English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 07/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the
one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer’s
heart shall flow rivers of living water
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 07/37-39:"On
the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he
cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes
in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer’s heart shall flow
rivers of living water." ’Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in
him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet
glorified."
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on February 06-07/2025
Michel Aoun the Judas and the Humiliating and Treacherous Memorandum of
Understanding with the Party of Satan/Elias Bejjani/February 06/2025
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: Aoun and Salam’s Failure to Break Hezbollah and
Berri’s Grip: Lebanon Must Be Declared a Rogue State and Placed Under Chapter
VII/Elias Bejjani/February 06/2025
Border Clashes Between HTS and Lebanese Tribes
Lebanese clans kill and capture HTS members as Lebanese homes blown up in Syria
US envoy to warn Lebanon over Hezbollah's influence in government
LF MP says Berri's behavior in Baabda 'alarming'
Sharaa reportedly discussed Hezbollah weapons, refugees with Mikati in Damascus
US Priorities in Lebanon: From Government Reforms to UN Resolution 1701/Bassam
Abou Zeid/This is Beirut/February 06/2025
The President at the Forefront of Expanded Decentralization/Johnny Ftouhi/This
is Beirut/February 06/2025
Missing Mossad agent's story brought to light: Will Netanyahu address Israeli
disappearances in Lebanon during US-Lebanon talks?
FPM and Sunni blocs excluded from govt. as line-up emerges
Lebanese government formation stalls over minister selection
Aoun, Berri and Salam meet in Baabda, fail to agree on '5th Shiite minister'
Khamenei Names Naim Qassem his Representative in Lebanon
Lebanon: Salam Pledges to Form Reformist Government
What does Nawaf Salam want?/Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut/February
06/2025
Saad Hariri's political comeback: A return to the spotlight or a role behind the
scenes?
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on February 06-07/2025
Israeli Army Ordered to Prepare for Gaza Residents' Departure
Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency, says UNRWA chief
Netanyahu Offers Support to Trump's Plan to Move Palestinians Out of Gaza
Trump Says Israel Would Hand over Gaza after Fighting
Saudi Crown Prince, Jordan’s King Discuss Regional Developments
Saudi Arabia’s Statement: A Firm Rejection of Liquidating the Palestinian Cause
Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing Palestinian detainees
UN Special Rapporteur Criticizes Israel's Withdrawal from UN Human Rights
Council
Jordanian king arrives in UK ahead of US visit
Rubio planning first trip to Middle East in mid-February, Axios reports
Iran's First Drone Carrier Joins Revolutionary Guards' Fleet
US imposes sanctions on network that helps ship Iranian oil to China
Egypt lobbies against Trump plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians as Israel makes
preparations
Baghdad Halts Symbolic Talks on Disbanding Armed Factions
Syria’s “Caesar” discloses his identity, calls for punishing “criminal” Assad
Yemen’s Houthis Escalate in Marib over Consequences of Terrorism Designation
Swedish Police: Mass Shooter Was Connected to School Where he Opened Fire
At least 10 Nigerien soldiers are killed in an ambush, the army says
Trump tells prayer breakfast he wants to root out 'anti-Christian bias' and
urges 'bring God back'
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on February 06-07/2025
How Hamas Plans To Foil Trump's Gaza Plan/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute./February 06/2025
Trumpism: Dangers and Opportunities/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February
06/2025
After Tariff Fight with Canada and Mexico, Trump’s Next Target Is Europe
...Europe, you’re next./The New York Times/February 06/2025
Mr. Trump... What About this Idea on the Palestinians?/Mishary Dhayidi/Asharq
Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
Arab Americans for Trump changes name after Gaza comments/RAY HANANIA/Arab
News/February 06, 2025
Farewell to the Ideology of ‘Development’?/Joseph P. Duggan/chroniclesmagazine/February
06/2025
With Oscar-nominee 'Conclave' piquing interest, pope keeps dean of the College
of Cardinals in place/NICOLE WINFIELD/Associated Press/February 6, 2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on February 06-07/2025
Michel
Aoun the Judas and the Humiliating and Treacherous Memorandum of Understanding
with the Party of Satan
Elias Bejjani/February 06/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/62374/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q_Y6-Y4ooY
On February 6, 2006, the traitor,
the Trojan, and the man of little faith, Michel Aoun, sold himself and Lebanon,
swallowed his slogans, and exchanged everything for a presidential chair on
which he sat as nothing more than a puppet and a mere shadow for six years. May
the curse of the heavens be upon him.
Elias
Bejjani/Text & Video: Aoun and Salam’s Failure to Break Hezbollah and Berri’s
Grip: Lebanon Must Be Declared a Rogue State and Placed Under Chapter VII
Elias Bejjani/February 06/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/139892/
No more illusions, no more pleasantries, and no more poetic rhetoric—just
the harsh, undeniable truth. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister-designate
Nawaf Salam have utterly failed to take decisive, sovereign stances that align
with Aoun’s inaugural oath and Salam’s pledges. Instead, they have disgracefully
plunged into a swamp of submission and servitude to Nabih Berri and Hezbollah.
Every move they have made thus far in dealing with Berri, Mohammad Raad, the two
Khalils, and the rest of the so-called “Resistance” faction has been a
catastrophic blunder—100% wrong, or rather, a fatal betrayal. Their
miscalculations expose appalling shortsightedness, a total inability to grasp
the Iranian project and its destructive Lebanese proxies, and a dangerous
blindness to Berri’s mafia-like stranglehold over the country.
A truly patriotic and sovereign government would have been formed without
Hezbollah, without Berri, and without the corrupt political class that has bled
Lebanon dry. Instead, Aoun and Salam have chosen the disgraceful path of
submission, appeasement, and power-sharing with the very forces responsible for
Lebanon’s destruction. The result? No one dares challenge Berri’s tyranny,
Hezbollah’s armed occupation remains untouched, and the so-called “new Aoun
tenure” has collapsed before it even began. Along with it, every hope of
restoring Lebanon’s sovereignty and breaking free from Iran’s grip has been
crushed.
If Aoun and Salam do not immediately correct their humiliating course of
submission, then resignation is their only honorable option. Lebanon’s true
sovereign and patriotic forces, in coordination with allied nations, must act
decisively to declare Lebanon a rogue and failed state and demand its placement
under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. This would pave the way for
international intervention to dismantle Hezbollah’s occupation, crush Iranian
control, and restore Lebanon’s independence.
The time for hesitation is over. Lebanon must be rescued now—or it will be lost
forever!
To President Joseph Aoun: Silence on Berri and Hezbollah’s Terrorism is a Sign
of Approval—A Clear and Courageous Stand is Required
Elias Bejjani / February 05/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/139837/
Three weeks have passed, and yet Judge Nawaf Salam—the leftist, Nasserist, and
former member of the Palestinian Fatah organization—remains stuck in a
humiliating state of confusion and surrender to the dictates of the corrupt
Nabih Berri and the terrorist, Satanic Hezbollah. Instead of completely
isolating them from government participation to facilitate the implementation of
international resolutions—specifically, all provisions of the ceasefire
agreement with Israel, which they signed under Prime Minister Mikati’s
government—Salam is caving to their blackmail, engaging in appeasement and
submission.
How can they be part of the very same government that is supposed to oversee the
disarmament of their militias, confiscate their war capabilities, and the
handover of their stockpiles and military sites to the Lebanese Army?
We ask you, President Joseph Aoun:
Do you agree to hand over the Ministry of Finance to this defeated Iranian
terrorist duo?
Will you allow them to monopolize Shiite representation, effectively
booby-trapping your government, undermining your presidency, and sabotaging your
national rescue mission?
A clear, transparent, and decisive stance is required.
You assumed the presidency under direct and commendable international and
regional pressure, with the hope that you would lead Lebanon’s salvation,
dismantle Iran’s occupation grip, and restore the state from the grasp of the
militia-run mini-state.
Your silence on Judge Salam’s submission to the terrorist threats and extortion
of this obstructive duo is both baffling and deeply concerning.
A firm and bold position is needed—before it is too late!
Border Clashes Between HTS
and Lebanese Tribes
This is Beirut/February 6, 2025
Clashes broke out on Thursday along the Lebanese-Syrian border between gunmen
from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Lebanese tribes in the Syrian town of Hawik,
which is also home to a Lebanese community. HTS fighters reportedly managed to
infiltrate the town, located off Lebanon’s eastern district of Hermel, sparking
confrontations with the Jaafar and Zeaïter clans that later spread to the nearby
border town of Jarmash. The gunmen traded machinegun fire and mortar shells
during which a shell struck the Lebanese town of al-Qasr, injuring a Lebanese
citizen. These armed clashes resulted in the death of a young man from the
Jaafar family. HTS members also detained Ahmad Zeaïter, Abdo Zeaïter,
Moukhtar Bassam Noun and 10 women from the Zeaïter and al-Jamal families.
Efforts are underway to release them. Additionally, sources indicated that two
members of HTS were captured in Hawik as the clashes continued to escalate.
According to Syrian media reports, HTS men have given the Lebanese side a
six-hour deadline to release the prisoners. The Syrian government's media office
in Homs announced, according to SANA, that the border security department had
launched a major campaign in the border village of Hawik to close down crossing
points for weapons and contraband. “The campaign has so far resulted in the
arrest of a number of wanted individuals involved in illegal smuggling
operations, as well as the seizure of quantities of weapons and contraband in
their possession,” it added. The Syrian government media office also said in its
statement that during the campaign, clashes took place between border security
forces and a number of wanted individuals, resulting in the kidnapping of two
members of Syrian forces. In the evening, Red Cross vehicles arrived to the
hospital where the kidnapped Syrian army members were being held, in order to
transfer and hand them over to the Syrian army via the Joussiyeh border
crossing. An operation to hand over prisoners at the Al-Qaa point was also
launched by the Red Cross and the Lebanese army following clashes between armed
men from the new Syrian administration and others from tribes in the Hermel
region.
Lebanese clans kill and
capture HTS members as Lebanese homes blown up in Syria
Naharnet/February 6, 2025
Armed clashes erupted Thursday in the Syrian-Lebanese border region between the
Zoaiter and Jaafar Lebanese clans and fighters from Syria’s Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham, which consist the core of Syria’s new Islamist-led authorities, media
reports said. “The Lebanese clans seized military equipment, killing two HTS
members and capturing two others in the Syrian border town of Hawik, which has
been historically inhabited by Lebanese residents,” the reports said. A shell
meanwhile landed on the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of al-Qasr,
wounding one person, reportedly a Lebanese Army soldier. “Following clashes for
more than two hours between HTS members and the clans, HTS forces entered the
Syrian town of Hawik and Lebanese residents left the town for Lebanese
territory, amid the blowing up of some houses at the hands of the HTS,” reports
said. Fierce clashes were also reported in the Syrian area of Jirmash on
Lebanon’s border, also between the area’s clans and Syria’s new authorities. The
Lebanese Army meanwhile sent major reinforcements to the border area to prevent
the entry of gunmen into Lebanese territory. According to VDL radio (93.3) ,
light-, medium- and heavy-caliber weapons were used in the clashes. Annahar
newspaper for its part said that “the Lebanese town of Hawik which overlaps with
the Syrian border has come under fierce shelling from Syria’s new administration
from the neighboring town of Heet.”“Mortar shells and 23mm anti-aircraft guns
were used, as a number of residents sought to confront its efforts to erect
checkpoints in the area to reinforce its authority and halt smuggling,” the
daily said. A senior official from the new Syrian administration meanwhile told
Annahar that “military reinforcements arrived yesterday, Wednesday in the area
with the aim of securing the border and closing illegal crossings.
US envoy to warn Lebanon
over Hezbollah's influence in government
LBCI/Reuters/February 6, 2025
President Donald Trump's envoy is set to deliver a firm message to Lebanese
leaders during a visit on Thursday: the U.S. will not tolerate the unchecked
influence of Hezbollah and its allies over the formation of a new government.
The message will be that Lebanon faces deeper isolation and economic devastation
unless it forms a government committed to reforms, eliminating corruption and
curbing the stranglehold of the Iranian-backed Shi'ite group, according to an
administration official, a Western diplomat and regional government sources. The
U.S. delegation, led by Morgan Ortagus, deputy special envoy for the Middle
East, will meet newly-elected President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister-designate
Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. But the U.S. is seeking to curb
the influence that Hezbollah will wield over it, in an attempt to capitalise on
the pummeling that the group took in its war with Israel last year.
"It's important for us to set the tone for what we believe a new Lebanon should
look like going forward," said the senior U.S. administration official, while
asserting that Washington was not "picking" individual cabinet members but
ensuring Hezbollah has no part in the government. "There was a war and Hezbollah
was defeated and they need to remain defeated," the official added. "You don't
want somebody corrupt. It's a new day for Lebanon. Hezbollah was defeated, and
the new government needs to match that new reality."
US delegation's agenda in
Beirut: Key talks on ceasefire, border disputes, and prisoner exchange
LBCI/February 06, 2025
A high-ranking U.S. delegation is set to arrive in Beirut on Thursday for
meetings with Lebanese officials scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The
delegation includes Morgan Ortagus, who replaced Amos Hochstein as U.S. envoy,
Natasha Franceschi, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Syria and the
Levant, and other members. According to LBCI sources, this visit is primarily
introductory, as it marks Ortagus' first trip to Lebanon following the change in
the U.S. administration. Moreover, the delegation is expected to lead
discussions within the committee monitoring the ceasefire agreement between
Lebanon and Israel. Several key issues will be on the agenda, starting with the
implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and ensuring the
stability of the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese delegation
is expected to confirm its commitment to maintaining the February 18 deadline
for Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon. The U.S. side appears determined to
see Israeli forces leave by that date. Another major topic will be the release
of seven Lebanese prisoners held in Israel. However, what does Israel seek in
return? Speculation suggests a potential link to the case of
Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was abducted in Iraq in 2023.
