English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 08/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Therefore lift your drooping hands and
strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what
is lame may not be put out of joint
Letter to the Hebrews 12/12-21/:”Therefore lift your drooping hands and
strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what
is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with
everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it
that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs
up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. See to it that no one
becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a
single meal. You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was
rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing
with tears. You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire,
and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice
whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.(For
they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the
mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that
Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’)
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on February 07-08/2025
Text & Video: Ortagus Delivers a Stark Message To Aoun & Salam—No Rewards
for Hezbollah’s Defeat/Elias Bejjani/February 07/2025
Michel Aoun the Judas and the Humiliating and Treacherous Memorandum of
Understanding with the Party of Satan/Elias Bejjani/February 06/2025
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
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
Aoun tells Ortagus south stability linked to Israeli pullout
US Sets ‘Red Line’ against Hezbollah Joining Lebanese Government
Dispute Over Fifth Shiite Minister Delays Lebanese Government Formation
US envoy’s anti-Hezbollah stance causes controversy in Lebanon
Border Control Sparks Clashes Between Lebanese Tribes, Syrian Security Forces
Netanyahu, Gallant Reportedly Disagreed Over Hezbollah Pager Attack Timing
Israel strikes Iqlim al-Tuffah, Bissariyeh and east Lebanon
Israel Launches Night Raids on South, East Lebanon
Hezbollah's Raad slams comments by US official as 'blatant interference'
Hezbollah supporters protest Ortagus' remarks outside airport as Aoun distances
himself
Jumblat says there should be 'no winners and losers' in Lebanon
France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s
diversity
Bitar questions two defendants in Beirut blast probe
Bassil says LF 'gave cover' for 'Christian loss' in new govt.
Cyprus jails Syrian over child death on migrant boat from Lebanon
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on February 07-08/2025
Hamas says Israeli block on diggers affecting extraction of hostages’ bodies
US State Department lays out plans for $7 billion-plus arms sale to Israel as
Netanyahu visits DC
Egypt Renews Rejection of Any Proposal to Liquidate Palestinian Cause
Rubio to Visit Middle East after Trump Proposal for US to Take over Gaza
Syria Says Leader Invited to Visit Germany
US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
UN Syria Investigators Report 'Systematic' Pillage of Property During War
ICC ‘condemns’ US sanctions, vows to ‘continue providing justice’
Chemical weapons agency chief to meet Syrian officials in Damascus on Saturday,
sources say
French ex-president Sarkozy gets electronic tag
Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week
Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in payback move
Canada task force says Freeland, running to replace Trudeau, targeted by
China-linked campaign
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on February 07-08/2025
Muslims Seek to ‘Avenge’ the Battle of Tours/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/February
08, 2025
World must rally round to help Syria rebuild/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab
News/February 07, 2025
No room for old prejudices when judging the new Syria/Nadim Shehadi/Arab
News/February 07, 2025
Why Saudi Arabia’s stance on Palestine is a model worth supporting/Dr. Khaled
Manzlawiy/Arab News/February 07, 2025
Iran: Fear and Braggadocio/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/February 07/2025
A Stable Libya Benefits Everyone/Dr. Jebril El-Abidi/Asharq Al Awsat/February
07/2025
Dangers and opportunities in the second age of Trump/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq
Al Awsat/February 07, 2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on February 07-08/2025
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: Ortagus Delivers a Stark Message
To Aoun & Salam—No Rewards for Hezbollah’s Defeat
Elias Bejjani/February 07/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/139944/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSR8NOEsHYY&t=57s
The message from U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus, delivered today from Baabda Palace,
was unmistakable: Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist militia that dragged Lebanon
into devastation and lost its war against Israel, must not be rewarded with a
seat in the new government. Ortagus made it clear that Washington stands firm in
ensuring Hezbollah’s exclusion and preventing its continued stranglehold on
Lebanon.
Hezbollah and its so-called "resistance" have always been built on lies,
delusions, and empty bravado about throwing Israel into the sea. The truth is,
they only understand force. Their so-called victories are nothing but
hallucinations, and their leaders—many of whom turned out to be foreign
agents—have led Lebanon into ruin. As for Nabih Berri, his corruption is
well-documented, and rather than clinging to power, he belongs in court facing
accountability, possibly even on the U.S. sanctions list.
Today’s blunt message from Ortagus was not just a condemnation of Hezbollah but
a direct warning to President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf
Salam: The U.S. brought them to power despite Lebanon’s corrupt political class,
and they are expected to act accordingly. Washington will not tolerate any
compromise with the Iranian proxy or its enablers, including Berri, Naiem Qassem,
and Mohammad Raad, nor will it allow Lebanon to be held hostage by Tehran’s
puppets.
Echoing this stance, Lebanese nationalist leader Etienne Sakr (Abu Arz) tweeted
today: "After this shameful failure in forming a government and the disgraceful
theatrics surrounding it, the best course for the new era is to immediately
replace Nawaf Salam with a leader of greater courage and integrity." His words
ring true—Salam is a relic of the outdated Nasserist era, ideologically unfit
for the battle to rescue Lebanon from Iran’s grip.
Former Minister Youssef Salameh also weighed in, warning the Presidency against
repeating past mistakes. He underscored that Ortagus’s remarks indicate:
A new set of U.S. conditions that Lebanon must implement,
An unclear relationship between the Lebanese Presidency and President Trump’s
administration.
Salameh cautioned that if the Presidency miscalculates again, it will mark “the
end of Lebanon the Message.”
Meanwhile, Hezbollah and its paid mouthpieces reacted with hysteria, resorting
to their usual incoherent and delusional rhetoric. Figures like Mohammad Raad
and Mufti Qabalan scrambled to respond, but their outbursts only confirmed the
severity of their defeat.
The reality is clear: Hezbollah lost its reckless war, and its place is not in
Lebanon’s future. The time has come for the country to break free from Iran’s
stranglehold and reclaim its sovereignty.
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!
Aoun tells Ortagus south stability linked to Israeli pullout
Naharnet/February 07, 2025
President Joseph Aoun on Friday told the visiting Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for
Middle East Morgan Ortagus that “permanent stability in the South hinges on
completing Israel’s withdrawal from the territory that it occupied during the
last war, and the implementation of Resolution 1701 with all its terms,
including the requirements of the Nov. 27 agreement.”“The release of Lebanese
(Hezbollah) captives is also considered an integral part of this agreement,”
Aoun added, stressing that “the Israeli attacks must stop, including the killing
of innocents and soldiers, the destruction of homes and the bulldozing and
torching of agricultural land.”“The Lebanese Army is ready to deploy in the
towns and villages from which the Israeli forces withdraw and the pullout must
be finalized prior to the Feb. 18 deadline,” the president told Ortagus. He also
told her that “the consultations to form the new government are nearing their
conclusion” and that “the government will enjoy harmony and the ability to
fulfill the aspirations and hopes of the Lebanese, in line with what was
mentioned in the (president’s) inaugural speech.”
US Sets ‘Red Line’ against Hezbollah Joining Lebanese
Government
Beirut/Asharq Al Awsat/February 07/2025
The United States has set a "red line" that armed group Hezbollah should not be
a member of Lebanon's next government after its military setbacks against Israel
last year, US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in Lebanon on Friday.
Ortagus is the first senior US official to visit Lebanon since US
President Donald Trump took office and since Joseph Aoun was elected Lebanese
president. Her visit comes amid a stalled cabinet
formation process in Lebanon, where government posts are apportioned on
sectarian lines. Hezbollah's ally Amal has insisted on approving all Shiite
ministers, keeping the process in deadlock. Speaking
to reporters after meeting President Aoun, Ortagus said she was "not afraid" of
Iran-backed Hezbollah "because they've been defeated militarily", a reference to
last year's war between the group and Israel. "And we have set clear red lines
from the United States that they won't be able to terrorize the Lebanese people,
and that includes by being a part of the government," she said. Hezbollah, which
had developed into a powerful political and military force since its founding in
1982, was battered by months of Israeli air strikes and ground operations in
southern Lebanon last year. It has described the outcome of the war as a
victory, saying it was able to keep Israeli ground troops from pushing deeper
into Lebanon. Fighting ended in late November with a ceasefire brokered by the
US and France that set a deadline of 60 days for Israel to withdraw from south
Lebanon, Hezbollah to pull out its fighters and arms, and Lebanese troops to
deploy to the area. That deadline was extended to Feb.
18. Ortagus referred to the new date on Friday but did not explicitly say the
Israeli army (IDF) would withdraw from Lebanese territory."February 18 will be
the date for redeployment, when the IDF troops will finish their redeployment,
and of course, the (Lebanese) troops will come in behind them, so we are very
committed to that firm date," she said.
'DEPARTURE FROM ETIQUETTE'
Ortagus said the US was "grateful to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah,"
thanking Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam for what she described as
their commitment "to making sure that Hezbollah is not a part of this government
in any form, and that Hezbollah remains disarmed and militarily defeated."Aoun
and Salam have made no public commitments to keep Hezbollah out of the
government. Hezbollah and Amal hold a significant number of seats in Lebanon's
128-member parliament, which needs to approve any new government. The head of
Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad said Ortagus's statement
"constitutes a blatant interference in Lebanese sovereignty and a departure from
all diplomatic etiquette".Lebanon’s presidency said in a statement on X that
some of what Ortagus said Friday "expresses her point of view, and the
Presidency is not concerned with it."
Groups of Hezbollah supporters angered by her comments took to the streets near
Beirut airport on Friday, burning tires and waving yellow flags emblazoned with
Hezbollah's logo. Some were seen stamping on an American flag, according to a
Reuters reporter. Israel is considered an enemy by the Lebanese state, despite
several ceasefire agreements ending rounds of conflict between the Israeli
military and armed groups in Lebanon. The US backs both the Israeli and Lebanese
militaries. Ortagus was expected to meet Salam,
Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri - who also heads Amal - and make a trip
to southern Lebanon with the Lebanese army.
Dispute Over Fifth Shiite Minister Delays Lebanese Government Formation
Beirut: Asharq Al Awsat/February 07/2025
Last-minute disagreements have stalled the announcement of Lebanon’s new
government, primarily due to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s insistence on
naming all Shiite ministers. Berri objected to Prime Minister-designate Nawaf
Salam’s proposed candidate for the fifth Shiite minister, delaying what had
seemed to be an imminent government formation. Optimism had been high,
particularly with Salam’s visit to the presidential palace, where he met with
President Joseph Aoun. In a customary pre-announcement step, Berri also joined
them, signaling that the cabinet lineup was close to finalization. However, the
dispute over the identity of the fifth Shiite minister disrupted the positive
momentum surrounding the talks. Sources indicated that Berri’s insistence on
allowing the Hezbollah-Amal alliance to name the minister ultimately derailed
the process. On Thursday afternoon, a meeting was held at the presidential
palace, bringing together Aoun, Berri and Salam. The secretary-general of the
Council of Ministers, Mahmoud Makiya, was also summoned, further fueling
speculation that the government’s announcement was imminent. However, after more
than 90 minutes of closed-door discussions, Berri abruptly exited the palace
through a back entrance, followed shortly by Salam, who left without making any
public statement. Reports suggest that Salam proposed
Lamia Moubayed for the Ministry of Administrative Development, but Berri
rejected the nomination. In response, Berri put forward Judge Abdel Nasser Rida
as an alternative, only for Salam to refuse his selection as well. The deadlock
over this appointment remains a significant obstacle, with Aoun reportedly
trying to mediate to reach a solution. The impasse has
sparked criticism from opposition figures. MP Ghayath Yazbeck of the Lebanese
Forces commented on X (formerly Twitter), stating that Berri’s actions at Baabda
Palace provided a concerning preview of how the Hezbollah-Amal alliance would
behave in the new government. He accused the alliance of maintaining its
obstructionist approach: “Either they impose their will, or they block the
process. If the president and the prime minister-designate are waiting for them
to change their ways, they will be waiting indefinitely—meanwhile, the state
remains paralyzed.”Adding to the pressure, Reuters reported that an American
envoy is expected to deliver a stern warning to Lebanon’s leaders during an
upcoming visit to Beirut.
