been 50 years since the eruption of the first of the Lebanese wars. What good was it for southern Lebanon to turn into a front for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? What good was it for southern Lebanon to turn into a front for the Iranian-Israeli conflict? The Israeli jet resembles a phantom; it may even resemble fate.
The youth can barely believe his ears. Donald Trump says he wants Iran to become a “great and happy nation.” But it can’t be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. The youth knows that Trump’s America is not like Obama or Biden’s America. Trump may make soft statements, but he’s quick to remind everyone of America’s might if negotiations over the nuclear program fail. The days are painful. The Lebanese gambled with their children and country. Did they learn the lesson? The Lebanese have no better home than Lebanon. It is the best home for Walid Jumblatt and his supporters, Samir Geagea and those counting on him, and Naim Qassem and the supporters of his party and sect. The same applies to those who continue to recall Rafik al-Hariri.
The Lebanese state alone can protect the Lebanese people. This is not about the success of Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam’s terms in office. But it is about Lebanon coming back from wars and focusing on achieving stability and peace. Lebanon is our last and only hope.
The Iraqi youth can’t believe his eyes. The failure or success of the Muscat talks will have several implications for his country. Iran is not a charity. It is a serious state that knows how to flirt on the edge of war with the US without actually being dragged into conflict. Its primary concern is achieving its national interests. So, is it time to retire the arsenal of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq? Is it time for Iran to reduce its influence and clear the way for the US and its regional arrangements? How difficult it is for Iraq to walk the delicate line between Washington and Tehran. Is it time to trim the claws of the armed factions and their delusions?
The situation is bitter from Baghdad to Gaza. The only way to fend off Israel’s barbarism lies in appeasing the Americans. The Israeli jet resembles a phantom, while the American influence resembles fate.
The painful journey has been long in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza. A sea of blood and scores of missing people. Despair is everywhere. Have the wars deceived the fighters? Have our maps been fuel for celebrations where the only role we can play is the victim? Will Iran abandon the major coup that it launched in the region back when the Khomeini revolution was victorious? When will the time come for the emergence of normal states whose only source of exhaustion is their dedication to achieving progress and development and pursuing technological advancement? When will they emerge from the dark tunnels and head towards hopeful horizons?

Trump, Khamenei, and the Return to Muscat
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 14/2025
Twelve years ago, former US President Barack Obama’s team and Iran began secret negotiations that lasted two years and led to what became known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It was implemented for three years before President Donald Trump came into office and courageously tore it apart, despite it having been ratified by the United Nations. He was succeeded by President Joe Biden, who chose not to revive it, turning the deal into a thing of the past.
Though the agreement was marketed as a peace initiative, its aftermath brought more crises and conflicts than existed before its signing.
Today, the Americans and Iranians are returning to negotiations under critical circumstances. So how will the new Muscat talks differ from the 2013 negotiations?
President Trump has stated that his first choice is a solution through negotiation, and if that fails, his second option is war. In my view, both parties are inclined toward a political solution, despite the aggressive rhetoric.
But what kind of solution are they talking about? A “negotiated solution” is a broad concept. Obama did, in fact, achieve an agreement that compelled Iran to give up enriched uranium, which was then sent to Russia.
But the nuclear issue was merely a bargaining chip that Iran skillfully used to preserve its regional and international military activities. Obama deliberately sidelined key stakeholders from the talks, particularly the Gulf states and Israel, and ignored the concerns of countries in the region.
Iran treated the agreement as a license to expand its influence and dominate Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza, while threatening others. Tehran spent over $100 billion in frozen assets – released with Washington’s approval – on military activities that destabilized much of the region.
In the negotiations in Oman’s capital, the faces may have been new, but the core issues remained the same as those raised in March 2013: halting Iran’s militarized nuclear program, ending its support and funding for regional militias, and refraining from interfering in other nations’ affairs. Obama had settled for a deal focused solely on the nuclear issue.
Can we place our bets on Trump?
So far, Trump’s approach has been clearer and more assertive compared to Obama, who had backed down in the face of Iran’s supreme leader and retreated from his infamous “red line” after the Assad regime used chemical weapons in Syria.
Trump had already set the stage politically ahead of the Muscat negotiations. He has deployed more US forces to the region, launched operations to dismantle Houthi capabilities in Yemen, tasked his envoy Steve Witkoff with initiating contact with Tehran, sent a direct message to Iran’s supreme leader, imposed new sanctions on Iranian oil exports, welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, and publicly spoke of the military option.
All these steps aim to strengthen his hand at the negotiating table.
The Iranians are not in a favorable position, but they’ve responded with their own moves. The supreme leader adopted a hardline stance while leaving it to the government to give final approval. Tehran issued its response to Trump via an op-ed by its Foreign Minister in The Washington Post.
On the ground, Hezbollah no longer seems to be complying with its agreement with Israel, and the Houthis have rejected Washington’s call to stop attacking maritime navigation – despite being bombed about a month ago, likely to strengthen Tehran’s negotiating position.
The most significant detail in Trump’s leaked letter to Khamenei is that he expressed his willingness to negotiate but set a strict two-month deadline to reach a deal, which he might extend if the initial talks show promise. However, he also warned that if an agreement is not reached, Iran’s nuclear facilities would be targeted – and “Israel would carry out the mission,” as he declared while seated next to Netanyahu.
This scene is entirely different from the atmosphere surrounding Obama’s negotiations and his conciliatory image. Trump comes into this with a fearsome reputation for not shying away from confronting half the world. His team is now heading to the table as Iran finds itself in its weakest state – after Israel dismantled its foreign arms, namely Hezbollah and Hamas, and with the Assad regime collapsing.
Trump has a strong chance of securing an unprecedented “good” deal with Iran if he maintains his firm stance and if his team can counter Tehran’s shrewd tactics. The balance of power now tilts toward Israel, which has crippled Iran’s regional proxies, stripping Tehran of the “proxy card” it once used as a threat and negotiation tool. Additionally, Trump has begun delivering on his promise to deprive Tehran of oil revenue, placing the country in financial distress unless it reaches a deal with him.
Therefore, Iran’s options have become limited – making a real possibility for peace more tangible, starting in Muscat and potentially continuing with broader regional peace agreements.