The third issue is the demarcation of the land border between Lebanon and
Israel. While preliminary agreements have been reached on seven of the 13
disputed points, six remain unresolved. These include:
- Aalma El-Shaab (B10)
- Aalma El-Shaab (BP6-BP7)
- Rmeish (BP15-B41)
- Blida (BP29)
- Odaisseh (BP37-BP35)
- Metulla-Wazzani
Notably, the issue of the Shebaa Farms remains off the discussion table for now.
LF MP says Berri's behavior
in Baabda 'alarming'
Naharnet/February 06/2025
MP Ghayath Yazbek of the Lebanese Forces on Thursday said that “Speaker Nabih
Berri has demonstrated an advanced and alarming image about the (Shiite) Duo’s
future performance in Cabinet.”He was referring to Berri’s reported disagreement
with PM-designate Nawaf Salam over the so-called “fifth Shiite minister,” which
torpedoed the announcement of the new cabinet line-up. “To put it shortly, the
guys (Berri and Hezbollah) have not changed their old habits: they either get
what they impose or they obstruct. If the president and the PM-designate wait
for the Duo to quit its bad habits, they will wait a lot and the state will not
move forward,” Yazbek added.
Sharaa reportedly discussed Hezbollah weapons, refugees
with Mikati in Damascus
Naharnet/February 06/2025
The toppling of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, who had strong ties to
Iran and Hezbollah, has crippled Hezbollah's ability to bounce back by cutting
off a vital weapons-smuggling route through Syria. Syria's new president and
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister met last month in Damascus and discussed the
relations between the two countries. In the meeting, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa
vowed that Syria will no longer allow the smuggling of weapons and money to
Hezbollah, a local media report said. The report, published Thursday in al-Akhbar,
said al-Sharaa criticized Hezbollah and Iran for intervening in Syria's civil
war. Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to bolster Assad’s forces when the
civil war broke out in 2011. Assad had long played a strategic role in Iran's
"axis of resistance", particularly in facilitating the supply of weapons to
Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. Al-Sharaa told Lebanese PM Najib Mikati that
Hezbollah and Iran must "reconsider their policies in the region," al-Akhbar
said. Apart from the weapons-smuggling, Mikati and al-Sharaa discussed the land
border demarcation between the two countries, the fate of thousands of missing
Lebanese who disappeared at the hands of Assad's troops, and the repatriation of
Syrian refugees in Lebanon to Syria. The new Syrian President demanded patience
from Mikati for the demarcation and the repatriation of Syrians. He said all
prisons have been emptied from prisoners and warned the Lebanese PM against
"Islamic State group's attempts" to form cells in north Lebanon.
US Priorities in Lebanon: From Government Reforms to UN
Resolution 1701
Bassam Abou Zeid/This is Beirut/February 06/2025
The American delegation visiting Lebanon on Thursday carries several important
messages, particularly regarding Morgan Ortagus, who has succeeded Amos
Hochstein. Ortagus has been given the responsibility of managing Lebanon's
portfolio, which includes critical issues such as government formation, policy
programs, Israeli withdrawal, the release of Hezbollah prisoners, the
implementation of UN Resolution 1701, and other international resolutions
related to Lebanon, including Resolution 1559 and disputes along the Blue Line.
The US’s primary concern regarding the government is its program, which will be
detailed in the ministerial statement. This program must implement tangible
reforms, as any delay could have catastrophic consequences for Lebanon's
financial and economic stability. Inaction would prompt the Arab and
international communities to adopt a more passive stance, refraining from
investments and projects, particularly as they are already preoccupied with
other regional crises, such as those in Gaza and Syria.
The US seeks a clear government program that prioritizes state sovereignty,
ensuring that only the Lebanese state has control over arms and authority over
decisions of war and peace. Therefore, the upcoming ministerial statement must
refrain from referencing the “army, people, and resistance” formula often used
by Hezbollah. The emphasis should be exclusively on the army and the state as
Lebanon's legitimate protectors, with no mention of a role for the people, as
Hezbollah could use such language to justify maintaining its weapons.
Regarding the resolution of the 13 disputed points along the Blue Line, Lebanon
had previously reached an agreement on 6 of them. Reports suggest that resolving
the remaining 7 should not be overly complicated. However, the situation has
become more complex in the aftermath of the Hezbollah-Israel war. Israel is
seeking assurances that it can temporarily retain control of five sites in
southern Lebanon—al-Labbouna, Yaroun, Odaisseh, Kfar Kila, and Khiam—beyond
February 18. It has made it clear that withdrawal from these areas is contingent
upon US guarantees regarding their security, which would be ensured by the
Lebanese army and UNIFIL forces. Additionally, Israel reserves the right to
intervene if necessary. Notably, the issue of the Shebaa Farms has been excluded
from current discussions, pending a resolution between Syria and Israel.
As for the issue of Hezbollah detainees, Israel's demands remain unclear at this
stage, except for reports suggesting a request for the release of Israeli
Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who is being held in Iraq. Further details
are expected to emerge following this visit, particularly as three key
parties—the United States, France, and the International Red Cross—are actively
engaged in negotiations on the issue.
The President at the Forefront of Expanded Decentralization
Johnny Ftouhi/This is Beirut/February 06/2025
Expanded decentralization is key for reforming the structure of the Lebanese
state, as it allows for a fairer distribution of powers and resources across
different regions. This, in turn, helps ensure the effective participation of
all national components in governance. Most importantly, this approach does not
imply dismantling the state or weakening its central authority; rather, it
serves as a mechanism to strengthen political and administrative stability by
granting regions greater capacity to manage their affairs in line with their
specific characteristics and actual needs. Expanded administrative
decentralization is a contentious issue in Lebanon, periodically resurfacing and
sparking heated debates among political factions. President Joseph Aoun has
revived the issue of expanded decentralization, viewing it as a means to promote
balanced development, address disparities in marginalized regions and strengthen
citizen participation in governance. He stresses that its implementation must
remain within the framework of a unified state, ensuring it reinforces both
stability and national unity. Abu Nassif: ‘Expanded Decentralization Unsettles
Only Those Who Want to Dominate the Country's Resources’
Hisham Abu Nassif, a professor of International Relations and Middle Eastern
Studies, noted that "the implementation of expanded decentralization, as
stipulated in the Taif Agreement, could serve as a first step toward federalism
in Lebanon. He stressed that this system should not be viewed as a threat, but
rather as an opportunity to strengthen national unity and achieve balanced
development. In fact, the implementation of expanded decentralization will
contribute to a fair distribution of power, holding each party accountable for
managing the affairs of its regions, thereby enhancing the efficiency of local
governance. This system would require armed groups, such as Hezbollah, to hand
over their weapons to the state. Should they refuse, consideration could be
given to evolving the system into federalism. It is important to note that this
proposal is not necessarily sectarian, but seeks to serve the interests of all
Lebanese.
Abu Nassif added, "Expanded decentralization will allow for each region to
manage its own developmental decisions, such as creating infrastructure projects
and setting official holidays, thereby strengthening regional autonomy in making
choices that align with their needs. This system of expanded decentralization is
only feared by those who seek to control the country’s resources and impose
their political agendas on everyone."
Abu Nassif believes that the benefits of expanded decentralization would be
evident in improving administrative performance and alleviating the burdens on
central authority, resulting in more efficient decision-making and faster
response to citizens' needs. It also facilitates balanced development across
regions by fairly allocating resources, thus helping to reduce economic
disparities between wealthy and impoverished areas. Rihan: “The Interests of
Some Sectarian Parties Present an Obstacle to the Implementation of
Decentralization”
As for political writer Ibrahim Rihan, he argued that "the goals that could be
achieved include, first and foremost, promoting balanced development, boosting
state revenues and ensuring security across all regions. Additionally, expanded
administrative decentralization provides institutions with greater operational
flexibility, playing a crucial role in restoring trust between the citizen and
the central government." He added, "It is expected that expanded
decentralization will help ease sectarian tensions, but its implementation must
go hand in hand with the full application of the Taif Agreement. This includes
the establishment and activation of the National Commission to abolish political
sectarianism, the election of a non-sectarian parliamentary council, and the
creation and activation of a Senate that mirrors the shares of Lebanon’s
religious confessions and communities. Failing to implement these measures could
fuel sectarian concerns and mutate decentralization into sectarian
cantons."Rihan further highlighted that "the main obstacles are the sectarian
issue, the fear of accountability and fighting corruption. Implementing
administrative decentralization strengthens the fight against corruption and
curbs the plundering of public funds, which in itself is a major challenge.
Furthermore, the interests of certain sectarian parties pose an obstacle to
decentralization, as those who benefit from central governance fear
decentralization."
Missing Mossad agent's story brought to light: Will
Netanyahu address Israeli disappearances in Lebanon during US-Lebanon talks?
LBCI/February 06/2025
Just hours before a U.S. delegation representing the Trump administration
arrives in Beirut to discuss the ceasefire agreement implementation and the
Hezbollah prisoners held in Israel, a new issue has emerged regarding missing
Israeli agents in Lebanon. The family of Salim Murad Jamous, a Mossad
operative in Syria and Lebanon, has sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu urging him to use ongoing negotiations with Lebanese
officials to uncover his fate. Jamous, registered within Mossad as the head of
the Jewish community in Lebanon, was reportedly involved in a covert network
that facilitated the smuggling of Jews from Syria to Lebanon and onward to
Israel. According to his family, he lived in a luxurious home in Beirut's Wadi
Abu Jamil neighborhood before he was abducted on August 15, 1984, to be used in
a prisoner exchange deal with Lebanese detainees in Khiam prison.
Jamous' case is not the only one under scrutiny. Activists and families have
raised concerns about other individuals who went missing in Lebanon, with
Israeli sources indicating that at least ten people were abducted. However, the
fate of only one has been determined. Jamous' family revealed that, for years,
they have reached out to international organizations and political figures to
uncover his whereabouts, but their efforts have been met with silence. They also
accused the Israeli political establishment of neglecting him and others who
remain unaccounted for. With regional discussions increasingly focused on peace
agreements and diplomatic negotiations, the timing of this revelation raises
questions. Why is Jamous' story and that of the other missing Israelis being
brought to light now? Will Netanyahu be willing to put this issue on the table
alongside the Hezbollah prisoner negotiations involving Lebanon and the United
States?
FPM and Sunni blocs
excluded from govt. as line-up emerges
Naharnet/February 6, 2025
A draft cabinet line-up published by media outlets shows that the Free Patriotic
Movement and the main Sunni blocs do not have representatives.
Below is the line-up that PM-designate Nawaf Salam submitted to President Joseph
Aoun on Wednesday evening, according to al-Akhbar newspaper:
- Foreign Affairs: Youssef Rajji (Lebanese Forces)
- Energy: Joe Saddi (Lebanese Forces)
- Education: Rima Karami (National Consensus Bloc)
- Culture: Ghassan Salameh (Salam’s share)
- Social Affairs: Hanine al-Sayyed (Kulluna Irada civil society group)
- Environment: Tamara al-Zein (Amal Movement)
- Public Works: Fayez Rasamni (PSP)
- Agriculture: Nizar Hani (PSP)
- Defense: Michel Menassa (Aoun’s share)
- Interior: Ahmad al-Hajjar
- Economy: Amer al-Bsat
- Finance: Yassine Jaber (Amal)
- Health: Rakan Nassereddine (Hezbollah)
- Labor: Mohammad Haidar (Hezbollah)
- Telecom: Kamal Shehadeh (LF)
- Tourism: Tony al-Rami (LF)
- Information: Ziad al-Khazen (Marada)
- Youth and Sport: Christina Babikian (Armenian seat)
Lebanese government
formation stalls over minister selection
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/February 06, 2025
BEIRUT: Lebanese leaders were close to reaching a new government lineup on
Thursday, three weeks after the designation of Nawaf Salam to form the Cabinet.
However, last-minute changes occurred after parliament speaker Nabih Berri
rejected the name of the fifth minister, which was proposed by Salam in
consultation with President Joseph Aoun, stalling the formation process. A
political source following the formation process told Arab News that “things
didn’t reach a deadlock," adding that “there’s an understanding of the
importance to reach a governmental lineup as soon as possible, and under this
understanding, the name of the fifth Shiite minister is being reconsidered.” The
government, he said, might be announced in the coming two days. Aoun received
Salam and Berri at the presidential palace. Mahmoud Makieh, secretary-general of
the council of ministers, was subsequently summoned, signaling that the
governmental lineup was ready to be announced by Makieh. However, Berri left the
presidential palace two hours after the meeting, followed by Salam. According to
information circulating at the palace, the selection of the fifth Shiite
minister remains the root cause of the problem. Aoun and Salam insist on naming
the fifth Shiite minister in the government in lieu of Hezbollah and the Amal
Movement. That is because they want to avoid repeating former premier Saad
Hariri’s experience, whose government lost its legitimacy and collapsed in 2011
following the resignation of 11 Shiite ministers. According to the political
source, Salam insists on appointing Lamia Moubayed, who previously held the
position of head of the Basil Fuleihan Institute of Finance, for the
Administrative Development portfolio, a choice that Berri rejected. The source
said that the president was handling the issue, especially since Berri insists
on having a say in naming the fifth Shiite minister, after having already
proposed the names of the other four ministers in coordination with Hezbollah —
figures close to them but not affiliated with any party. On Wednesday night,
after meeting Aoun, Salam reaffirmed his commitment to “forming a government
with a high level of harmony among its members, committed to the principle of
ministerial solidarity, and this applies to all ministers without exception.”