Citing US officials and regional diplomatic sources, the report stated that
Washington will not accept unchecked Hezbollah influence over the government
formation process. The message will reportedly warn that Lebanon risks further
isolation and economic collapse unless it forms a reform-oriented government
committed to combating corruption and curbing Hezbollah’s power.
US envoy’s anti-Hezbollah stance causes controversy in Lebanon
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/February 07, 2025
BEIRUT: Morgan Ortagus, US deputy special envoy to the Middle East, caused
controversy following her meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday,
after making comments about militant group Hezbollah. Ortagus, who arrived in
Beirut on Thursday evening, emphasized “US commitment to strengthening close
relations with Lebanon.”However, she told reporters that she believes excitement
from the Lebanese diaspora about the future of Lebanon “is largely in part, of
course, because Hezbollah was defeated by Israel. And we are grateful to our
ally, Israel, for defeating Hezbollah.
“But it’s also thanks to you, thanks to the Lebanese people. It is thanks to
President Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam, and everyone in this
government who is committed to an end of corruption, who is committed to reforms
and who are committed to making sure that Hezbollah is not a part of this
government in any form, and that Hezbollah remains disarmed and militarily
defeated.”
She continued: “That, of course, starts with the pressure that US President
Donald Trump is now placing on the Islamic Republic of Iran so that they can no
longer fund their terror proxies through the region.”
Ortagus added: “We will be working again to make sure that the Islamic Republic
of Iran doesn’t achieve a nuclear weapon and that they are unable to inflict
chaos and harm into this country and to so many other countries around the
region, which they were allowed to do for decades. That ends with President
Trump.“We’re incredibly hopeful that hope comes because we know that we have men
and women of character, of resilience, of transparency. The men and women of
character in this government will ensure that we start to end corruption. That
we end influence from Hezbollah and that we embark on the reforms for Lebanon,
that all of you, the people of Lebanon, deserve.”Ortagus said she informed Aoun
that “we don’t want to look at Lebanon as a donor country. You’re a beautiful,
sophisticated country that deserves to have the most impressive businessmen and
women, the most impressive businesses, companies and country from around the
world investing in here. We want to get to Lebanon, back to that place where it
is, the place and the hope of the Middle East. And I know we’ll get there
together.”
Asked about the US stance on Hezbollah’s potential inclusion in the upcoming
Lebanese government, Ortagus said: “I am certainly not afraid of Hezbollah. I am
not afraid of them because they have been defeated militarily. We have set clear
red lines in the US, and they will not be able to terrorize the Lebanese people,
and that includes by being part of the government. The end of Hezbollah’s reign
of terror in Lebanon and around the world has started, and it is over.”The US,
she said, “is committed to the Feb. 18 deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli
forces from southern Lebanon. This date is part of negotiations I had with my
partner Eric Trager at the National Security Council, and with the Lebanese
government and the Israeli government. Feb. 18 will be the day for redeployment,
whenever the IDF troops finish their redeployment and, of course, the Lebanese
troops will come in behind them. We are very committed to that firm date.”Aoun
told Ortagus that “the permanent stability in southern Lebanon hinges on
Israel’s full withdrawal from the recently occupied territories and the
implementation of Resolution 1701 in all its aspects, including the provisions
of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Nov. 27.”
Aoun said: “Israeli attacks must cease. The killing of innocent civilians and
soldiers, the destruction of homes, and bulldozing and burning of agricultural
lands must stop.” He also pointed out that “the release Lebanese hostages is an
integral part of the agreement.”He added: “The Lebanese Army is prepared to
deploy in the evacuated villages and towns, and Israel must adhere to the Feb.
18 deadline for completing its withdrawal. “Our
cooperation with UNIFIL is ongoing and focused on implementing Resolution 1701,
aiming to establish stability and gradually restore life to the areas liberated
from occupation. “These areas require a comprehensive reconstruction plan,
including essential means of livelihood for returnees, following the extensive
damage caused by Israeli aggression to crops and property.”
Aoun’s media office said that he and Ortagus discussed the formation of the
Lebanese government. The president emphasized that “the consultations to form
the government are nearing completion, with the goal of creating a harmonious
and effective government that will meet the hopes and aspirations of the
Lebanese people, as outlined in my oath speech.”Hezbollah supporters expressed
their discontent with Ortagus’s statements, gathering outside Beirut’s Rafic
Harari International Airport for a sit-in to protest her remarks. Other
Hezbollah activists criticized Ortagus’s ring bearing the star of David, which
was visible when she was shaking Aoun’s hand. The US
envoy subsequently headed to southern Lebanon accompanied by a US delegation.
Along with a number of Lebanese Army officers, she inspected the area where the
Lebanese military has been redeployed.
This is Ortagus’s first visit to Lebanon. It came in parallel with an Israeli
raid on Friday afternoon on Baysarieh in the Zahrani region, north of the Litani
Line, following a violent day of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Bekaa and
the Syrian border, breaching the ceasefire agreement. Lebanon’s National News
Agency said that “the Israeli Army carried out bombings in two stages on
Kfarkila.” An explosion occurred in a house in Tayr Harfa, which witnessed the
Israeli army’s withdrawal, killing two adults and several kids. According to the
security bodies, it appeared that the house had been previously booby-trapped by
the Israeli forces. The Lebanese Army sent reinforcements to the Kald Al-Sabeh
area in the Hermel barrens following tensions in the area, due to confrontation
between the Bekaa tribes and Syrian Arab Republic forces. Syrian personnel
pushed into the villages of Al-Fadiliya, Blouza, Jermash and Hawik, to reinforce
their presence in the Lebanese-inhabited Assi basin villages inside the Syrian
territory.
Border Control Sparks Clashes Between Lebanese Tribes,
Syrian Security Forces
Asharq Al Awsat/February 07/2025
Clashes erupted between Syrian security forces and armed Lebanese tribesmen in
the northeastern border region of Lebanon, resulting in at least two Lebanese
fatalities. Several people were also captured by both
sides. The violence comes a week after a failed tribal initiative aimed at
closing the border to prevent smuggling operations. On
Thursday, a rocket landed on the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of Al-Qasr
in the Bekaa region, following clashes inside Syrian territory. According to
Lebanon’s National News Agency, the incident was the result of ongoing fighting
in the Syrian town of Hawik, which is inhabited by Lebanese nationals. In
response, the Lebanese army reinforced its presence along the border to prevent
further incursions by armed groups from Syria. According to sources, the clashes
involved Syrian security forces—including the Operations Directorate and Syrian
General Security— and Lebanese tribal members who own farmland in the Syrian
countryside of Al-Qusayr, where they reside. The fighting resulted in the Syrian
forces regaining control over most of the villages previously inhabited by
Lebanese nationals, totaling 17 villages and farming settlements.
Syrian media reported that military operations focused on sweeping villages in
the western countryside of Homs, near the Lebanese border. The campaign targeted
villages including Hawik, Blouza, Al-Fadiliyah, Akoum, and Juroud, reaching the
Lebanese border. The objective was to expel armed groups, smugglers, wanted drug
traffickers, and individuals affiliated with Hezbollah.
Failed Tribal Mediation Effort
The clashes were partly triggered by the collapse of a planned meeting between
Syrian security officials and tribal representatives, which was scheduled to
take place a week earlier in the Lebanese town of Al-Samaqiyat. The meeting,
initiated by the Al-Alyawi tribes in Syria under the umbrella of the Syrian
Operations Directorate, aimed to coordinate efforts to control illegal border
crossings, which have been widely exploited for smuggling operations between the
two countries. On Thursday, Syrian authorities deployed three security units to
the region to carry out arrests, which led to direct armed confrontations with
Lebanese fighters entrenched in the border villages. Lebanese sources reported
that artillery shelling from Syria reached the Lebanese town of Al-Qasr, causing
casualties—one fatality and one injury among Lebanese residents.
In response to the escalation, the Hermel tribes issued a statement
calling on the Lebanese government and army to intervene and protect border
towns from further hostilities. The situation remains tense, with the Lebanese
army reinforcing positions along the border to prevent further spillover of
violence into Lebanese territory.
Netanyahu, Gallant Reportedly Disagreed Over Hezbollah
Pager Attack Timing
Tel Aviv: Asharq Al Awsat/February 07, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said that attacking
Hezbollah in October 2023 would have been a “horrible mistake,” claiming that
there were only around 150 booby-trapped beepers in Hezbollah hands on that date
“as opposed to thousands that we accumulated” in the months leading up to the
September 2024 pager attack. Netanyahu told the Israeli Channel 14 network that
he blocked then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s October 11 proposal to take out
Hezbollah’s rockets and leadership because it would be “a horrible mistake” to
open a two-front war so soon after the Hamas attacks of October 7. In return,
Gallant pushed back against Netanyahu’s assertions. “The pager operation was
prepared years before the war and was ready for activation on October 11,”
Gallant wrote in a post on X. “Contrary to what was said, thousands of pagers
were in the hands of the terrorists by the time I suggested attacking
Hezbollah,” he affirmed. He then said that had the plan been activated back in
October 2023, the damage caused by the pagers would have been secondary to the
damage caused by the walkie-talkie devices, which were also rigged with
explosives.
While dozens of Hezbollah operatives were killed and thousands more were wounded
in the September 16-17, 2024 pager and walkie-talkie attacks, far more were put
out of commission by the pager blasts than by the walkie-talkies. The reason for
this, Gallant wrote on X, was because by September 2024, “the vast majority of
walkie-talkies were in warehouses, and their explosion caused no damage.”
Israel strikes Iqlim al-Tuffah, Bissariyeh and east Lebanon
Agence France Presse/February 07, 2025
Israel said late Thursday it had struck two sites in Lebanon that allegedly
contained weapons belonging to the Hezbollah group, despite a ceasefire deal.