Salam emphasized his efforts to “form a reformist government composed of highly
competent individuals, and I will not allow any element within it that could
obstruct its work in any way.”He stressed that “in the process of forming
previous governments, there were inherited customs and narrow calculations that
some find difficult to abandon or to accept a new approach in dealing with.
“However, I am determined to confront these practices and adhere to the
constitution and the standards I have previously announced — excluding
parliamentary candidates from joining the government and preventing the
appointment of partisan figures. “These standards provide an additional
guarantee for the independence of the government's work, the integrity and
neutrality of the upcoming elections, addressing the major challenges ahead, and
laying the groundwork for reforms to rebuild the Lebanese state in a manner
befitting its citizens.”If formed, Salam’s government is expected to consist of
24 ministers, most of whom will be technocrats, according to leaked names.
Parallel to the government formation process, the fate of the Israeli withdrawal
from the southern border area remains a source of Lebanese concern.
Aoun emphasized to the chief of staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization,
Maj. Gen. Patrick Gauchat, whom he met on Thursday, the necessity of
“implementing Resolution 1701, ensuring the full withdrawal of Israeli forces
from the territories occupied in the recent war, and releasing Lebanese
prisoners.”
On Thursday, Israeli forces continued to demolish the remaining houses in the
southern town of Kafr Kila. The Israeli army issued a new warning to the
residents in the border area that had not yet been evacuated, advising them not
to move south. Avichai Adraee, spokesperson for the Israeli military, said: “The
Israeli army remains deployed in the field. Therefore, you are prohibited from
returning to your homes in the areas in question until further notice. Anyone
attempting to move south is at risk.” On the Lebanese Syrian border, tensions
escalated between the new Syrian administration and Lebanese tribal groups
involved in smuggling through illegal crossings in Hawik — a town straddling
both Lebanese and Syrian territories and populated by Lebanese-origin residents
with Syrian citizenship. The Syrian administration is working to secure the
border and close these crossings following recent rocket and artillery clashes.
A Lebanese security source reported that “two members of the Syrian
administration were killed, and two others were captured.” Video footage
circulated online showed the captives being beaten and bleeding. Shells also
struck the Lebanese border town of Al-Qasr, injuring a Lebanese soldier.
According to security reports, Syrian administration forces entered the town two
hours later and deployed reinforcements to maintain control of the border. Many
residents of Lebanese origin fled the town toward Lebanese territory in the
aftermath. About 150,000 Syrians, mostly Shiites and Alawites, fled to the
Baalbek-Hermel region following the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.
Aoun, Berri and Salam meet
in Baabda, fail to agree on '5th Shiite minister'
Naharnet/February 6, 2025
President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM-designate Nawaf Salam met
Thursday in Baabda for around two hours without managing to resolve "a dispute
over the fifth Shiite minister" in the new government, media reports said. TV
networks had expected the government to be formed due to Berri's presence at the
palace and the summoning of Council of Ministers Secretary-General Mahmoud
Makiyyeh, who was supposed to recite the cabinet formation decrees. Aoun and
Salam have been seeking to name the "fifth Shiite minister" in agreement with
Berri and Hezbollah. MTV said the Speaker did not agree to the candidate
proposed by the president and the PM-designate on Thursday. According to MTV,
Berri proposed during the meeting the name of Audit Bureau judge Abdel Reda
Nasser, but Salam insisted on Lamia Moubayed. “President Aoun tried to convince
any of them to change his mind, but they insisted on their viewpoints, which
torpedoed the government’s formation,” MTV added. Diplomatic sources meanwhile
told the TV network that “the dispute occurred as a result of trying to exclude
Hezbollah from the government in a veiled manner.”Al-Jadeed for its part said
that "when Salam insisted on Lamia Moubayed for the fifth Shiite seat, Berri
responded by saying 'make it Moubayed's government' before leaving from the
palace's backdoor." Shiite Duo sources also told Al-Jadeed that "the dispute
might not be only about the fifth Shiite seat.""Salam is insisting on naming the
fifth Shiite minister and the discussions are revolving around two names: Lamia
Moubayed and Abdallah Nasser," the al-Modon news portal reported earlier in the
day. Salam had met earlier in the day with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan.
“The visit was an occasion to discuss national affairs and inquire about his
health, during which I briefed him on the government formation course and the
results that have been reached,” Salam said. “I stressed to him that I’m
exerting utmost effort to speed up formation and I also listened to His
Eminence’s national vision and wisdom, which are a compass to us,” Salam added.
Salam had met with Aoun on Wednesday evening to discuss the outcome of his
negotiations with the political parties, amid reports that progress was reached
after the issue of the Lebanese Forces' share was resolved.
Khamenei Names Naim Qassem
his Representative in Lebanon
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has appointed Hezbollah Secretary-General
Naim Qassem as his representative in Lebanon, replacing the party’s former
leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on
September 27.
This role is the highest religious authority in Lebanon concerning Khamenei,
granting his representative significant influence over religious and financial
matters, including control of zakat funds collected from Khamenei’s followers.
Additionally, the representative has the power to make political decisions based
on local circumstances, acting on behalf of the Supreme Leader without requiring
direct approval. Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC), reported that Khamenei’s decision came approximately 100 days
after Qassem was elected as Hezbollah’s Secretary-General. The position of
Khamenei’s representative is a religious one, allowing the appointee to
implement religious rulings derived from Khamenei’s fatwas independently,
without needing to consult him on details. Khamenei has representatives in all
Iranian provinces and several countries, including Lebanon, Iraq, and various
Asian and European nations. These representatives issue fatwas, religious
rulings, and respond to inquiries from Khamenei’s followers. In Lebanon,
alongside Khamenei’s representative, there is also a legal proxy. Qassem now
holds the primary position, while Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek serves as the legal
proxy, whose role is mainly focused on judicial rulings. Qassem is a founding
member of Hezbollah and had served as the party’s deputy secretary-general since
1991. He has been one of Hezbollah’s most prominent spokespersons, frequently
engaging with foreign media. He is also known for overseeing Hezbollah’s
parliamentary election campaigns since 1992.
Lebanon: Salam Pledges to Form Reformist Government
Beirut/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
Hopes for the swift formation of Lebanon’s new government have faded, despite
earlier optimism following reports that Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam had
resolved the issue of the Lebanese Forces’ representation and requested a
meeting with President Joseph Aoun. However, Salam emerged from his meeting with
Aoun on Wednesday without making any statement, only saying that he was working
on forming a “reformist government” and assuring that it will “not include any
elements capable of obstructing its work in any way.” The statement came after
extensive negotiations, which resulted in a draft cabinet proposal that Salam
presented to Aoun during his visit to the presidential palace. Aoun affirmed
that Salam was making progress in overcoming obstacles to government formation
and expressed confidence that the new cabinet would be announced soon. Following
his meeting with the president, Salam addressed the Lebanese people, saying: “I
hear you loud and clear. Your aspirations guide me, and I assure you that I am
working on forming a government that is highly cohesive and committed to
ministerial solidarity.” He added that the criteria he is following are aimed at
ensuring the government’s independence, the integrity and neutrality of upcoming
elections, and a functional political process. While acknowledging the essential
role of political parties, he stated that, given Lebanon’s current
circumstances, “I have chosen to prioritize governance over political
disputes.”The premier-designate has engaged in extensive negotiations, primarily
with the Lebanese Forces (LF) and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), to resolve
disputes over cabinet representation. Discussions led to an agreement granting
the LF four ministerial portfolios: one so-called sovereign ministry—Foreign
Affairs—alongside key ministries such as Telecommunications, Energy and Water,
and Industry, according to MTV Lebanon. The Kataeb Party expressed its support
for the LF demand to secure the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Sources indicated that
Kataeb communicated this stance to Salam as part of broader political
coordination on the upcoming government formation. The agreement effectively
means that the FPM will not hold any ministerial portfolio in the new cabinet.
Lebanon’s sovereign ministries—Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, and
Finance—are traditionally divided among the country’s four major sects:
Maronites, Orthodox Christians, Sunnis, and Shiites, ensuring an equal split
between Muslims and Christians. Additionally, six key service and economic
ministries—Justice, Health, Education, Telecommunications, Energy, and Public
Works—are also distributed equally between the two religious groups, maintaining
a 12-12 balance.
The nomination of former Minister and MP Yassin Jaber also sparked extensive
discussions, as he had been proposed by the Amal-Hezbollah alliance for a
ministerial position. Jaber clarified that while he was previously part of
Speaker Nabih Berri’s Development and Liberation Bloc, he has “never been
affiliated with any party or political movement and has always remained
independent.”
What does Nawaf Salam want?
Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut/February 06/2025
The Prime Minister-designate's revolving movement has left us puzzled about his
view on things, if he has one. The virtues of a Thaumaturga attributed to him
reflect the ramblings and fatigue that Lebanese people feel towards the
oligarchs who plundered this country. After 35 years of operation without common
measure, they found it difficult to believe in the possibility of any change in
a country where oligarchic lockdowns have taken over parts of all political,
economic and social sectors.
This is a true colonization of the public space and the political imagination
reduced to the conditions of a depraved and unscrupulous political class. Acts
of rebellion have never brought into question the rules of public life and the
anomical state that is consistent with it. These jumps are as ephemeral as
alternative political culture which should serve as a substitute for this state
of moral depravity that makes even the idea of rule of law impossible.
This political momentum has nothing to do with the political merits of the
character. His undoubtedly prolonged tour at the United Nations and the
International Court of Justice has not been distinguished by extraordinary
diplomatic and legal acts, while his ideological stance on the Palestinian
question lined up with the disastrous balance of political formations that he
has The chances of a negotiated and final settlement to this perennial conflict
have not advanced from an iota, as if it were a fatality that had to be
accommodated.
His reappearance on the Lebanese political scene was not distinguished by his
ideological habits and political calculations that are placed in the
interstitions of his ideological positions, the priority search for
accommodation with Shiite fascism and the intentional marginalization of the
dominant camp by political movements in the Christian community. The criteria of
discrimination are vivid and nuanced. How can one move away from the norms of
political civility and civil concord by adopting a resolutely conflicting and
unconcerned policy of equity without producing perverse effects? Otherwise, the
mutism of the President of the Republic in this place gives free course to the
assumptions that he would win to explain.
His approach has been structured at the intersection of ideological choices
induced by his "Palestinism" (Edward Said) and his political retranscripts, and
in disregard of the systemic balances that should underpin democratic
governance. It goes over the disastrous balance of Shiite domination policy,
cycles of open conflicts it has established, its devastating effects all azimut
and the spraying of the rule of law. Apart from the lack of courage towards the
murderous militia, ideological considerations were taking the step on the
ever-shaky sovereignist imperatives from the dictatorship of “Palestinianism”.
The unending struggle against Israel inevitably devalues state sovereignty and
swallows the extraterritorialities that have shaken from it to settle in the
heart of the tormented political landscape and its murderous drifts.
The tortoise approach and its inuations are explained by the hierarchization of
political priorities and the actors who rely on the strategic game that made the
virtual political shift possible in Lebanon. The Israeli counter-offensive alone
explains the destruction of the operational platform of Iranian imperial
politics, the elimination of its mandates and the change of the political game
in countries once colonized by Iranian power. The policy of arbitration imposed
by the international community and its mandates stipulated by the international
resolutions (1701, 1680, 1559) are mandatory passages if we want to restore
peace and to extract ourselves from the conflict dynamics generated by the
Iranian power policy and its instrumentalizations.
The current political approach operates in a closed vase and is impeding the
issues of disarmamenting Hezbollah and its followers, the monopoly of state
violence and the end of political and military extraterritorialities. The policy
of obliteration is both an ideological and strategic choice that the process of
reconstruction cannot accommodate. Otherwise, the repetitive lessons of
murderous dynamics spanning six decades impose major reversals that must be
structured around the Abrahamic peace project and its Lebanese modulations. No
longer a matter of interim truce and variable geometric demarcation lines,
concluding a peace deal with Israel is now an unavoidable and attainable
political goal. The reformist chapter is structurally linked to the geopolitical
stability Lebanon has long been lacking. The scheme of "continuous conflicts"
developed by Hezbollah and its emulators encompasses domination politics,
organized crime and terrorism in a continuum. It is impossible to work towards
the resolution of economic and social problems without understanding the
interdependence that causes the crime that defines the deployment records. The
reform comes through the normalization of the country and through the
international regime of pacifying and reconstruction of state parameters, civil
rules and social contracts. But the current political scheme does not seem to
fit these expectations.
Saad Hariri's political
comeback: A return to the spotlight or a role behind the scenes?