Israeli forces "conducted a precise strike in Lebanese territory on two
military sites that contained Hezbollah weapons, which were in violation of the
ceasefire agreement", the army said on social media. Lebanese media said
airstrikes overnight into Friday targeted a valley in the southern region of
Iqlim al-Tuffah, the Tebna area in the southern town of Bissariyeh near Sidon,
and the eastern border region. A fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has been in
place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities including two
months of all-out war. Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry out
strikes on Lebanon, and both sides have repeatedly accused the other of
violating the truce. Under the deal, Lebanon's military was to deploy in the
south alongside U.N. peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day
period. Iran-backed Hezbollah was also to pull back its forces north of the
Litani River -- about 30 kilometers from the border -- and dismantle any
remaining military infrastructure in the south. The withdrawal period for
Israeli forces was extended to February 18 after they missed the original
January 26 deadline. The current hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah began
on October 8, 2023, the day after the unprecedented attack on Israel by
Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of the Lebanese movement, which
triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel Launches Night Raids on South, East Lebanon
Beirut: Asharq Al Awsat/February 07, 2025
Israeli warplanes launched late on Thursday a series of airstrikes targeting
areas in the south and east of Lebanon, state-run National New Agency (NNA)
reported, despite a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli
warplanes launched two waves of airstrikes that targeted the valley located
between the towns of Azza and Bfaroueh in southern Lebanon at around 10:35 pm
local time (2035 GMT), the agency said. Also, Israel
launched multiple strikes in the eastern Mountain Range near the Syrian border
and an area in the Baalbek district of eastern Lebanon, NNA reported.
Israeli jets were also seen over Beirut and its suburbs, according to the
report. The Israel army said in a statement early on
Friday that it conducted a strike in Lebanese territory on two military sites
that contained Hezbollah weapons. Israeli forces
“conducted a precise strike in Lebanese territory on two military sites that
contained Hezbollah weapons, which were in violation of the ceasefire
agreement,” the army said on social media. A fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire
has been in place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities. In
late September 2024, the conflict escalated and led to two months of all-out
war. Under the ceasefire deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south
alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah was also to pull back its forces north of the Litani River and
dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
After Israel affirmed that it will not meet the 60-day deadline for its
full withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the agreement was extended to February
18. In the past weeks, both Hezbollah and Israel mutually accused each other of
violating the ceasefire deal. Israel has confirmed it
will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its capabilities or transfer weapons.
Hezbollah's Raad slams comments by US official as 'blatant
interference'
Agence France Presse/February 07, 2025
The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, slammed comments by
visiting U.S. official Morgan Ortagus on Friday as "blatant interference" in
Lebanon's affairs. Ortagus's statement was "full of malice and irresponsibility"
and attacked a component of "Lebanese political life", Raad said in a statement,
adding that the remarks amounted to "blatant interference in Lebanon's
sovereignty". Ortagus had said Washington considered
Hezbollah's participation in Lebanon's next government a red line. "Hezbollah
was defeated by Israel and we are grateful to our ally Israel for defeating
Hezbollah," Ortagus added. A handful of angry supporters, waving Hezbollah's
yellow flag, burned tires, blocking the road leading to Beirut’s international
airport, with some of them spray-painting the Star of David and the words "USA"
and "Trump" on the road for people to trample and cars to drive over.
Lebanon’s presidency meanwhile said in a statement on X: "Some of what was
issued by the U.S. Deputy Envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, from Baabda
expresses her point of view, and the Presidency is not concerned with it."The
Lebanese presidency had published a photo showing Ortagus shaking hands with
Aoun while wearing a Star of David ring, with the image circulating widely on
social media. Also in response to Ortagus’s statement, the Jaafari Mufti, Sheikh
Ahmad Qabalan — a senior Shiite cleric and staunch Hezbollah ally — said in a
statement that "Hezbollah is a national and representative force of Lebanon."
"Hezbollah has not been defeated and will not be defeated — there is no power on
earth that can eliminate Hezbollah. Sovereignty belongs solely to Lebanon and
its national components, not to America and its exclusionary and destructive
projects," he added. "A government without the national duo (Hezbollah and the
Amal Movement) pushes the country into the unknown."
Hezbollah supporters protest Ortagus' remarks outside
airport as Aoun distances himself
Naharnet/February 07, 2025
A number of Hezbollah supporters started gathering Friday outside Beirut’s
airport for a sit-in protesting the anti-Hezbollah remarks that U.S. envoy
Morgan Ortagus voiced from Baabda after her meeting with President Joseph Aoun.
“The Lebanese Army has reinforced its deployment outside the airport,” the
National News Agency said. NNA added that the
situation was normal at the airport and that the protesters clarified that their
demo is "not against President Joseph Aoun, who is the president of entire
Lebanon, but rather against Ortagus' statements that provoked a large segment of
the Lebanese people." The Lebanese Presidency’s press office had earlier
announced that “some of what Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan
Ortagus said from Baabda reflects her viewpoint and the Presidency is not
concerned with it.”“We are grateful to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah,”
Ortagus said in a press conference in Baabda following her meeting with Aoun.
“It is thanks to the Lebanese President Aoun and the Prime Minister-designate
Nawaf Salam and everyone in this government who is committed to an end of
corruption, who is committed to reforms and who is committed to making sure that
Hezbollah is not a part of the new government in any form,” she added. "The end
of Hezbollah's reign of terror in Lebanon and around the world has started and
it's over," she stressed.
Jumblat says there should be 'no winners and losers' in
Lebanon
Naharnet/February 07, 2025
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat quoted Friday former
Lebanese Prime Minister Saeb Salam, urging Lebanese leaders to form an inclusive
government as progress stalled following a meeting Thursday between the Lebanese
President, PM-designate, and Parliament speaker. Jumblat said, in remarks
published Friday in al-Joumhouria, that it is time to remember Salam's words
"There are no winners and no losers" in order to succeed in managing Lebanon's
complicated situation and national junctures, including the new government
formation. Jumblat warned some Lebanese parties against having "illusions" that
they can benefit from the recent Israeli aggression to defeat another Lebanese
party, likely referring to Hezbollah after Israel decimated much of its
leadership and capabilities, and killed its chief of more than three decades,
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, during a 14-month war on Lebanon. Jumblat also
criticized U.S. president Donald Trump's plan to deport roughly 1.8 million
Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop the war-scarred territory into the "Riviera
of the Middle East" with "long-term" American ownership.
The Druze leader called for a unified and firm Arab position against
Trump's plan, telling al-Joumhouria that "Trump’s statement reflects the essence
of the Zionist project". "Trump identifies more clearly than ever with the
Israeli project that aims not only to displace the Palestinians, but to
annihilate the Palestinian identity," he added.
France confident Lebanon can form government representing
the country’s diversity
Reuters/February 07, 2025
PARIS: France has full confidence that Lebanese authorities can form a
government that can bring together the Lebanese people in all their diversity, a
French foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday. Asked about US red lines over
Hezbollah’s presence in the Lebanese government, he said that France hopes the
Lebanese prime minister will find a formula to resolve the impasse. The United
States has set a “red line” that Shiite armed group Hezbollah should not be a
member of Lebanon’s next government after its military defeat by Israel last
year, USdeputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in Lebanon on Friday.
Bitar questions two defendants in Beirut blast probe
Agence France Presse/February 07, 2025
The Lebanese judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion questioned two
people on Friday in connection with the deadly blast after a years-long pause, a
judicial official said. Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation last month,
charging 10 people including security, customs and military personnel after a
two-year hiatus in the probe into the August 4, 2020 explosion that killed more
than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of Lebanon's capital.
Bitar on Friday questioned Rabih Srour, who was responsible for security at port
warehouse 12, where hazardous materials including the ammonium nitrate that
exploded were stored, the official said, requesting anonymity as the matter is
sensitive. Bitar also questioned Salim Shebli, who owned the company tasked with
carrying out welding work at the warehouse, the official said. Security sources
initially suggested welding work could have started the fire that triggered the
blast, but experts have since dismissed the theory as unlikely and an attempt to
shift the blame off high-level failings. The probe
stalled two years ago after Hezbollah accused Bitar of bias and demanded his
dismissal, and after officials named in the investigation filed a flurry of
lawsuits against him. The resumption of work comes with Hezbollah's influence
weakened after its recent war with Israel and follows the election of a Lebanese
president after a more than two-year vacancy. Bitar last questioned defendants
over the blast in December 2021, the official said. Hearings for three other
people due to be questioned Friday were postponed, including one for medical
reasons, the official said. The owner of Savaro Ltd, which is believed to have
purchased the ammonium nitrate and shipped it to Beirut port, did not appear for
questioning, the official said, adding that the judge postponed a decision on
the individual to a later date. Bitar has scheduled a second session on Tuesday
to question four current and former customs employees and officers, the official
added. Nobody has yet been held responsible for the blast, one of history's
largest non-nuclear explosions.
Bassil says LF 'gave cover' for 'Christian loss' in new
govt.
Naharnet/February 07, 2025
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Friday said the FPM cannot be in
a new government that contains “privileged and non-privileged members.”“We’re
not clinging to power and it would be easier for us to go to the opposition,
seeing as the same standards should apply to everyone or should not exist,”
Bassil added at a press conference. He attributed the delay in the government’s
formation to “the vague standards in the formation process.” “The PM-designate
is imposing ministers on Christians and Sunnis, and what’s laughable is that the
Christian party concerned (Lebanese Forces) has tried to depict its defeat and
humiliation as a victory, whereas we have rejected that the same thing be
practiced against us,” Bassil added. “The LF’s approval gives cover and plunges
Christians into a new tragedy,” the FPM chief went on to say. “What’s uglier is
that (LF chief Samir) Geagea has been promised, or he considered, that in return
for this he would obtain our elimination from the equation,” Bassil charged. He
added: “This has been his habit of claiming victory through the elimination of
others and this is what happened in 1990, when he accepted the Taif Agreement to
provide cover to the attack on the Baabda Palace in order to get rid of Michel
Aoun. This is what he also did regarding the president’s powers, only because
Michel Aoun was practicing them.” “Geagea gives cover to the loss of all
Christians because he wants to eliminate a rival and this is being repeated
today,” Bassil decried.
Cyprus jails Syrian over child death on migrant boat from
Lebanon
Associated Press/February 07, 2025
A Cyprus court sentenced a Syrian national to three years in prison after
finding him guilty of causing the death by negligence of a 3-year-old girl from
dehydration aboard an overloaded migrant boat that was adrift for six days
without adequate supplies of food and water. The Attorney-General's Office said
Friday the Famagusta criminal court ruled that the 48-year-old captain had
failed to ensure the safety of the 60 Syrian migrants aboard the small wooden
craft that carried no navigational aids or appropriate communications
equipment.According to the facts of the case, the captain had told the
passengers at some point in the journey to throw any remaining bottles of water
overboard in a bid to remove any indications that the boat had departed from
Lebanon. The boat set sail on Jan. 18, 2024, but an
engine failure left the vessel adrift for nearly a week in the eastern
Mediterranean, where many of the desperate passengers began to drink sea water
and their own urine to quench their thirst. Cypriot authorities had airlifted
the little girl, who was accompanied by her mother, to a hospital after locating
the boat but medical staff couldn't save her. The number of people arriving in
Cyprus as migrants has fallen precipitously over the past three years after the
government in the European Union member took a string of get-tough measures.
Authorities said the country's ability to host and accommodate many thousands of
new asylum seekers was being overwhelmed. According to the most recent
government data, migrant arrivals to ethnically divided Cyprus — mostly through
the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north where government authorities can't exercise
jurisdiction — dropped from 17,278 in 2022 to 6,102 in 2024. Equally, asylum
applications plummeted from a record 21,565 to 6,769 over the same time period
while repatriations increased to nearly 11,000 from 7,700. In light of the fall
of Bashar Assad in Syria late last year, Cyprus' Deputy Minister for Migration
Nicholas Ioannides said some 40 Syrian nationals on average are requesting to
either withdraw their asylum application or to revoke their international
protection status. Ioannides said some 755 Syrians have already returned to
their homeland. But Cyprus has been taken to task for violating migrants' human
rights at sea. Last October, Europe's top human rights court ruled that Cyprus
breached the right of two Syrian nationals to seek asylum after keeping them,
and more than two dozen other people, aboard a boat at sea for two days before
sending them back to Lebanon.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on February 07-08/2025
Hamas says Israeli block on diggers affecting
extraction of hostages’ bodies
AFP/February 07, 2025
GAZA CITY: Hamas on Friday said Israel’s blocking of heavy machinery entering
Gaza to clear rubble caused by war was affecting efforts to extract the bodies
of hostages. “Preventing the entry of heavy equipment and machinery needed to
remove 55 million tonnes of rubble ... will undoubtedly affect the resistance’s
ability to extract from under the rubble the dead prisoners (hostages),” said
Salama Marouf, spokesman for Hamas’s media office in Gaza. Hamas has repeatedly
accused Israel of slowing down aid deliveries expected under the terms of the
ongoing ceasefire in Gaza, including key items such as fuel, tents, and heavy
machinery for clearing rubble.
FASTFACT
Hamas has repeatedly accused Israel of slowing down aid deliveries expected
under the terms of the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza. The Israeli government and
COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the
Palestinian territories, have rejected the accusation. Of the 251 hostages Hamas
seized in its unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 76 remain in Gaza,
including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead. Hamas’ armed wing
released the names of three captives it said would be freed on Saturday in a
fifth hostage-prisoner swap as part of an ongoing agreement with Israel. “Within
the framework of the Al-Aqsa Flood deal for the prisoner exchange, the (Ezzedine)
Al-Qassam Brigades have decided to release” the three hostages, Abu Obeida,
spokesman for the armed wing, said on Telegram.
US State Department lays out plans for $7 billion-plus arms
sale to Israel as Netanyahu visits DC
AP/February 08, 2025
WASHINGTON: The State Department has formally told Congress that it plans to
sell more than $7 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and
missiles, just two days after President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. The massive arms sale comes as a
fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas holds, even as Trump
continues to tout his widely criticized proposal to move all Palestinians from
Gaza and redevelop it as an international travel destination. The sale is
another step in Trump’s effort to bolster Israel’s weapons stocks. In late
January, soon after he took office, he lifted the hold on sending 2,000-pound
bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of the bombs
over concerns about civilian casualties, particularly during an assault on the
southern Gaza city of Rafah. Trump told reporters that he released them to
Israel, “because they bought them.” According to the State Department, two
separate sales were sent to Congress on Friday. One is for $6.75 billion in an
array of munitions, guidance kits and other related equipment. It includes 166
small diameter bombs, 2,800 500-pound bombs, and thousands of guidance kits,
fuzes and other bomb components and support equipment. Those deliveries would
begin this year. The other arms package is for 3,000 Hellfire missiles and
related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million. Deliveries of the
missiles are expected to begin in 2028.
Egypt Renews Rejection of Any Proposal to Liquidate
Palestinian Cause
Cairo: Asharq Al Awsat/February 07, 2025
Egypt on Thursday renewed its categorical rejection of any proposal or plan to
liquidate the Palestinian cause by displacing Palestinians from their historic
homeland. A statement from the Foreign Ministry warned against recent statements
by Israeli government members about implementing a plan to displace Palestinians
from their land. The Ministry demanded accountability for these statements as
being “a flagrant violation of international law, international humanitarian
law, and basic Palestinian rights.” It also stressed the disastrous
repercussions of such irresponsible behavior and its risks to the entire region
and the foundations of peace. “Egypt affirms that it completely rejects any
proposal that aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause by uprooting the
Palestinian people or displacing them from their historical land and seizing it,
whether temporarily or permanently,” read the Foreign Ministry statement. It
described such ideas as unjust and a violation of Palestinian rights, asserting
that Cairo would “not be a party to such a plan.”Egypt called for addressing the
root causes of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, citing the decades of
occupation, displacement, persecution, and discrimination faced by Palestinians.
The statement called for an immediate end to these practices and the restoration
of inalienable Palestinian rights per international law. Additionally, Egypt
urged full and permanent implementation of the Gaza ceasefire in all three
phases, expressing its willingness to engage with international partners to
implement plans for early recovery, rubble removal, and reconstruction within a
set timeframe. Cairo has consistently rejected any proposal for mass
displacement of Palestinians inside and outside their territory, arguing that it
would liquidate the Palestinian cause. Shortly after US President Donald Trump
proposed relocating Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah
el-Sisi said his country “cannot participate in the injustice of displacing the
Palestinian people.”Echoing Sisi’s stance, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa
Madbouly said Cairo rejects any proposals that entail the displacement of the
Palestinian people from their lands in Gaza. During a meeting with his
Palestinian counterpart, Mohammad Mustafa, in Cairo on Thursday, Madbouly
reiterated Egypt's unwavering support for the legitimate rights of the
Palestinian people. These rights particularly include the right to
self-determination and the establishment of an independent state along the
borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, he emphasized. For
his part, the Palestinian prime minister affirmed his support to Egypt’s
rejection of the displacement plan and underscored the importance of working
towards the reconstruction of Gaza. Mustafa discussed the efforts of the
Palestinian Authority to assess the scale of destruction caused by the war in
Gaza and the needs for reconstruction, coordinating with various international
organizations. Madbouly had expressed Egypt's strong commitment to collaborating
with various regional and international partners on Gaza’s reconstruction and
promotion of Palestinian interests.
Rubio to Visit Middle East after Trump Proposal for US to
Take over Gaza
Asharq Al Awsat/February 07, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel and Arab states in
mid-February, a State Department official said, making his first to the Middle
East after a widely condemned proposal by President Donald Trump to displace
Palestinians in Gaza.
Rubio will travel to the Munich Security Conference and to Israel, the United
Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from February 13-18, the senior State
Department official said late on Thursday. Rights groups have condemned Trump's
suggestion that Palestinians in Gaza should be permanently displaced as part of
a US takeover of the enclave. Rubio said on Wednesday that Palestinians in the
enclave will have to relocate in the "interim" while it is rebuilt following the
Israel-Gaza war. The US official said Rubio would discuss Gaza and the aftermath
of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel during the trip, and would
pursue Trump's approach of trying to disrupt the status quo in the region. "The
status quo can't continue. It's like wash, rinse and repeat. It becomes familiar
and you begin to think this is just what life is and what we have to expect.
President Trump and Marco Rubio believe that that's not the case, that things
can change," the official said. 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 Arab states and by Palestinians. Trump's
suggestion echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven
from their homes.
Syria Says Leader Invited to Visit Germany
Asharq Al Awsat/February 07/2025
Syria's new interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been invited to visit Germany,
his office said on Friday following a phone call with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The invitation came two days after Sharaa's office announced he had been invited
to visit France. Scholz assured Sharaa of Germany's willingness to support
Syria's reconstruction, a German government spokesperson said earlier on Friday.
In an hour-long phone call, Scholz congratulated the Syrian people on their
success in ending the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled
in December.
Scholz and Sharaa agreed on Syria's need for an inclusive political process that
allows participation of all Syrians and provides rights and protection, the
German spokesperson said in a statement. "The Federal Chancellor underlined the
ongoing importance of the fight against terrorism for security in Syria, the
region and worldwide," the spokesperson added.
US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
AFP/February 07, 2025
On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs
linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a letter
asking them to cease all activities. Beirut: Human Rights Watch warned Friday
that US aid suspensions could worsen “life-threatening conditions” in camps
holding relatives of suspected Daesh terrorists in northeast Syria, urging
Washington to maintain support. Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the region
still hold around 56,000 people with alleged or perceived links to the Daesh
group, years after the jihadists’ territorial defeat.
They include jihadist suspects locked up in prisons, as well as the wives and
children of IS fighters held in the Al-Hol and Roj internment camps. “The US
government’s suspension of foreign aid to non-governmental organizations
operating in these camps is exacerbating life-threatening conditions, risking
further destabilization of a precarious security situation,” HRW said in a
statement. The rights group said the aid freeze could “limit provision of
essential services for camp residents,” citing international humanitarian
workers. On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to
power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
received a first letter asking them to cease all activities funded by the
agency. A week later, another letter, seen by AFP, authorized them to resume
certain missions intended for “life-saving humanitarian assistance.” The orders
have left aid groups in the northeast “unsure how to proceed with deliveries of
essential goods, like kerosene and water, further exacerbating pre-existing
shortages,” the statement said. “Secretary of State Marco Rubio should continue
US assistance to organizations providing essential lifesaving assistance in
northeast Syria,” the group said. Following the January 24 order, HRW said
Blumont, an organization responsible for camp management in Al Hol and Roj,
suspended activities and withdrew all staff, including guards. A few days later,
the group received a two-week exemption allowing it to work.Al-Hol is northeast
Syria’s largest internment camp, with more than 40,000 detainees from 47
countries. The vast majority of Al-Hol and Roj residents are women and children
living in dire conditions. HRW also said that “any political settlement in the
region should include ending the arbitrary detention of those with alleged Daesh
ties and their families.”“Thousands of lives, many of them children, are hanging
in the balance, and the indefensible status quo of the last six years should not
be allowed to continue,” said Hiba Zayadin of Human Rights Watch. The call
comes amid talks between Syria’s new authorities and the Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF) over the group’s future and as clashes rage in the north between
the Kurdish-led group and Turkish-backed factions.
UN Syria Investigators Report 'Systematic' Pillage of
Property During War
Asharq Al Awsat/February 07, 2025
A United Nations commission said Thursday it had documented the systematic
destruction and pillaging of displaced people's property during Syria's war,
warning of demographic change nearly two months after Bashar al-Assad's ouster.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria has
documented "pillage of such large scale that entire homes... have been
dismantled and destroyed, systematically across entire districts", a summary of
the report said. The commission used satellite images, authenticated videos and
photographs, and testimonies to compile the report, which was finalised on
December 6, two days before Assad's ouster, AFP reported. Areas most affected
typically "changed hands during the course of the conflict", with pillage there
"frequently accompanied by other serious human rights violations", the report
summary said, blaming both government forces and non-state armed groups. "The
demographic composition of many villages, towns, cities and entire areas has
been altered, possibly permanently," it added. Syria's conflict broke out in
2011 with the authorities' brutal repression of anti-government protests,
spiralling into a complex conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people and
displaced millions internally and abroad. Rights groups have also reported
looting, pillaging and property seizures during the conflict, both in areas held
by the former government and those outside its control. In areas of large-scale
displacement, forces stole household items but also "dismantled roofs, doors,
windows, iron rods, electrical wires and plumbing fixtures, rendering entire
neighbourhoods uninhabitable", the statement said. "Widescale, systematic
looting was mostly conducted in areas controlled by former government forces,
and by such forces," the commission said, with investigations showing that
"systematic pillage was coordinated by members of the former Syrian army... and
affiliated security forces and militias". Forces made deals with contractors and
merchants, with looted items sometimes sold in markets created specifically for
that purpose, it added. In areas controlled by opposition armed groups, the
investigators reported more "opportunistic" looting, "although sometimes with a
sectarian dimension". "Movable items" were mostly looted there, they said, "with
homes often seized or occupied to accommodate both displaced fighters and
civilians". Following Assad's ouster on December 8 after a lightning
Islamist-led rebel offensive, the statement also warned against the looting of
homes in newly captured areas, urging all parties to "prevent and punish
pillage" and to protect property. "The impunity for the war crime of pillage has
been near total in Syria," it said, cautioning that a failure to prevent
violations risked "fuelling further grievances" and triggering "new cycles of
violence and displacement".