LBCI/February 6, 2025
Saad Hariri's return to Lebanon this year will be markedly different from the
past three years. Unlike previous commemorations, the leader of the Future
Movement will not deliver his speech marking the 20th anniversary of his
father's assassination from Beit al-Wasat. Instead, he will address the public
from Martyrs' Square in front of crowds mobilized by his party's coordinators
across the country. Even if Hariri announces his candidacy for the 2026
parliamentary elections on February 14, his political approach will be
significantly different, according to the Future Movement's Secretary-General,
Ahmad Hariri. The party supports President Joseph Aoun's administration and
hopes to translate his inaugural speech into policies that serve Lebanon's best
interests. However, should Hariri re-enter the political scene now,
observers suggest his role will not be that of a parliamentary candidate or a
Prime Minister. Instead, his return would position him as a "kingmaker"—a key
power broker influencing leadership decisions rather than directly holding
office, even if he secures a parliamentary bloc.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on February 06-07/2025
Israeli Army Ordered to Prepare for Gaza Residents'
Departure
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a
plan to allow the "voluntary departure" of residents from the Gaza strip,
Israeli media reported. The instruction followed US President Donald Trump's
shock announcement that the United States plans to take over Gaza, resettle the
Palestinians living there and transform the territory into the "Riviera of the
Middle East.”"I welcome President Trump's bold plan, Gaza residents should be
allowed the freedom to leave and emigrate, as is the norm around the world,"
Israel's Channel 12 quoted Katz as saying. When asked who will take in the
Palestinians, Katz said it should be countries who have opposed Israel's
military operations in Gaza. "Countries like Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others,
which have levelled accusations and false claims against Israel over its actions
in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their
territories," he said. Katz's plan will include exit options via land crossings,
as well as special arrangements for departure by sea and air, Channel 12
reported. Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares rejected Katz'
suggestion. "Gazans' land is Gaza and Gaza must be part of the future
Palestinian state," Albares said in an interview with Spanish radio station RNE.
Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency,
says UNRWA chief
AP/February 06, 2025
UNRWA “are continuing, though not necessarily at the same scope it used to be”
BEIRUT: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Thursday that
while an Israeli ban has not yet forced the agency to cease operations, it faces
an “existential threat” in the long run. “I have been very clear that despite
all the obstacles and the pressure the agency is under, our objective is to stay
and deliver until we are prevented to do so,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner
general of the UN Relief and Works Agency, also known as UNRWA, said in an
interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut. Israel last week
formally banned UNRWA from operating on its territory. As a result, Lazzarini
said, international staff have had to leave East Jerusalem because their visas
expired, but in Gaza and the West Bank there has been no immediate impact on
operations. Even in East Jerusalem, he said, health care and other services
provided by UNRWA “are continuing, though not necessarily at the same scope it
used to be.”UNRWA is also likely to face increased pressure from the United
States under the new Trump administration. US President Donald Trump in recent
days proposed permanently resettling the approximately 2 million Palestinians in
Gaza in neighboring Arab countries and suggested the United States taking
long-term control of Gaza. Lazzarini called the proposal “totally unrealistic,”
adding, “We are talking about forced displacement. Forced displacement is a
crime, an international crime. It’s ethnic cleansing.”Trump announced Tuesday
that Washington will not resume funding for UNRWA — which had already been
halted since January 2024 when the Biden administration stopped it following
accusations by Israel that UNRWA staffers in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7, 2023
Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Israel had
alleged that 19 out of UNRWA’s approximately 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in
the attack. UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal UN investigation
found evidence that they could have been involved. While several other donor
countries also suspended funding at the time, all but the US decided to resume
funding. Lazzarini called the loss of US support “a challenge,” but said the
agency is appealing to Gulf Arab countries and other donors to increase their
contributions. He described his agency as the target of a “massive
disinformation campaign” with a politically motivated objective of dismantling
it.
UNRWA’s opponents believe the agency has prolonged the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict by giving refugee status to the descendants of Palestinian refugees who
fled or were forced from their homes in what is now Israel in 1948, thus
maintaining for them, in theory, the right of return. Lazzarini said those who
think that UNRWA can simply be dissolved and its responsibilities handed over to
other institutions are mistaken. UNRWA provides aid and services — including
health and education — to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the
occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more in Syria,
Jordan and Lebanon. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, it has
been the main lifeline for a population reliant on humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Lazzarini said that while replaceable by a functioning public institution, UNRWA
provides essential public services that no other UN agency offers on such a
scale. It has served as a “substitute in the absence of the state for the
Palestinian refugees,” he said. He argued that the only way to end the agency’s
mandate is as part of a political process resulting in a Palestinian state
alongside Israel, so that “at the end of this process, the agency can hand over
its services to an empowered Palestinian institution.”The alternative, he said,
is to “let the agency implode and abruptly end its activities, which would mean
additional suffering for one of the most destitute populations in the region.”
Netanyahu Offers Support to Trump's Plan to Move
Palestinians Out of Gaza
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there was nothing wrong in
Donald Trump's idea to displace Palestinians from Gaza after the US president's
proposal was widely criticized internationally. "The actual idea of allowing
Gazans who want to leave to leave. I mean, what's wrong with that? They can
leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back. But you have to
rebuild Gaza," Netanyahu said in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday. Rights
groups have condemned as ethnic cleansing Trump's suggestion that Palestinians
in the enclave should be permanently displaced, while also proposing a US
takeover of Gaza. Netanyahu said he did not believe Trump suggested sending US
troops to fight Hamas in Gaza or that Washington would finance rebuilding
efforts. "This is the first good idea that I've heard," he added. "It's a
remarkable idea, and I think it should be really pursued, examined, pursued and
done, because I think it will create a different future for everyone." Since
Jan. 25, Trump has repeatedly suggested that Palestinians in Gaza should be
taken in by regional Arab nations such as Egypt and Jordan, an idea rejected by
both the Arab states and Palestinian leaders.
Trump Says Israel Would Hand over Gaza after Fighting
Asharq Al Awsat/February 06/2025
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Israel would hand over Gaza to
the United States after fighting was over and the enclave's population was
already resettled elsewhere, which he said meant no US troops would be needed on
the ground. A day after worldwide condemnation of Trump's announcement that he
aimed to take over and develop the Gaza Strip into the "Riviera of the Middle
East", Israel ordered its army to prepare to allow the "voluntary departure" of
Gaza's residents. Trump, who had previously declined to rule out deploying US
troops to Gaza, clarified his plans in comments on his Truth Social web
platform. "The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at
the conclusion of fighting," he said. Palestinians "would have already been
resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern
homes, in the region." "No soldiers by the US" would be needed!" he said. Trump
and Israeli officials have not said how they would respond if Palestinians
refuse to leave. But Human Rights Watch and other groups say the plan, if
implemented, would amount to “ethnic cleansing,” the forcible relocation of the
civilian population of an ethnic group from a geographic area. Earlier Israel's
Defense Minister said he had ordered the army to prepare a plan to allow
residents who wished to leave to exit Gaza voluntarily. "I welcome President
Trump's bold plan, Gaza residents should be allowed the freedom to leave and
emigrate, as is the norm around the world," Katz said on X. Katz said his plan
would include exit options via land crossings, as well as special arrangements
for departure by sea and air. Trump's unexpected announcement on Wednesday,
which has sparked anger around the Middle East, came as Israel and Hamas were
expected to begin talks on the second round of a fragile ceasefire plan to end
almost 16 months of fighting in Gaza.
Saudi Crown Prince, Jordan’s King Discuss Regional
Developments
Riyadh: Asharq Al Awsat/February 06/2025
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime
Minister, received a telephone call Wednesday from Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
The two leaders discussed regional developments and exchanged views on the
latest events and the efforts being made to address them in pursuit of achieving
security and stability. The Jordanian King welcomed the consistent and
supportive positions taken by Saudi Arabia regarding the rights of the
Palestinian people.
Saudi Arabia’s Statement: A Firm Rejection of Liquidating the Palestinian Cause
Riyadh: Ghazi al-Harthi/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
In a statement issued early Wednesday, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs
reaffirmed the Kingdom’s unwavering stance on the Palestinian issue, emphasizing
that Saudi Arabia’s position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is
“firm and non-negotiable.”
The statement made clear that the Kingdom will not establish relations with
Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, and that this stance “is not
subject to negotiation or compromise.”Saudi Arabia reiterated its absolute
rejection of any violations of Palestinian rights, including Israeli settlement
expansion, annexation of Palestinian land, and efforts to displace the
Palestinian people.
The statement called on the international community to take responsibility for
alleviating the humanitarian suffering of Palestinians, emphasizing that they
“will remain steadfast on their land.”It also stressed that a “just and lasting
peace cannot be achieved without Palestinians obtaining their legitimate rights
in accordance with international resolutions.” Saudi Arabia noted that this
position had been conveyed to both past and present US administrations. The
statement followed remarks made by US President Donald Trump at a White House
press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The
Palestinian Authority welcomed Saudi Arabia’s firm stance, with President
Mahmoud Abbas praising the Kingdom’s “sincere and principled opposition to
settlement expansion, annexation, and displacement, while remaining committed to
the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.” He also acknowledged
Riyadh’s continued diplomatic and humanitarian support for the Palestinian
cause, including aid for Gaza, advocacy in international forums, and efforts to
organize a global peace conference. Hussein Al-Sheikh, Secretary-General of the
Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, similarly commended
Saudi Arabia’s “historic and unwavering commitment to Palestinian rights,”
stating that a two-state solution is the “only path to security, stability, and
peace in the region.”In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Political Analyst Muneef Al-Harbi
highlighted Saudi Arabia’s long-standing support for the Palestinian cause,
tracing it back to King Abdulaziz’s 1945 meeting with US President Franklin
Roosevelt. He noted that the Kingdom has “never wavered in defending Palestinian
rights and remains steadfast in rejecting any attempt to undermine them.” Al-Harbi
also stressed the need for international mobilization to support Palestinian
rights and warned that military force, assassinations, and land annexation will
not bring peace.
Instead, true stability can only be achieved through “the Saudi peace
initiative, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state within the
1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”Political analyst Nidal Al-Sabe’
described Saudi Arabia’s response as “principled, moral, and sovereign,” calling
for “a unified Arab and Islamic stance through the Arab League and the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation.” He emphasized that Saudi Arabia’s swift
and firm rejection of any effort to liquidate the Palestinian cause sent a
“strong message” affirming the Kingdom’s “refusal to negotiate on Palestinian
rights.”
Israeli soldier sentenced to 7 months in jail for abusing
Palestinian detainees
Reuters/February 6, 2025
An Israeli soldier who was found to have struck Palestinian detainees while they
were restrained and blindfolded has been sentenced to seven months in jail by an
Israeli military court. The Israeli military on Thursday announced the court had
accepted a plea agreement with the soldier, a reservist who it said admitted to
having "severely abused" Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman military
detention centre near the border with the Gaza Strip. "The defendant was
convicted of several incidents in which he struck detainees with his fists and
his weapon while they were bound and blindfolded," the military said. It did not
name the soldier or detail the charges he was convicted of.
The military statement did not identify where the Palestinian detainees
were from, why they had been detained or whether they had since been charged or
convicted of crimes or released from detention. In addition to seven months
imprisonment, the court handed the soldier a suspended sentence and demoted him
to the rank of private. The military said the soldier had served as a security
guard at the detention centre but did not say what rank he had held. Israeli
media reported the soldier's jail sentence included time that he had already
spent in detention. The military court found that other masked soldiers had
participated in the abuse but that their identities had not been determined, the
military said, without saying how many. The convicted soldier had beaten the
detainees in front of other soldiers, some of whom had told him to stop, the
military said, adding that a recording of the abuse had been found on the mobile
phone of the convicted soldier. The military has been investigating allegations
that soldiers had abused Palestinians from Gaza held in military detention since
the start of the war in October 2023. The military on Thursday did not say
whether investigations were still ongoing or if any other soldiers had been
charged. In July last year, right-wing Israeli protesters broke into Sde Teiman
detention facility and another Israeli military compound after investigators
arrived to question soldiers about suspected abuse. Sde Teiman was opened after
the war started and held captured Palestinians from Gaza. Israel last year said
it would close the facility.
UN Special Rapporteur Criticizes Israel's Withdrawal
from UN Human Rights Council
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories
said on Thursday that Israel's decision to withdraw from the UN Human Rights
Council was "extremely serious.” Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar
said his country had informed the UNHRC that it was following the United States
in withdrawing from the Council, accusing it of "ongoing and unrelenting
institutional bias" against Israel. "It shows the hubris and the lack of
realisation of what they have done. They insist in self-righteousness, that they
have nothing to be held accountable for, and they are proving it to the entire
international community," Francesca Albanese told Reuters. Albanese said she
feared Israel's "genocide" against the Palestinians would expand and intensify
on the West Bank, which Palestinians want along with Gaza as the core of a
future independent state. Israel denies accusations that it is committing
genocide and says it is protecting its legitimate security interests in both the
West Bank and in Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire now holds after a 16-month war
against the Islamist militant group Hamas. "The north (of the West Bank) is
being attacked primarily by soldiers. The south has been attacked primarily by
(Israeli) settlers, and you can see this as an assault on the Palestinian people
as a whole," Albanese said. Commenting on US President Donald Trump's surprise
proposal this week that the United States could "take over" Gaza, Albanese said:
"Trump is destroying the basic principles of respect for human rights across a
huge spectrum, not just in Palestine... We have moved further towards the
abyss." "I'm surprised that European states are staying silent instead of rising
up and saying,: 'This is utter nonsense, and we will not tolerate this'," she
added.
Jordanian king arrives in UK ahead of US visit
Arab News/February 06, 2025
LONDON: Jordan’s King Abdullah II arrived in the UK on Thursday afternoon ahead
of a visit to the US next week. He met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace in
London. They discussed historical relations between the two kingdoms, Petra news
agency reported. The Jordanian king will meet US President Donald Trump next
week in Washington, D.C. Their talks are expected to focus on events in the Gaza
Strip. The king is also scheduled to visit Boston and will be accompanied by
Crown Prince Hussein during his trip, Petra added.