ICC ‘condemns’ US sanctions, vows to ‘continue providing
justice’
AFP/February 07, 2025
Brussels: The International Criminal Court on Friday hit back after US President
Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the institution, vowing it would continue to
provide "justice and hope" around the world. "The ICC condemns the issuance by
the US of an Executive Order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and
harm its independent and impartial judicial work," the court said in a
statement. "The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue
providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across
the world," added the court, based in The Hague. Attacking the ICC for what he
said were "illegitimate and baseless" investigations targeting America and its
ally Israel, Trump hit the court with sanctions on Thursday. He ordered asset
freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their family
members, along with anyone deemed to have helped the court's investigations.
The names of the individuals were not immediately released, but previous US
sanctions under Trump had targeted the court's prosecutor. "We call on our 125
States Parties, civil society and all nations of the world to stand united for
justice and fundamental human rights," the ICC statement concluded. The EU on
Friday warned sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) threaten its
independence and the wider judicial system, after US President Donald Trump
punished the court over its probes into America and Israel. Trump signed an
executive order on Thursday saying the court in The Hague had “abused its power”
by issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with
whom he held talks earlier this week. “Sanctioning the ICC threatens the Court’s
independence and undermines the international criminal justice system as a
whole,” Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU’s 27
member states, wrote on X. The European Commission separately expressed “regret”
regarding Trump’s sanctions, stressing the ICC’s “key importance in upholding
international criminal justice and the fight against impunity.”The executive
order risks “affecting ongoing investigations and proceedings, including as
regards Ukraine, impacting years of efforts to ensure accountability around the
world,” said a commission spokesman. “The EU will be monitoring the implications
of the executive order and will assess possible further steps,” added the
spokesman for the bloc’s executive.
Trump’s order said the tribunal had engaged in “illegitimate and baseless
actions” targeting the US and its ally Israel, referring to probes into alleged
war crimes by US service members in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza. It
imposed asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their
family members, along with anyone deemed to have helped the court’s
investigations. The names of the individuals were not immediately released, but
previous US sanctions under Trump had targeted the court’s prosecutor. Neither
the United States nor Israel are members of the court. EU Council president
Costa met with the president of the ICC, judge Tomoko Akane, on Thursday to
assure her of the EU’s support. “The ICC plays an essential role in delivering
justice to the victims of some of the world’s most horrific crimes,” he wrote on
social media. “Independence and impartiality are crucial characteristics of the
Court’s work.” During their meeting, Costa and Akane discussed possible ways the
bloc could strengthen its support to the institution, an EU official said.
Israel praises Trump for imposing sanctions on ‘immoral’ ICC. Israel on Friday
praised US President Donald Trump for imposing sanctions on the International
Criminal Court, calling the court’s actions against Israel “immoral” and
illegitimate. “I strongly commend @POTUS President Trump’s executive order
imposing sanctions on the so-called ‘international criminal court’,” Foreign
Minister Gideon Saar said on X, adding the ICC’s actions were “immoral and have
no legal basis.”
Chemical weapons agency chief to meet Syrian officials in
Damascus on Saturday, sources say
Reuters/February 08, 2025
DAMASCUS: The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),
a global non-proliferation agency, will meet Syrian officials in Damascus on
Saturday, three sources familiar with the visit told Reuters. Director General
Fernando Arias was expected to meet interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and
Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani, two of the sources said, in a sign of
Syrian willingness to cooperate with the agency after years of strained
relations under now-toppled leader Bashar Assad. The sudden fall of the Assad
government in December brought hope that the country could be rid of chemical
weapons. Following a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people in 2013,
Syria joined the OPCW under a US-Russian deal and 1,300 metric tons of chemical
weapons and precursors were destroyed by the international community. As part of
membership, Damascus was supposed to be subjected to inspections. But for more
than a decade the OPCW was prevented from uncovering the true scale of the
chemical weapons program. Syria’s declared stockpile has never accurately
reflected the situation on the ground, inspectors concluded. When asked about
contacts with the OPCW over chemical weapons still in Syria, the country’s new
defense minister Murhaf Abu Qasra told Reuters in January that he “does not
believe” that any remnants of Syria’s chemical weapons program remained intact.
“Even if there was anything left, it’s been bombed by the Israeli military,” Abu
Qasra said, referring to a wave of Israeli strikes across Syria in the wake of
Assad’s fall. Details of the mission to Syria are still being worked out but its
key aims will be finding and securing chemical stocks to prevent proliferation
risk, identifying those responsible for their use and overseeing the destruction
of remaining munitions. The OPCW has asked the authorities in Syria to secure
all relevant locations and safeguard any relevant documentation. Three
investigations — a joint UN-OPCW mechanism, the OPCW’s Investigation and
Identification team, and a UN war crimes investigation — concluded that Syrian
government forces used the nerve agent sarin and chlorine barrel bombs in
attacks during the civil war that killed or injured thousands. A French court
issued an arrest warrant for Assad which was upheld on appeal over the use of
banned chemical weapons against civilians. Syria and its military backer Russia
always denied using chemical weapons. The OPCW, a treaty-based agency in The
Hague with 193 member countries, is tasked with implementing the 1997 Chemical
Weapons Convention. Egypt, North Korea, and South Sudan have neither signed nor
acceded to the convention and Israel has signed but not ratified it.
French ex-president Sarkozy gets electronic tag
AFP/February 08, 2025
PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy was fitted with an electronic tag Friday after being
convicted of graft, prosecutors said, in a first for a former French president.
France’s highest appeals court in December ordered Sarkozy to wear the tag for a
year, after finding him guilty of illegal attempts to secure favors from a
judge.
Sarkozy, who turned 70 last week, was fitted with the ankle monitor at his home,
the Paris prosecutor’s office said. A judge summoned the ex-president on the day
of his birthday and told him he would wear the monitor from February 7, a source
close to the case said. The ankle bracelet was imposed as an alternative to
spending one year in jail. The right-wing politician, who was president from
2007 to 2012, would only be allowed out of his home between 8.00 am and 8.00 pm,
the prosecutor’s office said. He would however be allowed an extra hour and a
half in the evenings three days a week when he attends court as an accused in
another case.In hearings that started last month and run through to April 10,
Sarkozy has been charged with accepting illegal campaign financing from Libya
before his 2007 election. Sarkozy’s lawyer Jacqueline Laffont said he continued
to contest the conviction for influence peddling and would lodge an application
with the European Court of Human Rights this month, after exhausting all legal
avenues in France. Theoretically, the former head-of-state could also apply in
France for a conditional release that can be given to people aged 70 and above.
Sarkozy has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential
election. But he remains an influential figure and is known to regularly meet
President Emmanuel Macron. Before the latest trial, Sarkozy, his wife singer and
former supermodel Carla Bruni and daughter went on holiday to the Seychelles. He
is no longer able to travel. In the case which led to the ankle bracelet, a
court found that Sarkozy and a former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, had formed a
“corruption pact” with judge Gilbert Azibert to obtain and share information
about an investigating judge. The deal was done in return for the promise of a
plum retirement job for the judge. The trial came after investigators looking
into a separate case of alleged illegal campaign financing wiretapped Sarkozy’s
two official phone lines, and discovered that he had a third, unofficial one.It
had been taken out in 2014 under the name “Paul Bismuth,” and only used for him
to communicate with Herzog. The contents of these phone calls led to the 2021
corruption verdict. Before Sarkozy, the only French leader to be convicted in a
criminal trial was his predecessor Jacques Chirac, who received a two-year
suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption over a fake jobs scandal. But Sarkozy
is France’s first post-war president to be sentenced to serve time.
Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many
countries next week
Reuters/February 07, 2025
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday he plans to announce
reciprocal tariffs on many countries by Monday or Tuesday of next week, a major
escalation of his offensive to tear up and reshape global trade relationships in
the US’ favor.Trump did not identify which countries would be hit but suggested
it would be a broad effort that could also help solve US budget problems. “I’ll
be announcing that, next week, reciprocal trade, so that we’re treated evenly
with other countries,” Trump said. “We don’t want any more, any less.” The move
would fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to impose tariffs on American imports
equal to rates that trading partners impose on American exports. Trump made the
announcement during a meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru
Ishiba. He said auto tariffs remained on the table amid reports that the White
House was weighing potential exemptions.
The new US president has long complained about the European Union’s 10 percent
tariffs on auto imports being much higher than the US car rate of 2.5 percent.
He frequently states that Europe “won’t take our cars” but ships millions west
across the Atlantic every year. The US, however, enjoys a 25 percent tariff on
pickup trucks, a vital source of profits for Detroit automakers General Motors ,
Ford and Stellantis’ US operations.In recent confirmation hearings, Trump’s
Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick voiced concerns about India’s high
tariff rates, while US Trade Representative nominee Jamieson Greer discussed US
complaints about Vietnam’s and Brazil’s tariffs and trade barriers. The US
trade-weighted average tariff rate is about 2.2 percent, according to World
Trade Organization data, compared to 12 percent for India, 6.7 percent for
Brazil, 5.1 percent for Vietnam and 2.7 percent for European Union countries.
Trump told Republican lawmakers of his plans during budget discussions at the
White House on Thursday, three sources familiar with the plan told Reuters.
Trump and top aides have said they plan to use higher tariffs on foreign imports
to help pay for extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which independent budget
analysts say could add trillions of dollars to the US debt. Increased tariffs
could offset some of that cost, though they have only accounted for about 2
percent of annual revenues in recent years. Trump announced tariffs of 25
percent on Canada and Mexico on Saturday but delayed them after a negative
reaction from investors. The two largest US trading partners agreed to increase
enforcement efforts at the border, a top Trump priority. Wall Street extended
losses on Friday following the Reuters report of Trump’s discussion with
lawmakers. US consumer sentiment dropped to a seven-month low in February, and
attitudes soured among Republicans as households took stock of what they believe
will be a surge in inflation from Trump’s tariffs. Trump and his Republicans aim
to unveil their ambitious tax and spending package this weekend. It faces a
perilous path through Congress, where Republicans hold narrow majorities in the
House of Representatives and the Senate. Republicans are expected to rely on
arcane budget rules to bypass Democratic opposition, which will require them to
work in lockstep. Trump is due to have dinner with Senate Republicans on Friday
and attend the Super Bowl with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday. In his
confirmation hearing on Thursday, Greer said other countries will need to reduce
barriers to US exports if they want to maintain access to the US market, citing
Vietnam in particular. “I need, if I’m confirmed, to go to these countries and
explain to them that if they want to enjoy continued market access to the United
States, we need to have better reciprocity,” Greer said.