Rubio planning first trip to Middle East in
mid-February, Axios reports
Reuters/February 06, 2025
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is planning to visit the Middle
East in mid-February, Axios reported on Thursday, citing two Israeli officials
and two other unidentified sources. Rubio is planning to travel to the region
after the Munich security conference, which begins on Feb. 14, and visit Israel,
the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and possibly more countries, according to
Axios.
Iran's First Drone Carrier Joins Revolutionary Guards'
Fleet
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have taken delivery of the country's first ship
capable of launching drones and helicopters at sea, the semi-official Tasnim
news agency reported on Thursday. Amid military exercises lasting from early
January to early March, Iran's armed forces have unveiled new weaponry as Tehran
braces for more tensions with Israel and the United States under President
Donald Trump. "The Revolutionary Guards took action to transform a commercial
ship... into a mobile naval platform capable of carrying out drone and
helicopter missions in the oceans," said Navy Commander of the Revolutionary
Guards Alireza Tangsiri. "The addition of this ship to our fleet is an important
step in increasing the defense and deterrence capability of Iran in distant
waters and in maintaining our national security interests," Tangsiri added. The
Shahid Beheshti, a former container vessel, is equipped with a 180-meter
(590-ft) runway and is able to operate without refueling for up to one year,
Reuters quoted Tasnim as saying. The ship is different from previous
Revolutionary Guards warships because it can launch and retrieve larger drones
such as the Qaher, a miniaturized drone version of a local fighter jet. s, in
addition to short-range anti-ship cruise missiles. Last month, Iran's
conventional navy received its first signals intelligence ship.
US imposes sanctions on network that helps ship Iranian
oil to China
Fatima Hussein/The Associated Press/February 6, 2025
The U.S. Department of Treasury on Thursday imposed sanctions on a network of
more than a dozen people and firms that are accused of facilitating the shipment
of millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China. The department's Office of
Foreign Assets Control sanctioned more than dozen people and companies in China,
India and the United Arab Emirates. The targets include Iranian and Indian
citizens, crew management firms and a collection of ships. “The Iranian regime
remains focused on leveraging its oil revenues to fund the development of its
nuclear program, to produce its deadly ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial
vehicles, and to support its regional terrorist proxy groups,” said Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent in a news release. During his confirmation hearing,
Bessent criticized the Biden administration’s sanctions policies and called for
the U.S. to have a more “muscular” sanctions regime, including on Iran and
Russian entities and oil. Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a
Thursday statement that the U.S. “will use all tools at our disposal to hold the
regime accountable for its destabilizing activities and pursuit of nuclear
weapons that threaten the civilized world.”
While signing an executive order on Tuesday mandating the U.S. government to
impose maximum pressure on Tehran, President Donald Trump told reporters that
“we will see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran.”“We
don’t want to be tough on Iran. We don’t want to be tough on anybody,” Trump
said. “But they just can’t have a nuclear bomb.” Trump added that he’s given his
advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him. Iranian
officials appeared to signal that they are waiting for a message from Trump on
whether he wants to negotiate over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Egypt lobbies against Trump plan to empty Gaza of
Palestinians as Israel makes preparations
Samy Magdy/The Associated Press/February 6, 2025
CAIRO (AP) — Israel says it has begun preparations for the departure of
Palestinians from Gaza despite international rejection of President Donald
Trump’s plan to empty the territory of its population. Egypt has launched a
diplomatic blitz behind the scenes against the proposal, warning it would put
its peace deal with Israel at risk, officials said.
The Trump administration has already dialed back aspects of the proposal after
it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians
would be temporary. U.S. officials have provided few details about how or when
the plan would be carried out. In a social media post on Thursday, Trump said
Israel would turn Gaza over to the United States after the war and that no U.S.
soldiers would be needed for his plan to redevelop it. The Palestinians have
vehemently rejected Trump's proposal, fearing that Israel would never allow
refugees to return. Egypt has warned that an expulsion of Palestinians would
destabilize the region and undermine its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone
of stability and American influence for decades. Saudi Arabia, another key U.S.
ally, has also rejected any mass transfer of Palestinians and says it will not
normalize relations with Israel — a key goal of the Trump administration —
without the creation of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza. Trump and
Israeli officials have depicted the proposed relocation from war-ravaged Gaza as
voluntary, but the Palestinians have universally expressed their determination
to remain in their homeland. Trump and Israeli officials have not said how they
would respond if Palestinians refuse to leave. But Human Rights Watch and other
groups say the plan, if implemented, would amount to “ethnic cleansing,” the
forcible relocation of the civilian population of an ethnic group from a
geographic area. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he has
ordered the military to make preparations to facilitate the emigration of large
numbers of Palestinians from Gaza through land crossings as well as “special
arrangements for exit by sea and air.”
There were no immediate signs of such preparations on the ground.
Egypt wages a behind-the-scenes campaign
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has not publicly responded to Trump's
stunning proposal that most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million Palestinians be
relocated and the United States take charge of rebuilding the territory.
Israel's 15-month campaign against the militant Hamas group had reduced large
parts of Gaza to rubble before a fragile ceasefire took hold last month. But in
a statement Thursday, the Egyptian government rejected efforts to move
Palestinians from Gaza as a “blatant violation” of international law that could
undercut ceasefire talks and threaten Middle East relations.
“This behavior provokes the return of hostilities, and poses risks on the entire
region and the foundations of peace,” the statement said. Egyptian officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door talks, said Cairo has
made clear to the Trump administration and Israel that it will resist any such
proposal, and that the peace deal with Israel — which has stood for nearly half
a century — is at risk. One official said the message has been delivered to the
Pentagon, the State Department and members of the U.S. Congress. A second
official said it has also been conveyed to Israel and its Western European
allies, including Britain, France and Germany. A Western diplomat in Cairo, also
speaking anonymously because the discussions have not been made public,
confirmed receiving Egypt's message of its strong opposition through multiple
channels. The diplomat said Egypt was very serious and viewed the plan as a
threat to its national security. The diplomat said Egypt rejected similar
proposals from the Biden administration and European countries early in the war,
which was sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. The
earlier proposals were broached privately, while Trump announced his plan at a
White House press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. Hamas, which still rules most of Gaza, has repeatedly condemned
Trump’s proposal. On Thursday it said that any U.S. takeover of Gaza would be
considered an occupation, implying that the militant group would respond with
armed resistance. The group has yet to draw any connection between its
objections to Trump's proposal and the ongoing ceasefire. It's unclear if it
will have any impact on the next release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian
prisoners, set for Saturday.
US officials scale back Trump's proposal
Trump said he wanted to “permanently” resettle most of Gaza's population in
other countries and for the United States to take charge of clearing debris and
rebuilding Gaza as a “Riviera of the Middle East" for all people. He did not
rule out the deployment of U.S. troops there. U.S. officials later appeared to
walk it back, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary and that
Trump had not committed to putting American boots on the ground or spending
American tax dollars in Gaza.
The Egyptian officials said their government does not believe the Palestinians
need to be relocated for reconstruction to proceed and is committed to the
creation of a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem,
territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel's government is
opposed to Palestinian statehood and has said it will maintain open-ended
security control over both Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel annexed east
Jerusalem in a move not recognized by most of the international community and
considers the entire city its capital.
Last week, Egypt hosted a meeting of top diplomats from Jordan, Saudi Arabia,
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — which was the driving force behind the 2020
Abraham Accords Trump brokered with Israel. All five Arab nations rejected the
transfer of Palestinians out of Gaza or the West Bank.
In an editorial on Thursday, Egypt’s main state-run daily, Al-Ahram, warned that
“the Arab countries' independence, their peoples’ unity and their territorial
integrity are under grave threat.”
European countries reject call to take in Palestinians
Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said in a social media post Thursday that
Spain, Norway, Ireland and other countries whose officials had criticized
Israel's actions in Gaza should take in the Palestinians. Spain’s Foreign
Minister Jose Manuel Albares roundly rejected the idea. “Gaza is the land of
Gazans,” he said in an interview with Spanish radio station RNE. A spokesman for
Ireland's minister of foreign affairs said "the objective must be that the
people of Palestine return safely to their home and any comments to the contrary
are unhelpful and a source of distraction.″
Baghdad Halts Symbolic Talks on Disbanding Armed
Factions
London: Ali Saray/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
Iraq’s plans to tackle the issue of armed factions have stalled due to a lack of
communication with the administration of US President Donald Trump, an Iranian
decision to avoid unnecessary actions, and fears of unintended shifts in the
Shiite power balance, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. Alleged negotiations over
disarmament “may be merely symbolic and not aimed at real change,” the sources
said. Iraqi and Western officials familiar with the matter said Shiite forces
remain uncertain whether a superficial resolution would be enough to defuse
threats or if they are obliged to implement deep structural reforms within the
Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and other armed factions. Iraq’s government,
led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein,
has tried to show a clear separation between the PMF and armed factions, but it
has yet to secure US backing, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Iraqi political circles say “trial” talks have begun to address the factions’
status, with several options under consideration depending on US policy shifts.
Negotiations, now on hold, explored two main options for armed factions, sources
told Asharq Al-Awsat. One proposal called for them to disband, hand over their
weapons to the PMF, and shift to politics. But given the overlap between the PMF
and these groups, this was seen as a way to bypass rather than solve the issue.
Iraqi politicians said such a move would reshape the political landscape,
stripping some groups of their military edge.
Armed factions strongly opposed the idea, demanding guarantees, including key
roles in state security agencies, before considering disarmament. Speaking to
Asharq Al-Awsat, western sources were skeptical and suggested the talks were
more about easing pressure than real reform. They noted that while the PMF pays
faction fighters, it does not control their actions, making a true disarmament
deal unlikely. Negotiations have stalled due to internal disputes within the
Coordination Framework, as rivals of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani see
dissolving armed groups or restructuring the PMF as an unexpected political gift
for him. They argue Sudani never imagined such an opportunity when he took
office in October 2022. Some Shiite factions fear even minor reforms in the PMF
could help Sudani politically ahead of parliamentary elections expected this
year. As a result, they are considering delaying any major decisions until the
next prime minister, whom armed groups hope will be one of their own, sources
say. While Shiite leaders no longer feel immediate US pressure under Trump’s
presidency, they face a tough choice: Should they make only symbolic changes
while keeping their military influence or offer real concessions?
Syria’s “Caesar” discloses his identity, calls for
punishing “criminal” Assad
Dalal Saoud/United Press International/February 6, 2025
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- "Caesar," the Syrian military defector who
documented atrocities committed by the Bashar Assad regime by smuggling tens of
thousands of photos of Syrian detainees killed by torture during early years of
the revolution, revealed his identity Thursday and expressed hope that the
"criminal" ousted president will be punished. Farid Nida al-Madhan, who was the
head of the Judicial Evidence Department of the Military Police in Damascus
before he defected and fled to Jordan in 2013, disclosed his identity for the
first time during an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera TV network.
Al-Madhan said his initial job as part of the military police forensic
photography unit was to take pictures of car crashes, fires, suicides and other
incidents. But this changed with the outbreak of the Syrian Uprising in 2011,
when he was ordered to take photos of Syrian detainees, including women and
children, who were "arrested, tortured and killed in a systematic way."Al-Madhan
said that at the beginning of the uprising, which started with peaceful
anti-Assad demonstrations before turning into a bloody civil war, "the number of
bodies ranged between 10 and 15 per day. ... With time, it reached sometimes up
to 50 daily ... brought in big trucks" to document their death. He recalled when
he first entered "the place where the bodies were gathered and saw young men and
elderly naked on the floor, I felt I was inside a human slaughterhouse, a
killing machine run by people who turned into human monsters.
"I was shocked and horrified. There were signs of strangulation, gouged eyes and
broken teeth ... and skeletal bodies due to starvation." Al-Madhan decided to
defect, but had to postpone fleeing the country a couple of times "to be able to
collect the biggest number of photos and evidence" that would condemn "this
criminal regime."He kept secretly copying and saving the photos, hiding the
flash memory in his "socks or bread bags" while moving from Damascus to areas
under the control of the Free Syrian Army. In 2013, he made the decision to
leave "despite the risks" and managed to flee to Jordan. He then went to Qatar,
which hired a British law firm to check the almost 55,000 photos he -- with the
help of others -- took and succeeded to smuggle out. It was this law firm that
suggested he used the pseudonym of "Caesar," al-Madhan said.
The horrifying pictures led to the United States passing the "Caesar Syria
Civilian Protection Act," which President Donald Trump signed in 2019 during his
first term in office. The legislation, which went into effect in June 2020,
imposed heavy sanctions on the Assad regime. Al-Madhan said the law firm also
went into European courts, filing lawsuits in France and Germany in cooperation
with families of some victims and witnesses. "All this helped in issuing arrest
warrants against Syrian officials, some of whom were arrested and put in jail,"
he said.
He said that, even though Assad was toppled in December, such efforts should
continue and "trials must open" in Syria as "there are some 16,000 criminals
from the [Assad] regime who are accused of war crimes."Asked why the regime was
documenting its crimes by photographing the tortured victims, he said "there was
no logical reason ... unless they felt that they were safe and would not be
punished or held accountable" by the international community. "The orders to
take photos [of the tortured detainees] used to come from the highest authority
to make sure that the killings were executed. ... Maybe the heads of the
security services wanted to also show their loyalty to the regime," he said. Al-Madhan,
who now lives in France and has "started to feel secure," said the Syrian
revolution was the "inevitable result of the regime suppression.""The truth is
we should see criminal Bashar receiving the punishment he deserves," he said.
Assad's fall revealed a shocking reality about tens of thousands of detainees
when rebel forces stormed his regime-run jails in Damascus and other Syrian
regions and freed them. However, a great number of them, including missing U.S.
journalist Austin Tice, remain unaccounted for. The International Committee of
the Red Cross said that it has registered 35,000 cases of people who have gone
missing in Syria in the past 13 years. According to Fadel Abdel Ghany, the head
of Syria's Network for Human Rights, only 33,000 detainees have been found and
freed from Syria's prisons since Assad's fall, while there are about 80,000 to
85,000 Syrians in forced disappearance, killed under torture in Assad's centers
of detention.
Yemen’s Houthis Escalate in Marib over Consequences of
Terrorism Designation
Taiz: Mohammed Nasser/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
The Houthis have moved large numbers of fighters toward areas controlled by
Yemen's internationally recognized government in Marib, a key oil- and
gas-producing province, ahead of the US designation of the militias as a foreign
terrorist organization enters into force.At the same time, they have stepped up
sabotage operations in liberated regions and continued weapons smuggling. Yemeni
military sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis have sent thousands of
fighters to the frontlines in southern and western Marib, carrying out limited
attacks as they prepare to take control of these areas.
Sources suggest that this move may be an attempt by the Iran-backed Houthi group
to disrupt the situation and avoid the consequences of being officially
designated as terrorists by the US government. Meanwhile, the Yemeni Armed
Forces announced thwarting Houthi attacks in several sectors in Marib, using
artillery, Katyusha rockets, and snipers. Military sources added that the group
continues to send reinforcements to the frontline. The Yemeni government
estimates that the Houthis are planning to target areas under their control,
focusing on oil and gas fields to create confusion as US blacklisting takes
effect. These developments follow concerns raised by the UN Special Envoy for
Yemen, Hans Grundberg, in his latest briefing to the Security Council. He
expressed alarm over reports of Houthi military operations in Hankah Al Masoud
village in Al-Bayda province, the killing of two children, and the wounding of
others in an attack west of Taiz, calling for an immediate halt to these
attacks. Houthi leader Mohammed Muftah, appointed deputy prime minister of the
self-declared government, warned the US against any punitive actions targeting
the group or Yemen’s economy. He said such steps would be seen as a declaration
of war, promising a strong response. Muftah urged the US to “understand this
message” and also pledged to fight any new “US conspiracies.”
Swedish Police: Mass Shooter Was Connected to School Where
he Opened Fire
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
The shooter who killed 10 people in Sweden’s worst mass shooting earlier this
week was connected to the adult education center where he opened fire with at
least one rifle-like weapon, law enforcement officials said Thursday.
Authorities said the gunman, who has not yet been officially identified, may
have attended school there before Tuesday's violence on the school campus west
of Stockholm, The Associated Press reported. The shooter was later found dead
with three guns and a large amount of unused ammunition next to his body,
officials told a news conference. It was not clear how he died.
The school, Campus Risbergska, offers primary and secondary educational classes
for adults age 20 and older, Swedish-language classes for immigrants, vocational
training, and programs for people with intellectual disabilities. It is on the
outskirts of Orebro, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Stockholm. Some 130
officers arrived Tuesday after alarms summoned them to the school to find chaos
across the campus. They described the scene as an “inferno.” "Dead people,
injured people, screams and smoke," local police chief Lars Wirén said during
the news conference. “Many people running inside and outside the
premises.”Officers found at least five people, all over age 18 with serious
gunshot wounds. Two of them remained in intensive care Thursday in serious but
stable condition. The other three were in stable condition after surgery. A
sixth person was treated for minor injuries. Police were forced to search the
large school — 17,000 square meters (182,986 square feet) — to ensure that there
were no other casualties. Investigators had not uncovered a definitive motive
behind the bloodshed by Thursday. Police said there were no warnings beforehand,
and they believe the perpetrator acted alone. Authorities said there were no
suspected connections to terrorism at this point.
At least 10 Nigerien soldiers are killed in an ambush, the
army says
Monika Pronczuk/DAKAR, Senegal (AP)/February 6, 2025
An ambush by a “group of criminals” killed at least 10 Nigerien soldiers near
the country’s border with Burkina Faso this week, Niger’s ruling military junta
said. An intervention unit was sent to the west of the country on Monday to
catch criminals stealing cattle in Takzat, a village in western Niger, according
to a military statement said broadcast on Wednesday night. “It was during the
operation that a group of criminals ambushed the detachment of the internal
security forces which resulted in the loss of 10 of our soldiers,” it said. It
did not specify who the criminals were. The attackers
managed to flee, but the military caught and neutralized 15 “terrorists” on
Tuesday, the statement added. Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and
Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups,
including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following
military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have
expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security
assistance. The three countries vowed to strengthen their cooperation by
establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States. But the
security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara
Desert, has significantly worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say,
with a record number of attacks and civilians killed both by Islamic militants
and government forces. Ten soldiers were killed and seven others injured in an
attack near Niger’s border with Burkina Faso last December, the army said. The
same month, militants of an Islamic State group affiliate — known as Islamic
State Sahel Province — likely shot and killed 21 passengers on a bus in the
Arboudji village, near the border with Burkina Faso, according to the U.S.-based
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
Trump tells prayer breakfast he wants to root out
'anti-Christian bias' and urges 'bring God back'
Aamer Madhani/WASHINGTON (AP)/February 6, 2025
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants to root out “anti-Christian
bias” in the U.S., announcing that he was forming a task force led by Attorney
General Pam Bondi to investigate the “targeting” of Christians.
Speaking at a pair of events in Washington surrounding the the National Prayer
Breakfast, Trump said the task force would be directed to “immediately halt all
forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal
government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the
FBI — terrible — and other agencies.”Trump said Bondi would also work to “fully
prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move
heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers
nationwide.”The president's comments came after he joined the National Prayer
Breakfast at the Capitol, a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that
brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship, and told
lawmakers there that his relationship with religion had “changed” after a pair
of failed assassination attempts last year and urged Americans to “bring God
back" into their lives.An hour after calling for “unity” on Capitol Hill,
though, Trump struck a more partisan tone at the second event across town,
announcing that, in addition to the task force, he was forming a commission on
religious liberty, criticizing the Biden administration for “persecution” of
believers for prosecuting anti-abortion advocates.And Trump took a victory lap
over his early administration efforts to roll back diversity, equity and
inclusion programs and to limit transgender participation in women’s sports.
“I don’t know if you’ve been watching, but we got rid of woke over the last two
weeks,” he said. “Woke is gone-zo.”Trump’s new task force drew criticism from
Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The group’s president and
CEO, Rachel Laser, said “rather than protecting religious beliefs, this task
force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination, and the
subversion of our civil rights laws.”Trump said at the Capitol that he believes
people "can’t be happy without religion, without that belief. Let’s bring
religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.”
The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and head of the
progressive Interfaith Alliance, accused Trump of hypocrisy in claiming to
champion religion by creating the task force. “From allowing immigration raids
in churches, to targeting faith-based charities, to suppressing religious
diversity, the Trump Administration’s aggressive government overreach is
infringing on religious freedom in a way we haven’t seen for generations,”
Raushenbush said in a statement.
Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a conservative Christian
legal organization, disagreed, praising the creation of the task force and
religious liberty commission. “All Americans should be free to exercise their
faith without government intrusion in school, in the military, in the workplace,
and in the public square. We are ready to stand with President Trump to ensure
that the religious liberty of every American is safe and secure,” Shackelford
said in a statement.Trump also announced the creation of a White House faith
office led by Paula White-Cain, a longtime pastor in the independent charismatic
world. An early supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidency bid, she led Trump’s Faith
and Opportunity Initiative in 2019, advising faith-based organizations on ways
to partner with the federal government.
At Thursday’s prayer breakfast, she praised him as “the greatest champion” any
president has been “of religion, of faith and of God.”In 2023, the National
Prayer Breakfast split into two dueling events, the one on Capitol Hill largely
attended by lawmakers and government officials and a larger private event for
thousands at a hotel ballroom. The split occurred when lawmakers sought to
distance themselves from the private religious group that for decades had
overseen the bigger event, due to questions about its organization and how it
was funded.
Trump, at both venues, reflected on having a bullet coming within a hair’s
breadth of killing him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, telling
lawmakers and attendees, “It changed something in me, I feel."“I feel even
stronger," he continued. "I believed in God, but I feel, I feel much more
strongly about it. Something happened.” Speaking later at the prayer breakfast
sponsored by a private group at a hotel, he remarked, “it was God that saved
me.' He drew laughs at the Capitol event when he expressed gratitude that the
episode “didn’t affect my hair.”
The Republican president, who's a nondenominational Christian, called religious
liberty “part of the bedrock of American life” and called for protecting it with
“absolute devotion.”Trump and his administration have already clashed with
religious leaders, including him disagreeing with the Rev. Mariann Budde’s
sermon the day after his inauguration, when she called for mercy for members of
the LGBTQ+ community and migrants who are in the country illegally. Vice
President JD Vance, who's Catholic, has sparred with top U.S. leaders of his own
church over immigration issues. And many clergy members across the country are
worried about the removal of churches from the sensitive-areas list, allowing
federal officials to conduct immigration actions at places of worship. The
president made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That
year the gathering came the day after the Senate acquitted him in his first
impeachment trial. Trump in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at
Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who publicly said she
prayed for Trump, and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had cited his faith in his
decision to vote to convict Trump. “I don’t like people who use their faith as
justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said then in his winding
speech, in which he also held up two newspapers with banner headlines about his
acquittal. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that
that’s not so.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend the prayer breakfast, in
February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.
Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Roger
Marshall of Kansas are the honorary co-chairs of this year's prayer breakfast.
In 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, spoke at the Capitol Hill
event, and his remarks were livestreamed to the other gathering.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on February 06-07/2025
How Hamas Plans To Foil Trump's Gaza Plan
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./February 06/2025
Hamas is basically saying that if the Trump administration dares to implement
the relocation and reconstruction plan, the terrorist organization will unleash
a wave of terrorism against Americans and Palestinians.
Hamas does not want any US intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The
terrorist group, together with Iran's terror proxies, fear that this would
disrupt their Jihad (holy war) against Israel.
For the Trump plan to succeed, the US must insist on the removal of Hamas from
power and the disarming of all the terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
It will take several years to rebuild the Gaza Strip and make it habitable once
again. The Trump administration will be gone by then. The biggest fear is that a
future US administration will fail to block the return of terrorists to the
rebuilt Gaza Strip.
If that happens, it will be a matter of time before the Gaza Strip once again
becomes a large base for jihadists not only from Hamas, but other Islamist
terror groups for whom Israel and the US are the Number 1 target.
Hamas is basically saying that if the Trump administration dares to implement
the relocation and reconstruction plan, the terrorist organization will unleash
a wave of terrorism against Americans and Palestinians. For the Trump plan to
succeed, the US must insist on the removal of Hamas from power and the disarming
of all the terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, Hamas said that the Palestinians will "confront the plan with
resistance and necessary force."
This threat is directed not only against the US, but also against Palestinians
of the Gaza Strip, many of whom would be happy to move to another place where
they could live in security and peace. Hamas is basically saying that if the
Trump administration dares to implement the relocation and reconstruction plan,
the terrorist organization will unleash a wave of terrorism against Americans
and Palestinians.
The Trump administration should not underestimate such threats by Hamas, which
started the war in the Gaza Strip 15 months ago when its members, together with
thousands of "ordinary" Palestinians, attacked Israel, murdered more than 1,200
people and wounded thousands others. Another 250 Israelis, including children,
women, and the elderly, were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where 79 are still
held in captivity.
Hamas already bears full responsibility for the death of thousands of
Palestinians and the destruction of the Gaza Strip.
Since the announcement of the US-brokered ceasefire-hostage deal in mid-January,
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have discovered that during the war, their
homes were destroyed. Large parts of the Gaza Strip, especially the northern
part, have become uninhabitable because of the absence of water, electricity and
medical facilities, and the presence of unexploded bombs.
"There is no life in the northern Gaza Strip," said a Gaza resident.
"The documentation on social media reflects only 20% of the destruction. The
situation is indescribable. People don't understand the situation. The brain
collapses. People have started talking to themselves."
Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid pointed out that many Palestinians
living under Hamas wanted to leave the Gaza Strip long before the Israel-Hamas
war began on October 7, 2023.
"When I asked my Palestinian brothers and sisters in Gaza what their top
priorities were before the war, their answers were clear: a job to support their
families, access to quality education, and reliable healthcare. Now, many are
left jobless, homeless, and desperate for a future that seems impossible. With
Gaza in ruins and Hamas holding its grip on the people, the situation is dire.
"President Trump's proposal to allow Palestinians to leave Gaza offers a
lifeline. It provides the opportunity to escape the suffocating control of Hamas
and to find a place where they can rebuild their lives — where their children
can have access to education, where they can work with dignity, and where their
families can be safe and healthy. It's not just a chance for relocation, but a
real opportunity for liberation from terror, for a future they deserve.
"This isn't about abandoning Gaza; it's about giving its people a way out of
oppression. The hope is that one day they can return to a Gaza that is free from
Hamas, where peace and prosperity can truly take root."
Hamas does not want any US intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The
terrorist group, together with Iran's terror proxies, fear that this would
disrupt their Jihad (holy war) against Israel. Hamas does not want Palestinians
to leave the Gaza Strip: it wants to continue using them as human shields in its
fight against Israel. Hamas leaders have proven over the years that they do not
really care about the two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Most of the
group's political leaders left the Gaza Strip together with their families
several years ago. They have since been living comfortably in Qatar, Turkey,
Lebanon and other countries. The New York Post reported on November 7, 2023:
"While their people languish in poverty and are treated as human shields, the
leaders of Hamas live billionaire lifestyles.