Trump revokes Biden’s access to government secrets in
payback move
AP/February 08, 2025
PALM BEACH, Florida: President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s revoking
former President Joe Biden’s access to government secrets and ending the daily
intelligence briefings he’s receiving in payback for Biden doing the same to him
in 2021. Trump announced his decision in a post on his social media platform
shortly after he arrived at his Mar-a-Lago home and private club in Palm Beach
for the weekend. “There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to
classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s
Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings,” Trump
wrote. “He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence
Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from
accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former
Presidents.”The move is the latest in a vengeance tour of Washington that Trump
promised during his campaign. He has previously revoked security clearances from
more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter
saying that the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a “Russian
information operation.” He’s also revoked security details assigned to protect
former government officials who have criticized him, including his own former
secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who faces threats from Iran, and former
infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Biden didn’t immediately comment on the move.
Donald Trump's post on his Truth Social media platform, announcing his move to
revoke former President Joe Biden's access to government secrets.
Biden ended Trump’s intelligence briefings after Trump helped spur efforts to
overturn the 2020 presidential election and incited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on
the Capitol. At the time, Biden said Trump’s “erratic” behavior should prevent
him from getting the intel briefings. Asked in an interview with CBS News what
he feared if Trump continued to receive the briefings, Biden said he did not
want to “speculate out loud” but made clear he did not want Trump to continue
having access to such information. “I just think that there is no need for him
to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said. “What value is giving him an
intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he
might slip and say something?” in 2022, federal agents searched Trump’s Florida
home and seized boxes of classified records. He was indicted on dozens of felony
counts accusing him of illegally hoarding classified records and obstructing FBI
efforts to get them back. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. A judge
dismissed the charges, ruling the special counsel who brought them was illegally
appointed, and the Justice Department gave up appeals after Trump was elected in
November. In his post, Trump cited the special counsel report last year into
Biden’s handling of classified documents, saying, “The Hur Report revealed that
Biden suffers from ‘poor memory’ and, even in his ‘prime,’ could not be trusted
with sensitive information.”He ended his post by saying, “I will always protect
our National Security — JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Special counsel Robert Hur investigated Biden’s handling of classified
information and found that criminal charges were not warranted but delivered a
bitingly critical assessment of his handling of sensitive government records.
The report described Biden’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and
having “significant limitations.” It said Biden could not recall defining
milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as
vice president. Trump has the right to end the briefings for Biden because it is
a sitting president’s decision on whether a past president should continue to
have access to classified information. Steven Cheung, the president’s
communications director, shared Trump’s post on the X social media platform and
said, “Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more!”
Canada task force says Freeland, running to replace
Trudeau, targeted by China-linked campaign
Reuters/February 08, 2025
OTTAWA: A Canadian task force said on Friday that malicious news articles
originating on Chinese social media tried to disparage former Finance Minister
Chrystia Freeland, who is running to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as
the leader of the Liberal Party. The Security and Intelligence Threats to
Elections Task Force (SITE) said it detected “coordinated and malicious
activity” targeting Freeland that was traced to an anonymous but popular news
account on Chinese social media platform WeChat. The anonymous WeChat blog has
been previously linked by experts at the California-based China Digital Times to
China, the federal elections monitoring task force said in a statement. “I will
not be intimidated by Chinese foreign interference,” Freeland said on social
media platform X. “Having spent years confronting authoritarian regimes, I know
firsthand the importance of defending our freedoms.”The Chinese embassy in
Ottawa did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Friday
evening. Beijing has repeatedly denied all allegations of attempted interference
in Canadian affairs. The operation against Freeland flagged by SITE adds to
Ottawa’s accusations of election meddling against China. Last month, an official
probe concluded China tried to interfere in previous Canadian elections, though
the outcome of the votes was unaffected. China views Canada as a high-priority
target and is the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting all
levels of government, the probe said.
SITE said over 30 WeChat news accounts were taking part in the campaign against
Freeland, and received very high levels of engagement and views. WeChat news
articles disparaging Freeland garnered over 140,000 interactions between January
29 and February 3, and an estimated 2 million to 3 million WeChat users saw the
campaign globally, according to SITE. Freeland entered the contest to replace
Trudeau as leader of the ruling Liberal Party after he announced his resignation
last month. Freeland, who was one of Trudeau’s closest political allies for a
decade, quit in December and wrote a letter denouncing his governing style. The
party plans to announce Trudeau’s successor on March 9.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on February 07-08/2025
Muslims Seek to ‘Avenge’ the Battle of Tours
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/February 08, 2025
Among all the other reasons Muslims turn to terrorism, we can now add “to avenge
lost battles of history.” Seriously. For example, last month,
Three young men who were said to have been radicalised have been charged with
alleged criminal terrorist conspiracy by France’s intelligence services…
Allegedly inspired by jihadist ideology, the individuals are suspected of
planning at least one violent act in the central-eastern city of Poitier
involving “homemade bombs.”… [O]ne of the suspects was the son of an imam from
the Saint-Brieuc city mosque and a former Muslim chaplain at the prison in the
same Breton town… One aged 19 and the others 20, the three suspects were
students in chemistry, psychology and computer science… According to the
investigation by the authorities, the three men allegedly wanted to avenge the
Arab-Berber troops defeated in 732 by Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers.
While much can be said about this development, consider what it reveals about
the two civilizations in question — that of Muslims, and that which was once
headed by men such as Charles “the Hammer” Martel.
The battle of Tours in 732 AD was indeed a watershed moment (I’ve dedicated an
entire chapter to it in Sword and Scimitar). One leading historian, Godefroid
Kurth (d. 1916), presented it as “one of the great events in the history of the
world, as upon its issue depended whether Christian Civilization should continue
or Islam prevail throughout Europe.”
As such, isn’t it interesting that, on the one hand, Muslims still remember and
seek to avenge themselves against this battle, and, on the other, most Western
people know absolutely nothing about it? Bernard Lewis once explained this
strange dichotomy: “most Muslims, unlike most Americans, have an intense
historical awareness and see current events in a much deeper and broader
perspective than we normally do.”
Surely this is putting it mildly. If anything, Muslims are increasingly walking
in perfect continuity with their history — one which featured invasions,
terrorization, and conquests of non-Muslim lands; and Westerners are
increasingly walking in perfect discontinuity with their history — one which
featured Europeans defending against invading Muslims.
Meanwhile, if Muslims are aware of and regularly celebrate their jihadist past,
the West does everything to forget and whitewash over a millennium of Muslim
atrocities, while condemning and pulling out of context the deeds of its own
ancestors, the Crusaders being a prime example.
This inability to appreciate true history, including its unwavering continuity,
has naturally spilled into how the West completely misunderstands current
events. Put differently, because the West has insisted on a lie — that Islam was
historically peaceful and tolerant — it naturally cannot understand the ideology
that fuels modern-day jihadist aggression, and therefore always attributes it to
something else: “grievances,” mental disturbances, territorial disputes, and so
forth.
The Fox and the Hedgehog
As for those many other acts of Muslim violence that are too difficult to chalk
up to “grievances” — such as the persecution (sometimes genocide) of Christians
under Islam; systematic attacks on European churches; and sexual assaults on or
grooming of infidel women — these are simply not discussed because they are, for
historically amnesiac Westerners, “inexplicable,” not to mention the way they
throw a wrench into the “narrative” we are all supposed to accept without
question.
This, incidentally, is why every single Muslim terror attack is always presented
as something “new,” a disparate phenomenon to be understood on its own, with an
endless supply of media talking heads “explaining” (often wrongly) what should
otherwise be commonsensical.
Much of this dichotomy is captured by a fragment from the ancient Greek poet
Archilochus: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”
Discussing the significance of this obscure aphorism in his The Hedgehog and the
Fox (1953), Isiah Berlin wrote,
There exists a great chasm between those, on one side, [Hedgehogs/Muslims] who
relate everything to a single central vision, one system, less or more coherent
or articulate, in terms of which they understand, think and feel – a single,
universal, organising principle in terms of which alone all that they are and
say has significance – and, on the other side, those [Foxes/Westerners] who
pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory, connected, if at all,
only in some de facto way, for some psychological or physiological cause,
related to no moral or aesthetic principle.
An online article offers a more simplistic definition:
If you adopt fox-like thinking you rely on various pieces of information to form
your view on an issue and think about it from different angles. You’re also
willing to admit when you’re uncertain. But if you have more of a hedgehog
mindset, you develop your world views and predictions with a central,
overarching principle in mind and talk about your views with more confidence.
Thus, the Muslim’s “hedgehog” strength lies in the fact that he sees the world
and his place in it according to one big idea — namely, Islam, and how Islam has
always behaved. As for the Western “fox,” nothing is connected; there is no
overarching understanding of anything; everything is “nuanced” and often
presented in a vacuum, never part of an obvious continuum. Hence why everything
is “new” and presented as the news (with the pun on Fox News being unavoidable).
Incidentally, one need look no further than to France, where this latest terror
plot to “avenge Tours” was thwarted, to see all of the aforementioned dynamics
at work in stark display. Historically, France produced more crusaders and
spearheaded more crusades against Islam than any other European nation. Yet
today it is among the most accommodating nations to Muslims, and has arguably
the largest Muslim population of Europe.
Thus, Muslims continue to walk in the footsteps of their ancestors, while
Western people have been conditioned to be the mirror opposite of theirs—to
their own detriment.
World must rally round to help Syria rebuild
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/February 07, 2025
After nearly 14 years of relentless conflict, Syria is witnessing a significant
and hopeful development: a substantial number of refugees and internally
displaced persons are making the courageous decision to return to their homes.
This marks a pivotal moment in Syria’s journey toward recovery and underscores
the critical role of the international community in facilitating a safe and
sustainable reintegration process. In recent months, about 200,000 refugees have
made the decision to return to Syria after the return of about 300,000 from
Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Nearly 600,000 internally
displaced Syrians have also resettled in their former communities since the
collapse of the Bashar Assad regime. While this suggests renewed hope that they
can rebuild their lives, the obstacles are immense and the reality is far more
challenging.
The Syrian Arab Republic’s infrastructure is in ruins, basic necessities such as
healthcare and housing are scarce, and poverty is widespread. UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has called for serious efforts to
restore services, provide economic stability, and rebuild homes. He says that
without these essential improvements, the cycle of displacement will persist,
making long-term recovery even more difficult for both individuals and the
nation as a whole. Establishing a safe, liveable environment is crucial not only
for ethical reasons but also for practical ones. Without access to vital
services and economic opportunities, returning refugees may be forced to leave
once more, creating a cycle of displacement that hampers both individual
recovery and national rebuilding efforts.
One of the most significant obstacles to Syria’s reconstruction is the array of
Western sanctions that remain despite the political changes in the country. They
have had a debilitating effect on Syria’s economy, severing it from the global
financial system and complicating efforts to rebuild. Sanctions have made it
difficult for Syrians to conduct financial transactions, receive remittances — a
major source of income for many households — and import essential goods,
including medical supplies and food. The result is shortages and price increases
that exacerbate already existing hardships.
The international community, including the Gulf states and particularly Saudi
Arabia, has urged the EU to lift these sanctions to facilitate reconstruction
and stability. This would also encourage more refugees to return by improving
economic conditions and access to essential services.