"The terror group's three top leaders alone are worth a staggering total of $11
billion and enjoy a life of luxury in the sanctuary of the emirate of
Qatar."Hamas wants the US and other countries to invest billions of dollars in
rebuilding the Gaza Strip. The group, however, is not prepared to cede control
of the coastal enclave. It plans to maintain its rule over the Gaza Strip so
that it can pursue its Jihad against Israel. As senior Hamas official Ghazi
Hamad vowed shortly after the October 7 massacre:. "We must teach Israel a
lesson, and we will do this again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood [the name Hamas
gave to the attack on Israel] is just the first time, and there will be a
second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and
the capabilities to fight."Should the Trump administration proceed with its Gaza
plan, the same Hamas that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 is also capable of
targeting US interests and personnel in the Middle East and beyond. Hamas is
likely to be joined by Iran's other proxies, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and
the Houthis in Yemen.
For the Trump plan to succeed, the US must insist on the removal of Hamas from
power and the disarming of all the terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
It will take several years to rebuild the Gaza Strip and make it habitable once
again. The Trump administration will be gone by then. The biggest fear is that a
future US administration will fail to block the return of terrorists to the
rebuilt Gaza Strip.
If that happens, it will be a matter of time before the Gaza Strip once again
becomes a large base for jihadists not only from Hamas, but other Islamist
terror groups for whom Israel and the US are the Number 1 target.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
*Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 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.
Trumpism: Dangers and Opportunities
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
Many people say that Donald Trump, the returning US president, is merely making
loud noises. My opinion, in short, is that Trump could be anything – a sound
bomb or a devastating bomb. We are facing four years that will likely be
extraordinary. They could be the nightmare we fear – Palestinians without land –
or the dream – a Palestinian state. His policies might lead to a dangerous
regional war with Iran, or he could achieve a regional peace that concludes
forty years of battles and tensions with Iran, both in the Arab world and the
West. He might cause the fall of regimes and widespread chaos, or he could help
establish security and peace in the region. This is not an exaggeration – Trump
is an unpredictable figure. We cannot ignore the current US president, whether
he is mocking or serious. As the poet al-Mutanabbi once said: “If you see the
fangs of the lion bared,
Do not assume the lion is smiling.”
He has not yet completed a hundred days in office, yet he has already dismissed
senior officials at the FBI, disrupted the activities of the US Agency for
International Development (USAID), relocated ten thousand of its employees,
halted all US foreign aid, withdrawn from the World Health Organization, and
begun using military transport planes to deport undocumented refugees from the
US in an unprecedented scene. Some Latin American presidents were forced to
receive them. Meanwhile, the Canadian prime minister quickly deployed around a
quarter of a million military personnel and border guards to prevent smuggling
and illegal crossings, and Mexico did the same. In Brussels, the capital of the
European Union, meetings have begun to discuss Trump’s intention to withdraw
support for Ukraine and to raise tariffs on European goods.
If these actions do not clarify Trump’s character and management style, then
what comes next may be even more significant.
Before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, Trump
lifted the ban on selling 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, which had been imposed by
his predecessor Biden, and announced efforts to prevent Iran from selling its
oil.
Now that we have “gotten to know” the US president, who is now more powerful
than before, we must reassess the issues he will engage with.
Rejecting engagement with him comes at a high price. While Trump has repeatedly
stated that he will not use military force against his adversaries or those who
disagree with him, he still has the ability to harm those who oppose him. Trump
wields two weapons: The first is economic and financial. For example, he can
raise tariffs, but fortunately, Arab exports to the US are limited. He can also
cut aid, and the Arab countries that receive assistance must reorganize their
affairs if they intend not to cooperate with him. They should not expect
alternative support from Arab or other nations, as Trump will punish governments
and international banks that assist those who defy him. The second weapon is
political. Disputes with Trump will be exploited by opposition forces. Groups
like the Muslim Brotherhood, for example, may try to take advantage of the
political climate. On one hand, they will incite opposition to Trump and
embarrass Arab governments through propaganda campaigns aimed at weakening them.
At the same time, they will seek to get closer to Trump’s administration and
cooperate with it for the same goal, just as they did in 2011.
The two main issues for Trump’s administration are Iran and Palestine. Several
crises stem from them, including the Houthis in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
If Israel is determined to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, it will have to
wait until Trump’s expected negotiations fail, which are likely to start soon.
It would not be surprising if the Iranian leadership cooperates with Trump, as
it has already lost more than half of its external power following the
destruction of Hamas and Hezbollah’s capabilities and the fall of the Assad
regime. Additionally, the pressure on Iran will intensify as Trump has decided
to reinstate the ban on its oil sales. It is also likely that he will put the
threat of an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear capabilities on the table, which
would strip Iran of all its bargaining chips. The most urgent and dangerous
issue is Trump’s project to empty Gaza of its population. More on this to come.
After Tariff Fight with Canada and Mexico, Trump’s Next Target Is Europe
...Europe, you’re next.
The New York Times/February 06/2025
That’s the latest message from President Trump, who has repeatedly said in
recent days that he would slap punitive tariffs on the 27 members of the
European Union.
Tariffs “will definitely happen with the European Union,” Trump told the BBC
Sunday evening, and they are coming “pretty soon.” He doubled down on the threat
on Monday, complaining about deficits in auto and farm products. New tariffs
were set to go into effect on imports from Canada, China and Mexico on Tuesday,
but on Monday Mexico and Canada were granted a one-month delay. “The European
Union has abused the United States for years, and they can’t do that,” Trump
said on Monday.
A head-spinning blitz of executive orders and policy reversals related to
international trade, aid and agreements has come out of the White House in the
past two weeks. But one common thread is that Trump has directed the harshest
penalties at some of America’s closest economic and military allies. One reason
is that the United States has large trade deficits with Mexico, Canada and the
European Union in addition to China, said Agathe Demarais, a senior policy
fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Trump is obsessed with
trade deficits,” she said. And he may be “starting with the places where he
feels he will have quick wins.”Of course, trade surpluses are not necessarily
any indication of a country’s economic health. The last time the United States
had an overall trade surplus was 1975, when the American economy was still in a
severe recession. The United States did have a trade surplus in 2023 with
Britain, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. And that may help
Britain avoid tariffs. “I think that one can be worked out,” Trump said,
contrasting Britain with Europe. As for the European Union, Trump has
characterized the bloc’s trade practices as an “atrocity.” But tariffs imposed
by the United States and the European Union on each other are pretty similar.
“The pattern of protectionism between the US and Europe is very even, and there
is absolutely no evidence that the US has been taken advantage of,” said
Kimberly Clausing, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International
Economics in Washington. “This claim is disingenuous.”Products exported from the
United States to the European Union are on average subject to a 3.95 percent
tariff, according to ING Global Markets Research. A 3.5 percent tariff on
average is added to products from the European Union that head west across the
Atlantic. The disparities, however, are bigger on some items, like cars. The
European Union tariff is 10 percent, compared with 2.5 percent from the United
States. And E.U. tariffs on food and beverages are on average 3.5 percent higher
than those set by the United States. Mr. Trump has long complained about both
sectors.
The United States is the No. 1 buyer of E.U. exports, accounting for nearly 20
percent of the total in 2023, according to Eurostat. The bloc’s surplus on goods
was roughly $160 billion; there was a $107 billion deficit on services.
Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, said Monday that she would “never
support fighting allies,” but that “if the US puts tough tariffs on Europe, we
need a collective and robust response.”Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister,
said, “We have to do everything to avoid it — totally unnecessary and stupid
tariff war or trade wars.”
For months, European leaders have quietly been preparing for how to respond.
Business leaders and trade associations are warning that the brewing trade war
and the unpredictable way in which it is being waged could slow investment.
American tariffs on European goods would also hurt companies when they were
weakened by flagging demand at home and in China. The US Chamber of Commerce to
the European Union issued a statement on Monday criticizing potential tariffs,
arguing that they would invite retaliation and cause companies on both sides of
the Atlantic to suffer.
German business leaders were reluctant on Monday to comment on the possibility
of tariffs on Europe, but they reacted with a mixture of concern and resignation
to those targeting Mexico and Canada. “German industry is directly affected by
the tariffs, as it also supplies the U.S. market from plants in Mexico and
Canada,” said Wolfgang Niedermark, a board member of BDI, a German industry
lobby group. “The automotive industry and its suppliers, including the chemical
industry as a supplier of chemical raw materials, will be hit much harder than
other sectors.”
Many of the 2,100 German companies that have operations in Mexico, including
BMW, Volkswagen and Audi, chose to build there after Trump signed a trade
agreement with Mexico and Canada during his first term, when the threat of
tariffs against Germany loomed. Nearly a quarter of the 1.3 million vehicles
that German automakers sold in the United States last year were produced in
Mexico. In addition to the car companies, a web of auto parts suppliers, such as
Bosch and ZF, have research and production plants there. Asian and European
stock markets fell on Monday, with some of the biggest drops in share prices
among auto manufacturers. Economists at the Prognos Institute in Switzerland
calculated that 1.2 million jobs in Germany were dependent on exports to the
United States, and that as many as 300,000 of them could be endangered if
tariffs against Europe came into effect.
Europe’s luxury industry has also been bracing for a hit. In 2019, the United
States briefly imposed 25 percent tariffs on French wines and Italian cheeses,
as well as luxury leather handbags and luggage from brands like Louis Vuitton
and Gucci.
Bernard Arnault, the head of the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton empire, has
sought to cultivate direct ties with Trump, who personally invited him to attend
last month’s inauguration in Washington. At an earnings presentation last week,
Arnault said that by lowering the corporate tax to 15 percent and “welcoming you
with open arms,” Trump was making the United States more attractive for
companies. There can be reasons for a country to worry about too large a trade
deficit, said Clausing, the Peterson Institute economist. But the United States
is not facing those problems at the moment. The trade deficit signals that
American consumers are getting a lot of stuff from the rest of the world, she
explained. If tariffs drive up prices and Americans have to pay more, as most
economists expect, their standard of living will go down.
Mr. Trump... What About this Idea on the Palestinians?
Mishary Dhayidi/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 06/2025
As long as bold ideas to resolve Palestine’s cause and the suffering of its
people are on the table with no restrictions, as suggested by the idea of the
new US President, Donald Trump, on relocating Gaza’s residents to more than one
country and transforming the enclave into an economic “Riviera” on the
Mediterranean Sea, there is no objection to opening all brackets and liberating
all thoughts, both old and new, on this solution. Let’s go back to the starting
point, before the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel in
1948, or the Nakba as the Arabs describe it. On February 14, 1945, the founding
King Abdulaziz Al Saud met with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the
American warship “USS Quincy” in the Red Sea. A lot has been written about that
historic meeting, but what concernd the Palestinian cause was significant.
During that meeting, the great Arab leader, Abdulaziz, told the historic
American leader, Roosevelt, about the migration of Jews to Palestine, which,
according to Roosevelt, was meant to provide justice and help the impovrished,
who had been oppressed and killed in Europe, especially by the German Nazis: "If
the Germans are the ones who are persecuting the Jews, why don't you give them
the homes of the Germans who oppressed them?"
Roosevelt replied: "But the Jews prefer to come to Palestine."
King Abdulaziz quickly responded: "It is the criminal, not the innocent, who
should be asked to compensate and lift the oppression!"Before that, in 1935,
when Crown Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz visited Palestine and toured Jaffa, Nablus,
Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jerusalem, and others in a historical visit, his words
during that visit to the Palestinian people were: "The people of Palestine are
our sons and our kin, and we have a duty that we will fulfill toward their
cause."What happened after that is written in history books and recorded in
memory. The Saudis fought, both officially and publicly, in the land of
Palestine, and their blood was shed in Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere.
Anyone wishing to read some of that history should, for example, read the book
“Record of Honor” by the late Saudi writer and historian, Fahd Al-Marek, who was
the commander of the Saudi popular forces in the Palestine War and acted with
support and guidance from his leader, King Abdulaziz. Afterward, since the
reigns of Kings Faisal, Khalid, Fahd, Abdullah, and up to the current reign of
King Salman, Saudi Arabia's firm stance on Palestine has not changed.
Regarding Trump's recent statement in the presence of (Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin) Netanyahu in Washington about Palestine, the relocation of Gazans, and
Saudi and Arab normalization, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs' statement
was decisive, emphasizing that the Kingdom’s stance on the establishment of a
Palestinian state is firm and unwavering, and stressing that there will be no
relations with Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian
state. This position was made crystal clear by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman in his speech before the Shura Council on September 18, 2024.Going back
to the roots of this Saudi approach to the Palestinian cause, a report by US
Colonel William Eddy, who accompanied King Abdulaziz during his meeting with
President Roosevelt and sent it to his government on January 5, 1945, stated
that King Abdulaziz attended a meeting of representatives of Western countries
in Jeddah, where he told them: "America and Britain must choose between an Arab
land of security and peace and a Jewish land drowning in blood."
Arab Americans for Trump changes name after Gaza comments
RAY HANANIA/Arab News/February 06, 2025
CHICAGO: The chairman of Arab Americans for Trump told Arab News on Thursday
that Donald Trump’s statements about taking over Gaza are “political rhetoric,”
and that the US president is committed to a peaceful settlement between Israelis
and Palestinians.
Dr. Bishara Bahbah said AAFT has changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace to
lobby the Trump administration to bring about “lasting peace” based on the
two-state solution. He added that the group opposes any proposal to relocate
Palestinians to neighboring countries or to convert Gaza into a regional resort.
“We appreciate the president’s offer to clean and rebuild Gaza. However, the
purpose should be to make Gaza habitable for Palestinians and no one else,”
Bahbah said.
“The Palestine that we envision is one that would be on lands occupied by Israel
in 1967: the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem as its capital.”Bahbah brushed
aside Trump’s Gaza comments as a style of American politics in which politicians
toss out ideas to kick-start public debate. “Trump promised specifically to us
as a community to bring an end to the wars and an end to the killings of
civilians,” he said.
“Secondly, Trump promised to bring about a lasting peace in the Middle East
that’s satisfactory to all parties. “He delivered on the ceasefire and sent back
(special envoy to the Middle East) Steve Witkoff in order to ensure that the
second phase of the ceasefire goes into effect.” Bahbah, who met with Trump and
several advisers during his election campaign, added: “The ceasefire was a major
win for us because we were pleading as a community with the Biden administration
to push the Israelis to accept a ceasefire, but clearly President (Joe) Biden
and his top lieutenants weren’t pushing the Israelis hard enough. “President
Trump knew how to do it, and from our perspective, that was a big thank you to
our community for our vote in supporting the president’s election.”
Regarding Trump’s suggestions that Egypt and Jordan take in Gazans, Bahbah said:
“One has to be realistic. Why would Jordan and Egypt bear the brunt of
Palestinian refugees when the Israelis were the cause of the Palestinians in
Gaza becoming refugees and they caused the destruction of Gaza?”Bahbah noted
that Israel’s actions in Gaza were “funded and supported” by the Biden
administration. “Yes, the Israelis could retaliate for what Hamas did on Oct. 7
(2023), but not in a manner that demolishes 90 percent of the Gaza Strip.
“That’s way over the top. The Israelis have been brought to the International
Court of Justice over this particular issue.”
Farewell to the Ideology of ‘Development’?
Joseph P. Duggan/chroniclesmagazine/February 06/2025
“The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy,” declared President
Donald Trump in an executive order signed on the date of his second
inauguration, “are not aligned with American interests and in many cases
antithetical to American values. They serve to destabilize world peace by
promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and
stable relations internal to and among countries.”
Trump ordered: “It is the policy of the United States that no further United
States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully
aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.”If that
sounds familiar, we’ve heard variations of this song before from Republican
presidents beginning with Ronald Reagan. What is different today is that Trump
is giving force to this long-held conservative idea. He has unleashed Elon
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on the foreign aid
bureaucracy, cutting off funds and suspending operations of the U.S. Agency for
International Development and the spongers who call themselves “development
professionals.”
Beltway bandits are reeling. The high-minded idle rich in Aspen and Davos are
haltingly navigating the no-man’s land between denial and anger. Blue-state
politicians are seeing red. They are feeling the powerful effects of an idea
whose time came more than half a century ago, finally being implemented.
USAID had been created not by legislation but by an executive order of President
John F. Kennedy in 1961. USAID soon earned notoriety for its failed social
engineering projects in South Vietnam. One was the “strategic hamlets” program
(1961-1963). This was such an embarrassment that by January 1964, the new
Johnson administration and a former champion of foreign aid, Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Chairman William Fulbright, were already considering
abolishing USAID and drastically cutting non-military foreign aid spending.
USAID nevertheless survived. It was a key player in the Vietnam War’s Civil
Operations and Revolutionary Development Support program (1967-1975). Like
strategic hamlets, this was a “civil-military” joint endeavor of USAID, the U.S.
military, and the corrupt, incompetent South Vietnamese government. These
ménages à trois became textbook cases of the futility of assuming that liberal
Western mindsets and values, brimming with the faddish optimism of Camelot and
dogmatic belief in social “science,” would be comprehended and embraced by
uneducated peasants half a world away. During the 1970s, economists whose work
gave rise to many of Margaret Thatcher and Reagan’s policies had rendered their
verdict against foreign aid. It is the system, British development economist
Peter Bauer wrote at the time, by which “poor people in rich countries are taxed
to support the lifestyles of rich people in poor countries.” Bauer and
like-minded economists were favorites of Reagan, but during his eight years in
office and despite thousands of Adam Smith neckties being knotted around the
collars of Reagan acolytes, little to nothing was accomplished to cut back on
wasteful, utopian foreign aid spending and programs.
The liberal Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party remained influential when
Reagan became president. It impeded the Gipper from implementing policies to
rein in the foreign aid bureaucracy. As chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee, Rockefeller Republican Sen. Charles Percy of Illinois had the power
to block Reagan conservatives from foreign affairs posts.
Reagan conceded USAID to the liberals. He appointed a liberal Republican, Peter
McPherson, to head USAID. McPherson appointed other liberal Republicans and
promoted left-wing bureaucrats to run the agency in much the same way a Nelson
Rockefeller administration would have done.
At the insistence of conservative Sen. Jesse Helms (R- N.C.), Reagan forced
McPherson to accept as head of his Africa bureau a lawyer named Frank Ruddy, who
described himself as “the token conservative at USAID.” Details of the Reagan
administration’s failure to reform, much less defund or dismantle USAID, are in
Ruddy’s fascinating and often hilarious interviews given to the Association for
Diplomatic Studies and Training.
McPherson embraced the Rockefeller doctrine of population control, including
abortion, as a means of “poverty reduction.” Ruddy clashed with McPherson over
this and other liberal policies and prevailed when Reagan announced the “Mexico
City policy” against U.S. foreign aid funding for performing or promoting
abortions. Reagan would not allow McPherson to fire Ruddy, but McPherson got his
revenge by reassigning Ruddy to an office where he had no duties or powers. The
White House and congressional allies told Ruddy not to resign. Eventually Ruddy
was sent as ambassador to a backwater called Equatorial Guinea. Summarizing his
observations on USAID, Ruddy said: “[It] it wouldn’t have made any difference if
Abbie Hoffman or William F. Buckley were running AID. … The bureaucracy runs
USAID.”George H. W. Bush proved Ruddy’s point when he appointed a cipher named
Ronald Roskens, an obscure educational bureaucrat from Nebraska, to head USAID.
The agency’s leftist bureaucracy ran on autopilot for four years. George Bush
the Younger campaigned for president in 2000 with refreshing remarks against
“nation building” and associated foreign aid follies. Once taking office,
however, he reversed course. He named a liberal Republican hack from
Massachusetts, a longtime crony of White House chief of staff Andy Card named
Andrew Natsios, to run USAID. Like previous USAID leaders and staff, Natsios,
having spent his entire career working for either the government or USAID
contractors, had no experience in the private, for-profit sector. With
megalomaniacal zeal, he embraced what New York University economist William
Easterly has called “the ideology of Development.”
During the Dubya administration, Easterly warned that
Developmentalism” is “almost as deadly as the tired ideologies of the last
century—communism, fascism, and socialism—that failed so miserably. Like all
ideologies, Development promises a comprehensive final answer to all of
society’s problems, from poverty and illiteracy to violence and despotic rulers.
It shares the common ideological characteristic of suggesting there is only one
correct answer, and it tolerates little dissent. It deduces this unique answer
for everyone from a general theory that purports to apply to everyone,
everywhere. … Development even has its own intelligentsia, made up of experts at
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and United Nations.
Natsios and his liberal team at USAID sneered at Easterly’s superbly researched,
scholarly work. Historians will remember Natsios mostly for his wildly
underestimated cost projections for reconstructing Iraq. On April 23, 2003, just
before the American invasion, Natsios was interviewed by Ted Koppel on ABC’s
Nightline. He asserted that the total cost to the United States of
reconstructing Iraq would be $1.7 billion.
“The rest of the rebuilding of Iraq will be done by other countries who have
already made pledges,” Natsios said. “But the American part of this will be $1.7
billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this.”
Koppel was incredulous. Bush fired Lawrence Lindsay, his chief economic advisor,
for projecting the total costs of the Iraq war at $200 billion. Lindsay had
contradicted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s cost estimate of $50 billion.
The total costs as of 2025 are tallied at more than $2 trillion, or as much as
$6 trillion when one adds projected future costs of veterans benefits and
interest on the national debt. Accounting data for the costs allocated to
reconstruction are hard to find, but an extremely conservative estimate is $88
billion. The president reportedly was infuriated by Natsios’ much-ridiculed
remark, but Andy Card protected his buddy. Natsios stayed on for several more
years as USAID head and was emboldened to pursue ever more grandiose projects.
One of the more absurd was the “ministry in a box” program. Natsios boasted that
USAID could “stand up” a national government ministry with a simple kit
containing furniture and how-to manuals for 100 civil servants. We know how that
worked out.
On the receiving end of Natsios’s boxes of ministries was the Coalition
Provisional Authority—that is, the American occupation regime in Iraq. The
Baghdad interim government’s chief of economic policy was a man 20 years older
but still no wiser: Peter McPherson.“The power of Developmentalism is
disheartening,” William Easterly wrote, “because the failure of all the previous
ideologies might have laid the groundwork for the opposite of ideology—the
freedom of individuals and societies to choose their destinies. Yet, since the
fall of communism, the West has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory, and with disastrous results.”Donald Trump’s first term failed to
address the foreign aid elephant in the room. Instead, it installed an enabler
as head of USAID, a former congressman and confidant of Mike Pence named Mark
Green. With neoconservatives Mike Pompeo and Elliott Abrams calling the shots,
the foreign aid racket rolled merrily along.
When Green left office in 2020, he was lauded by the left-wing foreign aid
industry. Devex, an online publication funded in part by USAID and several
United Nations agencies, praised Green as one who had “held the line at USAID.”
The leftist newsletter stated: “Faced with repeated attacks on his budget,
political demands from the White House, and an administration that doubted the
basic premise of foreign assistance, Mark Green managed to protect—and maybe
even sharpen—USAID’s development mission.”
It is too early to declare that the foreign aid industry and ideology of
Development have been vanquished by Trump’s aggressive new moves. USAID and its
ideology have had 60 years of success in staving off well deserved extinction.
Can Elon Musk succeed where others have failed? The struggle continues.
**Joseph P. Duggan was a speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush and a State
Department aide in the Reagan administration. He is now an entrepreneur in St.
Louis.
With Oscar-nominee 'Conclave' piquing interest, pope keeps
dean of the College of Cardinals in place
NICOLE WINFIELD/Associated Press/February 6, 2025
ROME (AP) — With interest in a papal elections high thanks to the
Oscar-nominated film “Conclave, ” Pope Francis threw a wrench Thursday in some
of the speculation about a future Sistine Chapel vote by deciding to extend the
term of the current dean of the College of Cardinals rather than make way for
someone new. In its noon bulletin, the Vatican said Francis had decided to
prolong the mandate of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, as dean of the
college. The term of the vice-dean, Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 81, also
was extended.
The announcement came hours before the Vatican reported that the 88-year-old
Argentine pope, who lost part of one lung to a respiratory infection as a young
man, was suffering from another bout of bronchitis. Francis, who frequently gets
bronchitis in winter, will preside over his audiences for the coming days in the
Vatican hotel where he lives rather than the Apostolic Palace, the Vatican said.
As depicted in the film “Conclave,” the dean of the College of Cardinals plays
an important role in the life of the Catholic hierarchy, a point of reference
for his fellow cardinals and a crucial figure during the transition between one
papacy and the next.
After a pope dies or resigns, the dean runs the secret meetings where cardinals
discuss the needs of the church and the qualities a future pope must have, and
then organizes the conclave balloting in the Sistine Chapel.
After a pope is elected, it's the dean who asks the winner if he accepts the
job, and the name he wants to be called. As a result of the importance of the
job, speculation had swirled about who might take Re’s place after his five-year
term ended Jan. 18. In a 2019 reform, Francis had imposed a once-renewable,
five-year term limit on the job which until then had been an appointment for
life. Given Re's age and the rigors of the eventual job of running a conclave,
it was expected that he would be replaced.
Possible contenders included Sandri and the current Vatican secretary of state,
Cardinal Pietro Parolin. There was no word if Francis’ extension of Re’s
mandate, decided Jan. 7 but only announced Thursday, was for another full
five-year term or was just a temporary extension. According to the 2019 reform,
the dean's five-year term may be “renewable if necessary,” but doesn't
explicitly provide for a mere extension.In an additional appointment Thursday,
Francis named a top Vatican cardinal, American Cardinal Robert Prevost, as a
member of the small group of high-ranking cardinals who actually chose the dean
from within their own ranks. Prevost is currently prefect of the Vatican office
for bishops, which vets bishop nominations from around the world.
It's a job that Re held for a decade, from 2000-2010.
Previous deans have been some of the most influential cardinals in the church,
including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who after he presided over the funeral of
Pope John Paul II as dean was himself elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.
During a papal transition, the dean works closely with the camerlengo, the
cardinal who handles more of the administrative tasks of running the Holy See
and administering its assets. The camerlengo is currently American Cardinal
Kevin Farrell.
Even before “Conclave” sparked new interest in the Vatican, speculation about
the dean, the camerlengo and future conclaves in general has long been a popular
sport in Rome, where the health of the 88-year-old Francis is a frequent topic
of conversation.
While Francis uses a wheelchair and suffers regular wintertime bouts of
respiratory problems he has shown little signs of slowing down. On Thursday
morning alone, before the Vatican announced his bronchitis diagnosis, he had
eight different private audiences, including one with the leadership of the
Brazilian bishops conference.“Conclave,” director Edward Berger’s adaptation of
the Robert Harris novel starring Ralph Fiennes as the dean, has been nominated
for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
*Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s
collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.
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