Providing funding for rebuilding infrastructure, including homes, schools,
hospitals, and utilities, is essential. Restoring essential services and
creating jobs will foster economic stability. Without proper investment in
rebuilding Syria’s devastated cities, returning refugees will struggle to
reintegrate, and the risks of renewed displacement will persist. A concerted
effort by international organizations, donors, and regional partners will also
be necessary to finance large-scale reconstruction projects that will form the
backbone of Syria’s recovery.
Offering expertise in areas such as governance, healthcare, and education can
strengthen Syria's institutions and improve service delivery to its citizens.
International actors can play a key role in supporting local governance
structures, ensuring that public services are functional, and equipping
communities with the necessary tools to rebuild their lives. Training programs
for civil servants, healthcare professionals, and educators can create a
long-term foundation for stability and development in Syria.
Ensuring that the return of refugees and the internally displaced is conducted
safely and voluntarily, with respect for their rights and dignity, is crucial.
This includes providing accurate information about conditions in return areas
and supporting reintegration efforts. A robust monitoring mechanism, possibly
under the oversight of international organizations, could help guarantee that
returns occur under fair conditions and with adequate support for reintegration.
In addition, encouraging investment and trade can revitalize Syria's economy,
creating opportunities and reducing dependence on aid. By reopening trade
channels and fostering business-friendly policies, Syria can move toward
economic self-sufficiency. International partnerships with Syrian businesses, as
well as regional economic integration efforts, could serve as catalysts for
sustainable economic development. Additionally, fostering local entrepreneurship
and small businesses can provide much-needed employment opportunities.
Initiatives that promote reconciliation and social cohesion can heal the
divisions caused by years of conflict, fostering a sense of unity and shared
purpose among Syrians. Societal fractures remain deep. Programs aimed at
fostering dialogue, restoring trust between communities, and addressing
grievances can prevent future conflicts and contribute to a lasting peace.
Supporting grassroots peace-building efforts and community-led initiatives will
be crucial to ensuring a cohesive and inclusive rebuilding process. Assisting in
Syria's recovery is beneficial not only for Syrians but also for the
international community. Stability in Syria can contribute to regional security,
reduce the burden on neighboring countries hosting refugees, and mitigate the
factors that drive irregular migration. Moreover, a prosperous and stable Syria
can become a valuable partner in the region, contributing to economic growth and
cooperation. The international community stands to gain from a Syria that is
once again a thriving member of the global family.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian American political
scientist. X: @Dr_Rafizadeh
No room for old prejudices when judging the new Syria
Nadim Shehadi/Arab News/February 07, 2025
Syria is still full of surprises and raises many questions. Perhaps regime
change is not that bad after all. If so, then why did it not happen before? Can
we expect a Syria’s new rulers to evolve and create a relatively free and
somewhat liberal society? Can fundamentalists and puritans produce good
governance? These are questions that are significant beyond their implications
of how we now look at the Syrian Arab Republic, as they have dominated relations
between East and West for centuries.
At the root of all this is not only the relationship with Islam, it is also the
larger question of religion and politics in Europe dating back to the
16th-century wars of religion and the Reformation. These European experiences
were projected on to the Middle East — secular nationalism would always be
looked at as progress, no matter how tyrannical. Bashar Assad was forgiven
because there was a clash between the values of secularism and freedom. These
European dilemmas influenced policies. When they got it wrong, it was at great
cost; a tragedy of errors for bad reasons.
In retrospect, we now know that, in 2013, we did get it wrong. After eagerly
supporting the revolt against the Assad regime and just at the moment that it
was on the brink of collapse, we dropped the ball. I was there and watched it
happen. In European capitals and in Washington think tanks, the mood was
changing from one meeting to the next. The idea was successfully sold that Assad
was really a secular reformer fighting radical Islamists, that he was the only
safe option and that every other alternative was either worse or impossible.
The democracy-promoting free world changed its mind. Instead of “Assad must go,”
it was the Syrian people who had to go: millions were internally displaced or
had to flee as refugees. This is the reason we all looked the other way when
Russia and Iran came to the rescue of the regime. Then-US Secretary of State
John Kerry kept repeating that there was no military solution in Syria, while
the Kremlin agreed as its airplanes were bombing Aleppo, Homs and Idlib. In
Second World War Europe, cities were destroyed to get rid of a tyrant; in Syria,
cities were destroyed in order to keep a tyrant in power.The Western fear of
Islam, because of the actions of a minority of radicals, was stronger than the
West’s love of freedom
“Regime change” had become a bad phrase after Iraq and Libya. The wrong
conclusions were drawn from those fiascos: that dictators had to be kept in
place to prevent the chaos that would emerge after their fall and to prevent the
rise of an Islamist alternative. The same mistakes were previously made in Iraq,
with catastrophic consequences. In 1991, after the first Gulf War that liberated
Kuwait, a weakened and defeated Saddam Hussein faced a nationwide popular
uprising. The regime lost control of 14 out of 18 provinces, people went to the
streets and took over one town after another, occupying Baath Party and state
security headquarters. The Iraqi people had every reason to believe they had
international support, otherwise it would be madness to oppose the regime. What
was in fact suicide was a naive reliance on Western support, in the belief that
the West was opposed to tyrants and supported democracy. What they learned then
was that the Western fear of Islam, because of the actions of a minority of
radicals, was stronger than the West’s love of freedom. The result was that
Saddam was kept in power and his victims, the people of Iraq, were punished by
sanctions that gave their ruler even more power.
In both Iraq and Syria, it was justified for whole cities to be bombed flat
because of the presence of Islamists.
In fact, secular regimes have not been much better for the people of the region.
Secular Arab nationalist movements like Kemalism, Nasserism and Baathism have
been catastrophic in terms of their human rights records. The repression of
religion by secularist regimes politicized religion and created Islamist
movements. Repression only produces more radicalism — Tunisia is a perfect
illustration of that. The most secularist of all states in the region was also
the largest supplier of foreign fighters for Daesh.
There could be a remedy, but it is certainly not to support secular dictators
merely for the fact that they are anti-religion
The larger question of Islam in Europe is also about radicalization. Arab
migrants in Europe tend to be more religious, simply because when secularist
governments persecute religious people, they are more likely to emigrate. There
could be a remedy, but it is certainly not to support secular dictators merely
for the fact that they are anti-religion. It is like a vicious circle and will
cause more emigration.
Historically, both the US and the city of Geneva were either founded by or home
to radical puritanical movements not dissimilar to Islamist “takfiris,” with a
strict definition of religious doctrine intolerant of dissent. Yet they
eventually turned out to be models of liberal societies.
In 16th-century Calvinist Geneva, when Michael Servetus was considered an
apostate, the discussion was whether he should be hanged, decapitated or burnt
at the stake. It was not an issue of whether he should be allowed to live and
have his own ideas. The first American colonies in Massachusetts, set up by the
Pilgrim Fathers, were also bigoted, intolerant, puritanical societies. Maybe the
lesson is that religion has less to do with it than 20th-century hang-ups
suggest and even the best system can be corrupted. The French academic Olivier
Roy describes movements like Al-Qaeda and Daesh as a result of radicalism being
Islamized, rather than of Islam being radicalized. The Baath parties in Syria
and Iraq were originally modernizing, liberal nationalist movements until they
were taken over by dictators who could easily have climbed other ladders.
Going back to now-Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, aka Abu Mohammed Al-Golani,
the transformation looks convincing and real. In the words of my friend, former
Palestinian Ambassador Afif Safieh, Al-Sharaa sounds “unreasonably reasonable
and extremely moderate.” The lesson is that we must evaluate the performance of
the new regime that liberated Syria by liberating ourselves from old taboos and
prejudices.
• Nadim Shehadi is an economist and political adviser. X: @Confusezeus
Why Saudi Arabia’s stance on Palestine is a model worth supporting
Dr. Khaled Manzlawiy/Arab News/February 07, 2025
Saudi Arabia’s unwavering support for Palestinian rights reflects its deep
commitment to justice, international law, and a vision for lasting peace in the
Middle East. The Kingdom’s stance against actions such as settlement expansion
and forced displacement shows its role as both a moral leader and a key
political force in the region. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s statements
reaffirm what has been a consistent pillar of Saudi foreign policy: advocating
Palestinian rights and supporting a two-state solution. This is not a new
position — it is a deeply rooted policy that has guided Saudi Arabia for
decades.
The Arab Peace Initiative, introduced by Saudi Arabia in 2002, is still one of
the most comprehensive frameworks for resolving the Israeli Palestinian
conflict. The proposal is simple but powerful: normalization of relations with
Israel in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and the creation of an
independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. This isn’t
just diplomacy — it’s a blueprint for peace built on fairness, respect, and
international law.
Some argue that Saudi Arabia’s strong stance on Palestinian autonomy could
enhance its diplomatic flexibility. By maintaining a principled position on
Palestinian rights, the Kingdom may strengthen alliances, aligning with the
broader Arab and Muslim world, reinforcing solidarity and collaboration on
common issues; enhance credibility, establishing itself as a consistent and
principled actor in international relations, gaining respect from other nations;
and leverage negotiations, using its firm stance as a bargaining chip in
diplomatic discussions with global powers and regional actors, potentially
securing more favorable outcomes. However, this approach also comes with
challenges, such as balancing relations with key international partners while
advocating Palestinian rights. Navigating these complexities requires strategic
diplomacy and steadfast commitment to core principles. But the Kingdom has made
it clear: short-term compromises are not worth sacrificing long-term justice.
Ignoring Palestinian rights doesn’t just harm the people directly affected, it
also fuels instability across the region and erodes trust. Saudi Arabia’s
leaders understand that true peace requires addressing the root of the conflict,
not skirting around it. By sticking to its principles, the Kingdom sends a
powerful message to the world: justice and peace go hand in hand.
This kind of leadership challenges the international community to engage in
fair, balanced negotiations that respect Palestinian aspirations
Saudi Arabia’s consistent advocacy for Palestinians is not just about the
Israeli Palestinian issue — it is also about bringing Arab nations together. By
creating a united front on such a core issue, the Kingdom reinforces solidarity
in a region that often struggles with division. This kind of leadership
challenges the international community to engage in fair, balanced negotiations
that respect Palestinian aspirations.
Saudi Arabia’s position has ripple effects far beyond the Middle East. It sets
an example for principled diplomacy by refusing to accept one-sided deals that
ignore the rights of the oppressed. It is significant because it boosts Arab
unity, strengthening alliances within the Arab world by focusing on a shared
goal; it encourages fair diplomacy, pushing global powers to prioritize balanced
peace efforts over quick fixes; it eases regional tensions, highlighting the
need to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a core issue to prevent
future unrest; and it reinforces Saudi Arabia’s leadership, positioning the
Kingdom as a principled defender of justice on the world stage. The situation in
Gaza adds even more urgency to this issue. Forced displacement of Palestinians
is not only a violation of international law, but also ethnic cleansing, plain
and simple. This is not just about land or politics, it’s about millions of
lives, hopes, and dreams being destroyed. Saudi Arabia’s leadership reminds the
world that peace is possible only when justice prevails. The global community
must act now. The people of Gaza are not just statistics, they are human beings
with the right to live in peace and dignity. Failing to address their plight
undermines the very principles of international law and humanity. In a region
often marked by division and conflict, Saudi Arabia’s principled approach offers
hope. It is a reminder that true leadership means standing up for what is right,
even when that is not the easiest path. For those who care about justice and
stability, the Kingdom’s stance on Palestinian rights is a model worth
supporting.
At its core, this is about more than politics — it is about fairness, humanity,
and the belief that peace can be built only on a foundation of justice.
• Dr. Khaled Manzlawiy is assistant secretary-general for international
political affairs at the Arab League. X: @khaledManzlawiy
Iran: Fear and Braggadocio
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/February 07/2025
After weeks of speculation about "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei's strategy for
dealing with the new Trump administration in Washington, it seems that he has
opted for a cocktail of tantalizing pledges and boastful threats. Tehran circles
sum the posture up with a simple formula advanced by Foreign Minister Abbas
Araqchi:
We don't want war but are ready for it!
The signal that the Supreme Guide has decided to authorize new talks about his
nuclear project but is also preparing for a putative war with the US or Israel
came with a poem he put in circulation last week.
Khamenei has been writing or, as his unkind critics suggest, committing poetry
since he was in his teens in the 1950s. But he has always been reluctant to
offer his oeuvre to the public, refusing to publish a diwan as even the greenest
saplings in the garden do.
Thus, those who follow his poetic career know that he publishes a poem only when
a major challenge faces him or the regime he inherited from another poet,
Khomeini.
The latest poem is a sonnet (ghazal in Persian and Arabic) of 14 rhyming
hemistiches or seven lines (beit in Persian and Arabic) and is supposed to
depict the poet's inner struggle with rising fears and persistent doubts. The
message it wishes to pass is one of steadfastness regardless of the Islamic
Republic's recent setbacks in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and parts of Yemen
held by Houthis. In a year or so, Khamenei has tried to repackage those setbacks
as great victories for his now defunct Axis of Resistance. His assumption was
that if the worst came to the worst, he would play his joker: signaling
readiness to revive the defunct Obama "nuke deal" with a shaky Biden
administration keen on securing any deal with Tehran to justify Kumbala's
"greatest diplomatic achievement."
The latest poem, however, seems to have been composed after Joe Biden had packed
his luggage to leave the White House. The poet foresees "toil and trouble" on a
battlefield and is gripped with fear and trembling. The aim of the poet is to
stiffen his backbone with a reminder that he holds "the staff of Moses," which
swallowed the snakes and adders pitted against it by the Pharaoh's sorcerers.
The intention is to produce a work of bravura known in Arabic and Persian as "rajaz,"
the ballad that ancient warriors composed and read aloud on the eve of a
decisive battle to enthuse their troops and frighten their foes. Thus, Khamenei
demands that his followers be "like a solid rock" leaning only on "a mountain,"
presumably meaning himself. He insists that he and his followers would not flee
from a "call-out" or challenge (da'a in Arabic and Persian). Classical Arabic
and Persian literature offer numerous examples of rajaz that rise to the highest
levels of poetic creation. In Arabic, there are such masters as Muhalil Ibn
Rahilah, Labid, and a more rough diamond like Antar Ibn Shaddad, not to mention
the master of all, Imru' al-Qays, who won the sobriquet of the "King of the
Wayward" (al-Malik al-Dhalil) for having kicked Dhul-Khalasah, a mixture of idol
and oracle in pre-Islamic Arabia.
In Persian literature, you find the greatest masters of the genre in Onsori,
Assadi-Toussi, Asjodi, and Amir-Moezzi. As a student of poetry, the ayatollah is
surely familiar with that rich tradition in both Persian and Arabic.
And yet, surprisingly, he seems to ignore the basic features of the genre, the
rules of the game, so to speak.
Arabic and Persian poetry come in nine basic forms, from ghazal to ruba'ee to
qasidah or ode, each of which is regarded as suitable for passing a message. If
you wish to pass on a bit of wisdom in a short, almost haiku-like form, you go
for a ruba'ee. If you wish to narrate a story or preach a doctrine, your best
bet is a mathnavi in one of the 13 meters available.The ghazal is almost always
used to convey a romantic view of existence, from reflecting the beauty of a
garden to capturing the joy of an evening of merrymaking with friends to wooing
a reluctant debutante or even a sin-seasoned Jezebel.In other words, the ghazal
isn't a suitable form for rajaz, which always marches in as a qasidah. But then,
a poem that falls short of 13 lines or 26 hemistiches, as the ayatollah's does,
cannot be regarded as a qasidah.
Then there is the question of the meter. The meter chosen by the ayatollah suits
a ghazal of introspection, romantic fantasy, and music-and-moonlight wooing of a
hard-to-get beauty. Rajaz needs a meter that beats the biggest drums and blows
into the loudest trumpets.
Ghazal does the work of chamber music, while qasidah is the poetic form of a
symphony. The rajaz begins with narrating the grievances, sufferings, and thirst
for vengeance in the name of justice. It hides whatever weakness, doubt, and
fears the poet might be harboring, whereas the ayatollah's ghazal depicts a man
struck by self-doubt and unspecified fears lurking in the background, as in a
haunted house.
Ignoring the "necessity of the unnecessary" rule of rhyming (lozum ma la yazem
in Arabic), the ayatollah uses the word "magoriz" (don't escape in Persian) to
seal every line. This is an unfortunate choice in a poem supposedly designed to
inspire the stand-and-fight spirit while the poet casts himself as the heir to
"the heroes of Khyber and Badr battles of early Islam.
Needless to say, the ayatollah's poem is devoid of the reiterative metaphors
that deepen each other's message, as one nip of the sword widens the wound
inflicted by a previous nip. The technique, used masterfully by Onsori, for
example, turns the qasidah into something akin to painting by words.
I don't know what mark classical experts on Persian poetry such as Shams Qais
Razi or Nizami Arudhi would have given the ayatollah for his rajaz, but those
dealing with his Islamic Republic might find some intriguing clues
to his hidden thoughts. As for Iranians, they may pray that the man who rules
them has more respect for the rules of governance than he shows for the
conventions of rajaz.
Here is the ayatollah's latest masterpiece:
Dear Heart! From the battle of toil and travel do not escape
Turn onto yourself like a whirlwind and like the morning breeze don't escape
The staff of Moses is in your hand, throw it in
fear not the snakes of sorcerers do not escape
You are the wave of courage and determination, don't fear the sea
ignore the roaring of the storm, from your abode do not escape
Don't be broken-hearted because of the infidelity of these times
Be a symbol like a banner , from the winds do not escape
Be a solid rock and lean only on the mountains
Give your heart to the truth and from call-outs( reckonings) don't escape
You are a descendant of the heroes of Khyber and Badr
Be like Haidar with his double-edged sword, from challenges do not escape
Do not abandon the path with a sweet smile of hypocrites
With the poisonous smirk of a foe into hiding do not escape!
A Stable Libya Benefits Everyone
Dr. Jebril El-Abidi/Asharq Al Awsat/February 07/2025
We have seen many calls for an end to interference in Libyan affairs, as well as
many initiatives and attempts to restore stability to Libya. However, a serious
and effective solution has yet to emerge. Most recently, we heard United Nations
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echo these demands, calling on “the countries
intervening in Libya to stop interfering in its affairs. A stable and peaceful
Libya benefits everyone, and only the Libyan people should have a say in who
leads them. There is nothing to justify the perpetuation of the current state of
affairs in Libya.
It is true that the stability of Libya, which is home to Africa’s largest oil
and water reservoirs, would benefit its people and neighbors alike. Guterres is
right: "A stable and peaceful Libya benefits everyone." Libya’s wealth would
indeed allow for its prosperity and make its surroundings more prosperous if its
stability is enhanced. However, this shared interest was undermined when NATO
toppled the Libyan state rather than removing Gaddafi’s regime. The results were
disastrous: chaos, the collapse of state institutions, the proliferation of
weapons, and the spread of militias under foreign protection. This is not to
suggest that Gaddafi’s rule amounted to a golden age- far from it. His regime
impoverished Libya, prioritized personal interests and turned the state into his
personal fief. Today, we are seeing the beginning of efforts to restore the
state and its authority in Libya, following the systematic chaos that has
prevailed since 2011. This chaos was fueled by political Islamist groups that
infiltrated the country through the 2012 elections, allowing those who had
resided in the case of Tora Bora to move into the Rixos Hotel, the home of the
General National Congress whose mandate had “finished.”
They refused to hand over power to the newly elected House of Representatives
after failing to maintain a parliamentary majority that they had only won
through lies and bribes in the first place. They were then emphatically defeated
in the parliamentary elections, which led them to abandon democracy, as we have
come to expect. They embrace elections when they win but resort to violence and
weapons when they lose, as they did through the militias loyal to them.
The General National Congress was thus transformed into the High Council of
State, which was composed of the same ideologically driven members, through the
framework of the Skhirat Agreement signed in Morocco. This amounted to the
establishment of a parallel body (the unelected High Council of State) that
shared legislative power with the country's elected parliament, in what was a
political ploy orchestrated by the Muslim Brotherhood, masters of political
deceit. This aggravated the Libyan crisis and plunged the country into political
paralysis that continues to this day.
The Libyan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood has been waging a relentless war
against the army and military institutions since infiltrating power after
February 2011, using the Transitional Council and the 2012 General National
Congress as cover. During this period, the political Islamist movement- an
alliance between the Brotherhood and the Libyan branch of al-Qaeda- seized
control of the government, creating parallel military entities and banding
militias into armed brigades, mirroring Lebanon’s Hezbollah and creating a
Libyan version of the organization.
Dangers and opportunities in the second age of Trump
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/February 07, 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 explosive. We are facing four years that will probably be
extraordinary. They could be the nightmare we fear – Palestinians without land:
or the dream – a Palestinian state. His policies may lead to a dangerous
regional war with Iran, or he could achieve a regional peace that concludes 40
years of battles and tensions with Iran, both in the Arab world and in the West.
He may 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 US president, whether he is
mocking or serious. As the poet Al-Mutanabbi said: “If you see the fangs of the
lion bared, do not assume the lion is smiling.”
Trump has not yet completed 100 days in office, but he has already dismissed
senior officials at the FBI, disrupted the activities of the US Agency for
International Development, relocated thousands of its employees, withdrawn from
the World Health Organization, and begun using military transport planes to
deport undocumented migrants from the US. Some Latin American presidents were
forced to receive them. Meanwhile, to avoid US tariffs, the Canadian prime
minister quickly deployed about 250,000 military personnel and border guards to
prevent smuggling and illegal crossings, and Mexico did the same. In Brussels,
headquarters of the EU, 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 2,000lb bombs to Israel, which had been imposed by his
predecessor Joe 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.
This is not an exaggeration – Trump is an unpredictable figure. We cannot ignore
the US president, whether he is mocking or serious
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
such as 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 regional issues for Trump’s administration are Iran and Palestine.
Several crises stem from them, including Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the Houthis in
Yemen.
If Israel is determined to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, it will have to
wait until the failure of Trump’s negotiations, which are likely to start soon.
However, failure is not guaranteed: it would not be surprising if the Iranian
leadership cooperated 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.
• Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a Saudi journalist and intellectual. He is the former
general manager of Al-Arabiya news channel and former editor-in-chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat,