English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 25/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man
also will acknowledge before the angels of God but whoever denies me before
others will be denied before the angels of God
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke
12/08-12/:”‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son
of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me
before others will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a
word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the
Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, the
rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves
or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour
what you ought to “
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on February 24-25/2025
Text & Video: Exposing Hezbollah’s Lies and Mythical Victories: Neither
Did It Liberate the South in 2000, Nor Did It Win the 2006 War/Elias Bejjani /
February 25, 2025
It Is the Duty of Respected Arab and Lebanese Media to Spare the Public from the
Nonsense of Faisal Abdul Sater and Qassem Kassir/Elias Bejjani/ February 24/2025
Text & Video: With Hassan Nasrallah's Burial, the Iranian Occupation Scheme in
Lebanon is Buried/Elias Bejjani/February 22, 2025
Delegations flock to Safieddine's hometown for his funeral
Hezbollah chief who was killed days after taking up post laid to rest in south
Lebanon hometown
Aoun to head to KSA on Sunday along with ministerial delegation
Report: Hezbollah asks members to vacate positions, freezes financial
compensations
FPM to vote no-confidence in Salam's govt
Report: Ex-Syrian officers confirm using ammonium nitrate that came from Lebanon
Ghalibaf says Iran to back any 'unanimous' Lebanese decision
Lebanese government expected to win vote of confidence
Lebanon caught between hope and apprehension/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/February
24, 2025
Lebanon and a lifetime of assassinations/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/February
24, 2025
Misleading Appearances/Michel Touma//This Is Beirut/February 24/2025
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on February 24-25/2025
Trump says he'll hit Canadian goods with 25% tariff next week after
month-long pause
Druze took over Suweida airport and replaced Syrian revolution flag with their
own.
Netanyahu says Israel won't allow Syrian forces 'south of Damascus'
Syrian leader to visit Jordan on Wednesday, say Jordanian sources
Syria economy minister discusses resuming cooperation with World Bank
Syria's National Dialogue Conference Set to Kick off Monday
EU suspends sanctions on key Syria economic sectors
Israel ready to resume Gaza war, Netanyahu warns after truce delay
West Bank Palestinians fear Gaza-style clearance as Israel squeezes Jenin camp
How many hostages are left in Gaza?
EU must condemn Israeli atrocities at top-level meeting: Human Rights Watch
EU, Israel Resume Dialogue with Focus on Gaza's Future
Clash Between Gaza & Israel Advocacy Groups The Brigade & Artists4Ceasefire
Could Impact Sunday’s Oscars
UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank
Iraqi Kurdistan can start oil flows within days on Turkish approval, minister
says
Morocco says it dismantled Islamic State cell that was planning attacks
UN General Assembly backs EU over US in rival resolutions calling for end to war
in Ukraine
Western leaders visit Kyiv and pledge military support against Russia on the
war's 3rd anniversary
China’s Xi affirms ‘no limits’ partnership with Putin in call on Ukraine war
anniversary
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on February 24-25/2025
Hamas's October 7 Massacre Is Part of Its Jihad to Destroy Israel/Khaled
Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/February 24, 2025
US trip offers Starmer chance to show leadership/Chris Doyle/Arab News/February
24, 2025
The unseen map that promised to bring peace to the Middle East/Paul Adams -
Diplomatic correspondent/BBC/ February 24/2025
The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faces a key deadline. Will it last?/Samy Magdy And
Joseph Krauss/The Associated Press/Mon, February 24, 2025
Shifting Paradigms and Policy-Making/Dr. Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is
Beirut/February 24/2025
US trip offers Starmer chance to show leadership/Chris Doyle/Arab News/February
24, 2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on February 24-25/2025
Elias Bejjani/{Text & Video: Exposing
Hezbollah’s Lies and Mythical Victories: Neither Did It Liberate the South in
2000, Nor Did It Win the 2006 War
Elias Bejjani / February 25, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140565/
Hezbollah’s leaders, members, officials, and religious figures falsely claim to
be the most honorable, intelligent, pure, and devout people. Yet, they have
never been ashamed of their absolute, public, and brazen subservience to Iran’s
rulers and the doctrine of the Supreme Leader (Iranian Guardianship of the
Jurist/Velayat-e faqih). In this doctrine, there is no allegiance to Lebanon as
a state, its constitution, or its borders—just as is the case with the followers
of this religious ideology in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Their only and absolute
loyalty is to Iran.
In reality, they live in a delusional state, feeding on fantasies,
hallucinations, and daydreams, completely detached from the reality of military
and scientific capabilities—whether their own or those possessed by Israel, the
United States, and the Western nations they label as "the Great Satan"
(America), "the Little Satan" (Israel), and "infidels" (any country not under
their control). This hostile culture of betrayal, division, and slander has
never ceased since Iran and Hafez al-Assad’s regime established Hezbollah in
1982. During Syria’s occupation of Lebanon, Hezbollah was handed control over
Shiite-populated areas through force and terror. One of the bloodiest milestones
was the battle of Iqlim al-Tuffah in March 1988, where Hezbollah eradicated the
Amal Movement’s military presence, killing more than 1,200 fighters, and leaving
thousands wounded and maimed, thus ending Amal’s military existence and
subjugating it entirely to Hezbollah’s Iranian agenda. Hassan Nasrallah, Hashem
Safieddine, Naim Qassem, Nabil Qaouq, Mohammad Raad, Hussein Mousawi, and the
rest of the leaders of this misguided faction—both the living and the
dead—deluded themselves into believing that their Persian empire project was
within reach. Yet, this illusion is collapsing under relentless blows, their
leaders are being eliminated, their strongholds are being destroyed, and their
so-called "supportive environment"—which is in fact a hostage population—is
turning against them.
Hezbollah, its members—whether civilian, military, or clerical—do not belong to
Lebanon, to Arab identity, or to any nation. They are entirely detached from
reality and from all that is humane. They have built castles of illusions,
locked themselves inside, hearing only their own voices and seeing only their
own reflections. To them, anyone different is nonexistent, and in their
extremist ideology, the blood of Lebanese, Syrians, and Arabs is permissible.
With every crime, explosion, assassination, and defeat, their arrogance and
impudence only increase. They are indifferent to the suffering of others, taking
sadistic pleasure in it, celebrating tragedies by distributing sweets. They have
taken their own sect hostage, turning its youth into cannon fodder for Iran’s
reckless wars in Syria, Yemen, and beyond. They believe they can humiliate and
subjugate the Lebanese people, forgetting that Lebanon, a civilization over
7,000 years old, has crushed, expelled, and humiliated all invaders and outlaws
like them. The last of these was Assad’s army, which was disgracefully expelled
in 2005. Hezbollah is practically finished at the hands of Israel, backed by
Arab and Western powers. It will not rise again. The unprecedented human and
economic losses it has inflicted on Lebanon’s Shiite community guarantee that,
once the Lebanese state regains its sovereignty, the people will turn against
Hezbollah and reject it.
For this reason, all those involved in public affairs—especially in the Lebanese
Diaspora—must understand that any Lebanese, whether expatriate or resident, who
supports or collaborates with Hezbollah under any pretext is an enemy of
Lebanon, its sovereignty, identity, and independence.
The Myth of "Liberating" the South and "Victory" in the 2006 War
The terrorist-Jihadist Hezbollah that claims to be a resistance and liberation
movement has never been either of the two, but merely a military Iranian proxy.
The narrative of the "liberation of the south" in 2000 is nothing but a colossal
lie, as Israel withdrew from Lebanon by an internal decision, after its presence
became costly and futile, and Hezbollah did not play a decisive role in that. As
for the 2006 war, the results were catastrophic for Lebanon, where more than
1,200 Lebanese were killed, infrastructure was destroyed, and the Shiite
environment was completely devastated. Hezbollah did not achieve any victory,
but all of Lebanon emerged defeated and destroyed... and the, the catastrophic,
the disastrous, and the complete defeat of its foolish recent war against
Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza, has led to its end and to the entire world
standing behind the necessity of implementing international resolutions related
to Lebanon 1559, 1680, and 1701, which stipulate its disarmament, the
dismantling of its military institutions, and the extension of Lebanese state
authority by its own forces over all Lebanese territories, and confining the
decision of war and peace to the Lebanese state alone.
Based on all documented facts, Lebanese, Arab, Israeli, and international, it
neither liberated the south nor triumphed in the 2006 war, and certainly, it is
neither resistance, nor steadfastness, nor liberation. Rather, it is practically
the first enemy of Lebanon and all Lebanese, and all Arab countries, and it must
be dealt with, and all its allies – politicians, parties, officials, and clerics
– on this basis, and any other dealing is foolishness and self-deception."
Based on well-documented Lebanese, Arab, Israeli, and international facts,
Hezbollah neither liberated the South nor won the 2006 war. It is certainly not
a resistance movement nor an opposition force. It is, in fact, Lebanon’s
foremost enemy, as well as that of all Arabs. It must be dealt with accordingly,
along with all its allies—politicians, parties, officials, and clerics. Any
other approach is sheer foolishness and self-deception.
In the end, Hezbollah has destroyed Lebanon, impoverished its people, displaced
them, and turned the country into an arms depot and a launch pad for Iran’s
futile wars. Lebanon can only be saved by dismantling Hezbollah, disarming it,
arresting its leaders, and holding them accountable for the devastation they
have inflicted on the nation.
It Is the Duty of Respected Arab and Lebanese Media to Spare the Public
from the Nonsense of Faisal Abdul Sater and Qassem Kassir
Elias Bejjani/ February 24/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140530/
In the interest of truth, integrity,
and journalistic standards, it is the duty of every respected Arab and Lebanese
media outlet to refuse to host Faisal Abdul Sater and Qassem Kassir. This duo
serves as one of Hezbollah’s most deceitful and repugnant propaganda
tools—spreading lies, distortions, and outright hostility toward Lebanon and its
sovereignty. Their rhetoric is not only shameful but an insult to the
intelligence of any audience. No credible media platform should grant them space
to spew their fabrications and promote Hezbollah’s destructive agenda.
Despite Nasrallah's
absence, the joy will not be complete until the day the mullahs' regime is
overthrown and their hellish axis is finally eliminated.
Elias Bejjani/February 23/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140517/
It is our duty to thank Israel and America for ridding Lebanon of Nasrallah and
paving the way for the total elimination of his Iranian and devilish gang, the
so called Hezbollah. Indeed, the world has become a better place with the
absence of the terrorist Nasrallah. Next, we look forward to the fall of the
mullahs' regime and the liberation of the world from its hallucinations,
delusions, terrorism and absurd lies.
Elias
Bejjani/Text & Video: With Hassan Nasrallah's Burial, the Iranian Occupation
Scheme in Lebanon is Buried
Elias Bejjani/February 22, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140491/
Tomorrow, Sunday, February 23, 2025, Beirut will witness the funeral of Hassan
Nasrallah, the criminal, terrorist, and notorious Iranian mercenary.
Hassan Nasrallah, throughout his life, was a mercenary soldier in the army of
the Iranian "Velayat-e Faqih," whose sole loyalty was to the rulers of Tehran
and who acted only under the orders of its mullahs. Hassan Nasrallah is the
greatest enemy of Lebanon and a traitor who sold out Lebanon, its people, as
well as its present and future in exchange for implementing the Iranian agenda
of destruction.
Nasrallah was never Lebanese, even if he held Lebanese citizenship. He polluted
the sacred land of the cedars, insulted the Lebanese identity, and drowned
Lebanon in the quagmire of subservience and dependency. He was the spearhead of
Iran's plan to occupy Lebanon and turn it into a terrorist base, from which
destruction would be launched across the entire region.
Lebanon has never known, throughout its history, a figure who held Lebanese
citizenship in a formal way, while betraying his people and working to destroy
them as Nasrallah did.
This butcher was the mastermind behind the assassination of many patriotic
Lebanon's leaders and politicians. He and his gang killed thousands of Lebanese
in general, including members of his Shiite community, whom he kidnapped and
took hostage in Lebanon The Shiites), Syria, Iraq, and Yemen in the mullahs'
satanic, savage and criminal wars.
He embarked on bloody adventures under direct orders from the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard. He sowed havoc, opened borders for weapons and drugs, and
turned Lebanon into a den for terrorist operations and money laundering until
the reputation of the homeland of the cedars became synonymous with militias and
international terrorism.
Below is a short list of the many crimes committed by Nasrallah and his gang,
blasphemously called Hezbollah:
*Hostility against the Gulf States: Destabilizing the
Gulf States, especially Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, carrying out
assassinations and terrorism operations there, and recruiting the Houthis and
other mercenaries to carry out these criminal missions.
*Assassinations: He was behind the assassinations of Lebanese figures opposed to
the policies of Hezbollah and Iran.
*Destabilizing political and economic stability: He worked to undermine the
political system and security in Lebanon and many countries in the region,
especially Syria.
*Intervention in Syria: Nasrallah led Hezbollah, under orders from Iran, to
intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war, where its members fought alongside
the criminal regime of Bashar al-Assad, leading to the killing of thousands of
Syrians and the displacement of millions, in addition to the deaths of more than
4,000 Lebanese Shiites whom he recruited into his army, along with the wounding
and disabling of 15,000 others.
*Supporting terrorism: Hezbollah, led by Nasrallah, has been classified as a
terrorist organization by many countries and international and Arab
organizations due to its involvement in terrorist operations around the world.
*Drug smuggling and manufacturing: Hezbollah was involved in manufacturing and
smuggling drugs, money laundering, and trading in all types of prohibited items,
including weapons, to finance its terrorist activities.
*Undermining Lebanon's sovereignty: Nasrallah and his criminal thugs worked to
undermine the sovereignty of the Lebanese state, establishing a state within a
state by force and terrorism, and possessing a huge arsenal of weapons used in
Lebanon and abroad in Iranian-mullah terrorist and criminal operations.
*Involvement in the Gaza war: He and the Iranian rulers dragged the Palestinians
into the devastating Gaza war and launched a war on Israel that resulted in the
killing of 11,000 Lebanese, most of whom were from his Shiite environment, and
led to the near-complete destruction of all Shiite residential areas.
With his death, part of the Iranian criminal and occupational plots in Lebanon
are buried with his body, but the danger is not over yet.
The funeral of this terrorist will not only be a farewell to him but also a
burial of Iran's terrorist schemes and its occupation of Lebanon, as well as a
test for those who still blindly bear loyalty to him and the mullahs' regime.
Hence, everyone who participates in his funeral tomorrow is participating in the
crime and declaring their partnership in all the blood that was shed because of
him and in service of the Iranian occupation, sectarianism, and expansionist
evil schemes.
In conclusion, Nasrallah does not deserve mercy, nor does he even deserve a
curse, as he is a black page in Lebanon's history and must be erased and folded
forever.
However, the battle with his mullah masters and his gang of mercenaries,
killers, and terrorists has not ended, and the Lebanese and Arabs still have a
major battle ahead of them to eradicate all remnants of his black legacy and the
mullahs' satanic legacy and to liberate Lebanon and all Arab countries from the
ambitions and plans of the devilish mullahs.
Delegations flock to Safieddine's
hometown for his funeral
Naharnet/February 24, 2025
Delegations were flocking Monday to the southern town of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr in
the Tyre district for the funeral and burial of slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed
Hasham Safieddine, who was killed four days after succeeding Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah as Hezbollah’s secretary-general. A massive funeral was organized
Sunday for the two leaders at Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium,
after which Nasrallah was buried at a dedicated mausoleum near Beirut’s airport.
In Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, the town’s streets were decorated with Lebanese flags
and those of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement as well as the posters of
Safieddine and Nasrallah. Hezbollah’s leadership will receive condolences from
12pm till 3pm at the town’s mosque prior to Safieddine’s burial. Security forces
and Hezbollah crews were meanwhile taking care of security and logistic
measures. Like Nasrallah, Safieddine was killed by around 80 tons of bombs
dropped by Israeli warplanes as Israel escalated its military campaign against
Hezbollah in September and November. The two leaders were initially buried at
secret locations for security reasons. The deeply religious Safieddine, a cleric
with family ties to Nasrallah, had been widely viewed as the most likely
candidate for the party's top job after the assassination of Nasrallah on
September 27. Safieddine, who was a member of the group's governing Shura
Council, had strong ties to Iran after undergoing religious studies in the
Islamic republic's holy city of Qom. Safieddine bore a striking resemblance to
his charismatic maternal cousin Nasrallah but was several years his junior, aged
in his late 50s or early 60s. The United States and Saudi Arabia had put
Safieddine, who was a member of Hezbollah's powerful decision-making Shura
Council, on their respective lists of designated "terrorists" in 2017. The U.S.
Treasury described him as "a senior leader" in Hezbollah and "a key member" of
its executive. Safieddine’s son is married to the daughter of General Qasem
Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm
who was killed in a 2020 U.S. strike in Iraq. Safieddine has the title of Sayyed,
his black turban marking him, like Nasrallah, as a descendant of the Prophet
Mohammed. Unlike Nasrallah, who lived in hiding for years, Safieddine had
appeared openly at political and religious events. Usually presenting a calm
demeanor, he had upped the fiery rhetoric during the funerals of Hezbollah
fighters killed in nearly a year of cross-border clashes with Israel. In July in
a speech in Beirut's southern suburbs, Safieddine alluded to how Hezbollah views
its leadership succession. "In our resistance... when any leader is martyred,
another takes up the flag and goes on with new, certain, strong determination,"
he said.
Hezbollah chief who was killed days after taking up post laid to rest in south
Lebanon hometown
Bassem Mroue/The Associated
Press/February 24, 2025
The late leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group who was killed in an Israeli
airstrike days after he took the post was laid to rest in his southern hometown
Monday, a day after his cousin and predecessor was buried in Beirut. Hashem
Safieddine, who was about 60, was killed in early October in a series of Israeli
airstrikes in a southern suburb of Beirut at the height of the Israel-Hezbollah
war. He was killed days after his cousin and predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was
killed in Israeli airstrikes south of Beirut. Following Nasrallah’s death on
Sept. 27, Safieddine was secretly named Hezbollah’s secretary-general but was
killed just days later. The two men were buried at a secret location as they
were both killed during the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war and their bodies
exhumed for their funerals and reburial. Thousands of people marched behind
Safieddine’s coffin that was draped with Hezbollah’s yellow flag in the southern
village of Deir Qanoun An-Nahr while his black turban was placed on top. On
Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people attended the funeral of Nasrallah and
Safieddine in Beirut in a show of strength by the Iran-backed group that
suffered major losses during its war with Israel. Four Israeli warplanes flew at
low altitude twice during the funeral in Beirut on Sunday, once when the coffins
were brought into the stadium, where the funeral was held, and a second time
when Hezbollah’s current leader Naim Kassem was giving a speech. Nasrallah was
buried in a Beirut suburb Sunday evening, while Safieddine’s body was taken to
his hometown in south Lebanon for Monday’s funeral. Nasrallah and Safieddine
were founding members of Hezbollah and enjoyed wide influence among Iran-backed
Yemeni, Iraqi and Palestinian groups. A familiar face in Lebanon, Safieddine was
a member of Hezbollah's decision-making Shura Council and its Jihad Council,
which acts as its military command. He also headed its Executive Council, which
runs schools and social programs. Safieddine was close to Iran. His son, Rida,
is married to Zeinab Soleimani, the daughter of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of
Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq in 2020.
Safieddine’s brother, Abdallah, is Hezbollah’s point man in Tehran, a crucial
role in the organization given that Iran is its main backer, providing it with
weapons and money. During the Israel-Hezbollah war that broke out a day after
the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel killed some of
Hezbollah’s top political and military chiefs. The war, that left more than
4,000 dead in Lebanon and dozens in Israel, ended on Nov. 27 when a
U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect. Last week, Israel withdrew its troops
from much of south Lebanon but kept five posts inside the country in what the
Lebanese government considers a violation of the ceasefire. As part of the deal,
Hezbollah should now have an armed presence along the border with Israel.
Aoun to head to KSA on
Sunday along with ministerial delegation
Naharnet/February 24, 2025
President Joseph Aoun’s remarks to an Iranian delegation that "Lebanon has grown
tired of the wars of others on its land” were a “direct message” to Iran to
“consolidate Lebanon’s sovereignty as to the war and peace decisions,” sources
told Al-Jadeed TV. “President Aoun will head to Saudi Arabia on Sunday
accompanied by a ministerial delegation led by the foreign minister, after which
he will travel to Cairo to take part in the meeting of the Arab foreign
ministers on Monday and the emergency presidential summit on Tuesday,” the
sources added. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam will meanwhile work in the coming
weeks on “finalizing the pending files of appointments and bilateral agreements
with Saudi Arabia, ahead of visiting the kingdom after Ramadan at the head of a
ministerial delegation in order to sign joint agreements,” the sources said.
Report: Hezbollah asks members to vacate positions, freezes
financial compensations
Naharnet/February 24, 2025
Once dominant in Lebanon, Hezbollah is showing “new signs of weakness” and is
“struggling to meet its financial commitments to supporters” after the latest
war with Israel, the Wall Street Journal has reported. “Three months after
Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire, the damage inflicted by Israel’s armed forces
on the Iran-backed Shiite group is becoming clear: Its military has been
severely degraded and its finances are strained to the point that it is
struggling to meet its commitments to followers,” the WSJ said. “Hezbollah,
designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., has long operated as a vast
state-within-a-state in Lebanon, supplying jobs and social services to members.
It also pays relatives of Hezbollah fighters killed as well as followers who
lose homes or businesses during conflicts,” it added. The WSJ also claimed that
the Iran-backed group has ordered its members to vacate their positions in south
Lebanon over the past weeks while also freezing their financial compensations.
FPM to vote no-confidence in Salam's govt
Naharnet/February 24, 2025
The Free Patriotic Movement will likely withhold confidence from the government,
MP Salim Aoun said Monday in a radio interview, as Parliament is set to meet on
Tuesday and Wednesday for a vote of confidence in the new government formed by
PM-designate Nawaf Salam. "The statements are good, but the experience with PM
Nawaf Salam's line-up was not promising," MP Aoun said. Last month, Salam won
sweeping support from legislators including the FPM MPs, while Hezbollah and
ally Amal did not back Salam but later participated in the binding parliamentary
consultations. In its ministerial statement, the new government said the state
should be the sole bearer of arms in Lebanon. The two allies, Amal and
Hezbollah, will likely grant confidence to the new government, as Hezbollah's
new leader voiced support for state institutions, saying on many occasions that
"the Lebanese state" is now responsible for following up on the ceasefire and
ending Israel's occupation and violations through diplomatic channels. Unlike
Amal and Hezbollah, the FPM was excluded from Salam's government, and its leader
Jebran Bassil said the government line-up was "arbitrary and unfair" and that
his party is now "in opposition".
Salam said that the FPM tried to "impose its standards" on him, such as "the
size of representation and number of ministers."
Report: Ex-Syrian officers confirm using ammonium nitrate
that came from Lebanon
Naharnet/February 24, 2025
Syria’s new authorities have started probing “the involvement of the former
Syrian regime in cooperation with Iran-backed Lebanese militias” in “the import
and smuggling of the ammonium nitrate” of which hundreds of tons exploded at
Beirut’s port on August 4, 2020, sources informed on the work of Syria’s justice
ministry and judiciary said. “The regime used this substance through mixing it
with fuel to produce low-cost and highly destructive explosives,” Lebanon’s
Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday. It quoted the sources as saying
that the investigations are based on the testimonies of former officers who
“confirmed their participation in the use of this substance that was smuggled
from Lebanon.” The alleged testimonies also said that “Syrian regime officers in
coordination with Lebanese sides oversaw the transfer of the shipments arriving
at Beirut’s port based on direct instructions from Maher al-Assad,” the brother
of Syria’s ousted president Bashar al-Assad and the previous commander of the
Fourth Armored Division. “These shipments were used to manufacture the explosive
barrels that killed thousands of civilians and destroyed vast areas of Syria,”
Nidaa al-Watan said. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
around 50,000 explosive barrels were dropped during the Syrian war years. “The
investigations are expanding daily and new secrets about the ammonium nitrate
scandals and its repercussions are being exposed, which puts senior Syrian,
Lebanese and Iranian officials in the spotlight,” the Syrian sources added.
“Their names are expected to be revealed upon the end of all measures and the
announcement of the probe’s outcome,” the sources said, adding that “the
investigations have expanded to target Lebanese nationals linked to an
international network who contributed to facilitating the entry of ammonium
nitrate shipments to Lebanon and allowed their transfer to Syria, despite
knowing the danger of the material’s use.”
Ghalibaf says Iran to back any 'unanimous' Lebanese
decision
Naharnet/February 24, 2025
Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said from Beirut that
Iran “will support any decision made unanimously by the Lebanese government and
people and the Lebanese resistance (Hezbollah).”“I hope this visit will lead to
further relations of cooperation between Iran and Lebanon, especially as the new
government begins its work,” Ghalibaf said after meeting with Speaker Nabih
Berri in Ain el-Tineh. “For Lebanon to be prosperous and stable, it is necessary
to for unanimity to be present among the various components of the Lebanese
people, including the government, the people and the resistance,” Ghalibaf
added. Ghalibaf, the accompanying delegation and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi had earlier on Sunday taken part in the funeral of Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine at the Camille Chamoun Sports City
Stadium in Beirut.
Lebanese government expected
to win vote of confidence
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/February
24, 2025
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam will seek parliamentary approval
for his government during sessions scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. A
political observer predicted that Salam’s government — operating under the
slogan “Government of Rescue and Reform,” could secure up to 100 votes out of
the 128-member parliament. Winning the vote of confidence will allow Salam’s
Cabinet to commence its sessions to make major decisions, including on
appointments to the Lebanese Central Bank, the security forces, the judiciary
and the general directorates within various government ministries.
FASTFACT
Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Karam, meanwhile, warned that Hezbollah ‘is not yet
prepared to relinquish control to the Lebanese state.’Currently, 63 MPs have
requested to speak during the parliamentary debates. Opposing votes will likely
be limited to MPs from the Free Patriotic Movement bloc, which is not
represented in the government and has positioned itself in opposition, along
with a few reformist MPs. A source from the presidential palace told Arab News
on Monday that President Joseph Aoun would schedule foreign visits once Salam’s
government wins the confidence vote. One of the most significant foreign trips
is a visit to Saudi Arabia next week, following an official invitation. A
ministerial delegation will accompany the president to discuss bilateral
relations and avenues for cooperation in Saudi Arabia. The source indicated that
the visit will be confirmed on Thursday after the confidence vote. On Monday,
Aoun addressed a delegation of ambassadors from Francophone countries, saying
that Lebanon will remain a bridge between East and West. “French, the second
language after Arabic in Lebanon, represents culture, dialogue, modernity, and
values,” he told the ambassadors. Salam, meanwhile, told a delegation from the
diplomatic corps that his government “commits to restoring Lebanon’s standing
among its Arab brethren and ensuring that it does not serve as a platform for
attacks on Arab and friendly nations.”Elsewhere, the speech delivered by
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem on Sunday at the funeral
ceremonies for former leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine elicited
mixed political reactions. UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine
Hennis-Plasschaert emphasized the necessity of commencing the “actual
implementation of UN Resolution 1701 now on both sides of the Blue Line, as well
as beyond the banks of the Litani River.”The UN official added that “in Lebanon
specifically, all necessary elements are present to achieve this, including a
commitment to ensure that conflict does not return. However, the success of this
process relies on its inclusivity, as each party has a fundamental role to
play.”Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Karam, meanwhile, warned that Hezbollah “is not
yet prepared to relinquish control to the Lebanese state.”He said the group was
“attempting to navigate this challenging phase with minimal damage and losses
while waiting for an unlikely breakthrough. “The state must be solely
responsible for establishing full national sovereignty over Lebanese territory,”
he said. “It must be the only authority to engage in negotiations, monopolize
the use of weapons, liberate its land, and safeguard all of its borders.
“However, if Sheikh Qassim remains hard-headed and refuses to surrender the
party’s weapons south and north of the Litani River, then any reconstruction
plan will fail,” he added.
Lebanon caught between hope
and apprehension
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/February 24, 2025
The Lebanese capital, Beirut, nowadays fills visitors with hope, as well as
apprehension. The hope is embedded in a sense of renewal, following January’s
election of a president free of interference from Syria, Iran or Hezbollah and
their so-called axis of resistance, which for decades has been holding the
country to ransom under the pretext of confronting Israel and the Western agenda
for the Arab Middle East. This sense of hope is evident in people as they talk
about their new president, Joseph Aoun — another general, but no relation to his
pro-Hezbollah predecessor, Michel Aoun — and his promise to revive the ethos of
a neutral Lebanon, a state willing to serve all its people under the banner of
“Army, People, State.” The banner favored by Hezbollah, “Army, People,
Resistance,” had previously dominated the political and popular narratives of
the country for more than two decades.
Another reason for the renewed sense of hope in the country is the appointment
of a new head of government. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a former judge at the
International Court of Justice, has assembled a Cabinet that breaks with the
previous political elite’s practice of filling the government with corrupt
cronies. Salam’s government might be hard for many members of the nation’s
parliament — and their supporters and clients in all communities across the
country — to stomach. In particular, it has created further disquiet among the
Shiite community, which has for decades formed the backbone of the popular
support for Hezbollah’s military and political operations.
The feeling of apprehension is evident from the welcome you get once you land in
Beirut, as you are never certain if you will be able to leave the airport
safely. Hezbollah-affiliated mobs have often staged protests, burned UN
vehicles, dumped trash and erected barricades at Rafic Hariri International
Airport because, they say, the Lebanese government refuses to allow Iranian
airlines to land there.
The sense of apprehension increases when you see Hezbollah flags lining streets
across the country, alongside banners commemorating the deaths of many of the
group’s commanders and leaders, while claiming victory and a willingness to
continue the struggle. The apprehension comes from the fact that everyone, even
Hezbollah’s strongest supporters, knows that things have changed, the war has
been lost and it remains unclear who will foot the bill to rebuild the villages
in the south that were destroyed during the group’s most recent conflict with
Israel.
Some Hezbollah supporters have even blamed the government, unjustly, for not
rushing to rebuild and provide assistance in the south, despite knowing full
well that successive governments backed by Hezbollah bankrupted the state and
drove away vital foreign aid, as well as the support on offer from Arab and
international communities. This happened as a result of corruption and their
rejection of any efforts to implement economic reforms that would have provided
the transparency required to reassure international donors and give them the
confidence needed to provide funding for this stricken country and its crippled
financial and economic systems.
The feelings of apprehension also sometimes triumph when you see that Lebanon’s
army has been slow to implement the ceasefire agreement reached between
Hezbollah and Israel through completing its deployment south of the Litani
River. Its mandate seems to be unclear. Will it merely remove Hezbollah’s
weapons and infrastructure from the areas south of the Litani, or is it supposed
to oversee the disarming of the militia that has morphed into a state within the
state over the last three decades with help from the deposed Assad regime in
Syria, as well the Iranian government and its notorious Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps?
Again, one feels apprehensive when watching the Lebanese return to their
villages, farms and businesses only to find them completely destroyed by a war
many people in the country believed was entirely avoidable. More than two months
of full-blown fighting before the ceasefire took effect on Nov. 27 left villages
close to the border with Israel completely destroyed. In addition, the conflict
took a heavy toll on the southern suburbs of Beirut and parts of eastern Lebanon
close to Baalbek, another Hezbollah stronghold that was flattened.
Meanwhile, the new leaders of the country continue their talks with the US and
France in an effort to apply diplomatic pressure on Israel to fully withdraw
from Lebanon, denouncing the continued presence of Israeli troops in five
strategic locations as an “occupation.” The UN has condemned the failure of
Israeli forces to completely withdraw as a violation of a Security Council
resolution. One fears that the continuing Israeli presence could be a trigger
for further confrontations between soldiers and villagers, as the latter return
to their destroyed homes and businesses, thereby providing a pretext for
Hezbollah to rebuild, reboot and renew its base of support and, ultimately,
engage in another war.
One fears that the continuing Israeli presence could be a trigger for further
confrontations between soldiers and villagers. Lebanon continues to oscillate
between two extremes. On one side, there are high hopes for the future among a
large segment of the population, who believe that, with the fall of the Assad
regime in Syria, Hezbollah as a force is massively diminished. This gives the
new leadership in Lebanon a golden opportunity to regain control of the state
and its machinery to implement reforms and rebuild the country for the good of
all its people.
On the other side, there remains the lingering fear that feelings of frustration
and a sense of being vanquished might motivate some Hezbollah supporters to turn
their guns on the government, the new presidency and their own people. This
would create greater domestic insecurity, disrupting efforts to rebuild the
nation free from the shackles of foreign influence and interference and ultimate
return control of this hijacked country to its own people.
Visitors to Lebanon quickly deduce that the truce with Israel remains fragile.
This fragility plays into the hands of the Israeli authorities, which are
determined not to allow any repeat of the attacks on settlements close to the
border with Lebanon, which forced the occupants to abandon their homes for more
than 16 months. It also plays into the hands of Hezbollah, which, though
diminished, remains unwilling to accept defeat, lay down its arms, bow out and
allow Lebanon to be ruled by its legitimate institutions.
It is time to seize the chance to build a free and fair Lebanon for all. Not one
oscillating permanently between hope and apprehension.
**Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years of
experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy.
Lebanon and a lifetime of
assassinations
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 24, 2025
A journalist can occasionally be plagued by a certain subject during their
career. It seems I have been cursed with the issue of assassinations. I was very
close to danger during one assassination and was on the other end of the phone
when another figure was assassinated. Add to that the fact assassinations are
never too far away in Lebanon, disappearing for a while before emerging to claim
a man with a project or a man who is hindering one. I only grew more intrigued
with assassinations when I visited Iraq, Libya and Syria, each with their own
stories to tell.
In mid-March 1977, I was at the beginning of my career at Lebanon’s An-Nahar
newspaper. I was visiting an uncle in the town of Mazraat El-Chouf, near
Mokhtara, the stronghold of the Jumblatt family. At one point during the visit,
my uncle’s neighbor and friend Suleiman Abou Karroum started anxiously shouting
for us to come over. Arriving at his house, he told us with a shaky voice: “They
killed Kamal Jumblatt.” That was a seismic event in Lebanon at the time.
Abou Karroum shut his windows and told his sons and relatives to guard the house
against any attacks. Throughout the coming hours, Abou Karroum would assure us
that everything was going to be fine, but the look of concern on his face said
otherwise. At that point, we did not know that anyone who was not being
protected by their Druze neighbor was being killed. It was said that some 53
people — including my uncle and six members of his family — were killed that
night. His house was located no more than 100 meters from where we were. We were
safely escorted out of Abou Karroum’s house two days later.
Several years later, Walid Jumblatt would recount to me how he spent that night
trying to dissuade his father’s grieving supporters from carrying out reprisals,
telling them that their Christian neighbors had nothing to do with his father’s
assassination, which was actually carried out by Syrian intelligence.
More than three decades later, and after having lunch with Walid Jumblatt in
Mokhtara, I headed to Mazraat El-Chouf. I asked around about Abou Karroum in the
hope of thanking him for protecting us. My search led me to an old man in his
90s who was working in his garden. He embraced me as he fought back tears. One
man kills his neighbor because he does not look like him. Another man protects
his neighbor who does not look like him. I decided that the majority of the
Lebanese people are like the latter.
Another harsh lesson in assassinations came in early March 1980, when I was
summoned by An-Nahar’s editor-in-chief, Francois Aql, who told me that renowned
journalist Salim Al-Lawzi, the editor-in-chief of Al-Hawadeth magazine, was
lying in the morgue at the American University of Beirut hospital. Along with a
colleague, we were instructed to head to the morgue to identify him. There, an
officer barred us from entering and an argument ensued, during which we reminded
him of our right to see our colleague. He eventually complied and opened the
drawer where Al-Lawzi lay. We noted the evidence of terrible torture on his
fingers for daring to write what he did. Several years later, the demands of my
job would have me interview his presumed killer. May God forgive me.
For decades, the newspapers I have worked for have covered the funerals of men I
interviewed and whose lives were claimed by assassinations.
On Sept. 14, 1982, I was at my office at An-Nahar when an explosion rocked the
Achrafieh district in Beirut. A bomb had just killed newly elected President
Bachir Gemayel and his project for the country. Years later, I would meet with
former President Amin Gemayel, who appeared to be worn down by several wounds,
most notably the assassinations of his son, minister and MP Pierre, and his
brother Bachir.
On Feb. 14, 2005, I was interviewing a Syrian official about the US invasion of
Iraq and Damascus’ strained ties with Rafik Hariri. When I left the meeting, I
found a string of phone messages that said Hariri’s convoy had been targeted in
an explosion and that he had been assassinated. That night, I was supposed to
pen from Damascus an article about this extraordinary man and to send from there
the headline of the front page of Al-Hayat newspaper. The months and years to
come would be flooded by assassinations and funerals.
A terrible lesson from assassinations. On Oct. 19, 2012, a dear friend told me
that he believed that Col. Wissam Al-Hassan, head of the intelligence bureau in
the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, was in London and that I should invite
him to lunch or dinner. I was not in the habit of telephoning Al-Hassan, given
his busy schedule, but we used to get together in London or Beirut whenever both
of us were in town.
I telephoned Al-Hassan but before we could get our greetings out of the way, the
line suddenly cut. I tried to call him over and over again but got no response.
I expected him to call me back. After about 20 minutes, my friend told me that
Al-Hassan had been targeted in a bomb attack. Apparently, he had secretly
returned to Beirut, where his killers were waiting for him. The intelligence
bureau found his telephone and identified my number as his last caller.
For decades, the newspapers I have worked for — including Asharq Al-Awsat, which
I am proud of belonging to today — have covered the funerals of men I
interviewed and whose lives were claimed by assassinations. Sunday’s funeral of
Hezbollah Secretaries-General Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine reminded me
of assassinations. Israel assassinated these men to assassinate their projects.
Lebanon is a difficult tale. Every Lebanese citizen has shed tears over an
assassination that remains in their memory. Every Lebanese citizen has been to a
funeral, whose pain they will pass on to their children. Can the tears shed by
the divided Lebanese be reconciled? Can they live together in a normal house
that is not damaged by assassinations?
How difficult it is to be an Arab journalist in this part of the world. How
difficult it is to endure a lifetime going from one assassination to another.
*Ghassan Charbel is editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. X: @GhasanCharbel
This article first appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat.
Misleading Appearances
Michel Touma//This Is Beirut/February 24/2025
A relentless mobilization and exploitation of the popular masses on Lebanese
soil. The objective: to offset the massive strategic losses suffered in recent
months. This appears to be the defining feature of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps’ approach—and, by extension, that of Hezbollah, its frontline
proxy—in the coming phase. Neither the leadership of the "Party of God" nor its
ideological sponsors truly have any other option.
Wafic Safa, the key operative in Hezbollah’s security apparatus, made this clear
in a recent television interview: “From now on, we will focus on the domestic
(Lebanese) scene,” he stated, while adding that the “regional flame” has not
“yet” been extinguished.
In the current context, Hezbollah is confronted with a series of bitter
realities that it struggles—despite its efforts—to conceal. Yet denial does not
make them any less real. The Shiite party finds it difficult to admit the truth,
but the facts are there, and they are worth recalling.
Hezbollah has suffered a stinging military defeat at the hands of the Israeli
army. Its leadership at the highest levels has been crippled. Its infrastructure
has been largely wiped out. A significant portion of the villages and towns
under its control has been reduced to rubble. Its financial resources have grown
increasingly precarious. Its popular base now finds itself homeless and
destitute, openly questioning the rationale behind this “war of support,”
launched on October 8, 2023, at the request of the Islamic Republic.
On the regional front, Hezbollah’s Iranian patrons are faring no better. They
have lost their vital strategic stronghold in Assad’s Syria, shattering the
“Shia crescent” they had built to link Tehran to Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Their Iraqi and Yemeni proxies have been largely silenced for now. The Islamic
Republic is grappling with President Donald Trump’s renewed “maximum pressure”
policy, further deepening an already severe social and economic crisis.
Meanwhile, Iran faces the serious risk of losing its last remaining major ally,
Moscow, as a rapprochement takes shape between the new US administration and
President Vladimir Putin.
Faced with such a widespread collapse, Hezbollah finds itself almost powerless
against Israel, and its so-called “resistance” (illusory at best) is now nothing
more than a mere fantasy. No longer able to act on the ground—despite the
continued presence of the Israeli army in five strategic positions in southern
Lebanon and ongoing Israeli air raids, the latest of which occurred during
Sunday’s funerals at the Camille Chamoun Sports City—the Iran-backed party has
only one card left to play: the mobilization and manipulation of the masses,
hoping for a potential shift in the regional balance of power.
The final card that the "Party of God" is trying to play is intended to
politically and media-wise maintain the illusion of power. However, appearances
can be deceiving. The manner in which the funerals of Hassan Nasrallah and
Hashem Safieddine were organized may actually signal weakness rather than
strength. The campaign, conducted over several days and aimed at generating
massive attendance at the Camille Chamoun Sports City, was accompanied by
“official invitations” to the funerals (a first, surely— “invitations” to a
funeral!); and most notably, the mobilization of the Pasdaran and all
Iranian-backed proxies from Iraq, Yemen, and other countries. This reflects a
twofold weakness within Hezbollah that manifests at two levels: on the one hand,
the need to inflate the crowd size as much as possible to restore lost
legitimacy and morally and politically offset the significant losses sustained;
and on the other hand, the fear that partisan mobilization might fall short of
expectations, which would reflect a wave of disillusionment—not among the inner
circle of die-hard supporters, but rather within the wider ranks of its
sympathizers. The huge crowds that had gathered in the streets to participate in
the funerals of Rafic Hariri or Bashir Gemayel, to name just two examples, had
not been “invited” or strongly urged to mobilize; they did so out of an
instinctive drive, not one that was artificially orchestrated.
Members of the high-ranking official Iranian delegation who traveled to Beirut
for the funerals were received by President Joseph Aoun, who made a particularly
significant statement on this occasion: “Lebanon has endured enough due to the
wars of others and has paid a heavy price for the Palestinian cause.” This
sentiment is undoubtedly shared by an overwhelming majority of Lebanese and very
likely by a sizable portion of the Shiite community. A message that resonates,
clearly.
Schools and Nurseries Will
Be Closed in Mountainous Areas Due to Frost
This is Beirut/February 24/2025
Schools in the mountains and in the Beqaa area will be closed on Tuesday because
of the wave of cold, generating frost in the morning. The Ministry of Public
Health also announced the closure of all nurseries in areas 500 meters above sea
level and higher.
Minister Rakan Nassereddine cited the ongoing frost wave caused by a
low-pressure weather system affecting Lebanon as the reason for the
precautionary measure.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on February 24-25/2025
Trump says he'll hit Canadian goods with 25% tariff next week after
month-long pause
CBC/February 24, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he will go forward with a 25 per cent
tariff on most imports from Canada next week, saying the country has ripped off
the U.S. for too long and it's time to put a stop to it. Speaking to reporters
at a White House news conference with the French president, Trump said work to
implement those tariffs is "moving along very rapidly." "The tariffs are going
forward on time, on schedule. This is an abuse that took place for many, many
years. The tariffs will go forward, yes, and we're going to make up a lot of
territory," Trump said.
Earlier this month, Trump threatened to levy a devastating 25 per cent tariff on
Canadian goods — except energy, which would be levied at 10 per cent — going so
far as to draw up an executive order to implement the regime. Economists and
experts have said tariffs that high have the potential to plunge the Canadian
economy into a recession and lead to severe economic disruption for industries
across the country. The tariff will make some Canadian goods less competitive
because American importers will have to pay the 25 per cent levy to bring them
into the U.S. if Trump's plan goes into effect. Those added costs could then be
passed on to American consumers, pushing up the price of everything from car
parts and fertilizer to pharmaceuticals and paper products. Trump ultimately
pulled back after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to deploy more resources
at the border to tamp down on drugs and migrants crossing into the U.S. Now,
Trump signalled that the pause will be lifted around March 4 as planned despite
meaningful improvement at the border with the number of migrants apprehended and
the quantity of drugs seized plummeting. Trump has also threatened additional 25
per cent tariffs for certain industries, including steel, aluminum and auto
imports. The White House has previously said those tariffs — the steel and
aluminum levies are set to take effect on March 12 — will be stacked on top of
the 25 per cent tariff on Canada. In an interview with CBC News last week,
Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., said illegal migration from
Canada into the U.S. has declined by some 90 per cent in recent months — and the
president's advisers have been "pleased" with the progress. With more money and
resources, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials have been seizing
drugs at the border, including fentanyl. Even before these new efforts, Canada
represented less than one per cent of all seized fentanyl imports into the U.S.,
according to federal data. Still, to satisfy Trump's stated concerns, the
federal government appointed a fentanyl czar to lead Canada's efforts to staunch
the flow.
A CBC News analysis of border data shows Canada actually seized more drugs
coming in last year than what the Americans captured on their side of the 49th
parallel. CBSA officials seized some eight million grams of drugs compared to
five million taken by U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) officials last
year, government data shows. Trump said Tuesday "many countries" have
"mistreated" the U.S and it's "not just Canada and Mexico." "We were led, in
some cases, by fools," he said. "I'm not even blaming the other countries that
did this. I blame our leadership for allowing this to happen, who can blame them
if they made these great deals with the United States, took advantage of the
United States on manufacturing, on just about everything, every aspect." Trump's
talk of "abuse" and "deals" could be a reference to the Canada-U.S. trade
deficit, which is largely driven by American demand for cheaper Canadian oil.
When oil exports are excluded, the Americans actually have a trade surplus with
Canada, according to Canadian government data. Trump has floated wildly
inaccurate figures about just how large that deficit is — even claiming recently
it was "$200 billion." The U.S. government's own data suggests the trade in
goods deficit with Canada was $63 billion US as of December 2024. Trump himself
renegotiated the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement (CUSMA) in his first term, calling
it at the time "the best trade deal ever made."
Druze took over
Suweida airport and replaced Syrian revolution flag with their own.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/X website/February 24/2025
Druze took over Suweida airport and replaced Syrian revolution flag with their
own. If true, the Druze of #Syria are engaged in a full secession effort, will
likely join #Israel. This is self-determination as never seen before. The map of
the Middle East is being redrawn by its own natives.
Alawite citizen
القوات #الدرزية تسيطر على مطار السويداء و تقيم فيه احتفال مع إنزال اعلام الثورة
من فوق المباني
Netanyahu says Israel won't allow
Syrian forces 'south of Damascus'
Associated Press/February 24,
2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Syria's new
army or the insurgent group that led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad
to "enter the area south of Damascus" as his government made clear Israeli
forces would stay in parts of southern Syria for an indefinite period.
Netanyahu's comments Sunday at a military graduation led to new concerns over
the Israeli presence, and sway, in a swath of southern Syria as Damascus' new
leaders attempt to consolidate control after years of civil war. "Take note: We
will not allow HTS forces or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of
Damascus," Netanyahu said, referring to Syria's new authorities as well as Hayat
Tahrir al-Sham, the main former rebel group. "We demand the complete
demilitarization of southern Syria in the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa and
Suwayda from the forces of the new regime. Likewise, we will not tolerate any
threat to the Druze community in southern Syria." There was no immediate
response from Syrian authorities. Defense Minister Israel Katz added that
Israeli forces will remain on the peak of Mt. Hermon in southern Syria and in a
buffer zone "for an indefinite period of time to protect our communities and
thwart any threat."He said Israeli forces have built two posts on the mountain
and another seven in the buffer zone "to ensure defense and offense against any
challenge."After the fall of Assad in December, Israel seized the U.N.-patrolled
buffer zone on Syrian territory. The zone was set up under a 1974 ceasefire
agreement. Syria's new authorities and U.N. officials have called for Israel to
withdraw. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's government has been under pressure to protect
Israelis living near border areas in the north. Katz said Israel will
"strengthen ties with friendly populations in the region," notably the Druze, a
religious minority who live in both southern Syria and in Israel's Golan
Heights, where Druze navigate their historically Syrian identity while living
under Israeli rule. "We will not tolerate any threat to the Druze community in
southern Syria," Netanyahu said. More broadly, Israeli forces "will not allow
hostile forces to establish themselves and be present in the security zone in
southern Syria from here to Damascus. And we will act against any threat," Katz
said.
Syrian leader to visit Jordan on Wednesday,
say Jordanian sources
Reuters/February 24, 2025
AMMAN: The President of the Syrian Arab Republic Ahmed Al-Sharaa will visit
Jordan on Wednesday and meet King Abdullah to discuss boosting ties between the
two neighbors, two Jordanian officials said. The visit is the leader’s third
foreign trip along with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye since he came to power after
leading a militant offensive which ousted Bashar Assad. Sharaa is expected to
hold wide-ranging talks over border security and ways of expanding commercial
ties. Assad’s relationships with most of the Arab world and his neighbors were
strained throughout the nearly 14-year Syrian war. Sharaa has pledged to stamp
out rampant drug smuggling along the two countries’ borders which proliferated
during the rule of toppled Assad and whom Jordan blamed on pro-Iranian militias
that held sway in southern Syria. Jordan, which hosted the first international
conference on Syria a week after Assad was forced to flee, wants to see a
peaceful political transition in Syria, fearing a return of chaos and
instability along its borders. Officials have said they were ready to help Syria
rebuild and promised to help it ease its acute power shortages by supplying it
with electricity and gas. On Sunday, Al-Sharaa received an invitation to attend
an Egyptian-hosted Arab League meeting on Gaza, the Syrian presidency said. “The
president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Mr.Ahmed Al-Sharaa, received an official
invitation from the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt... to participate in
the extraordinary Arab League summit” on March 4 in Cairo, the presidency
statement said. The upcoming Cairo summit is set to focus primarily on Arab
efforts to counter US President Donald Trump’s plan to redevelop Gaza into an
international beach resort and his calls for Egypt and Jordan to resettle
displaced Gazans.
Syria economy minister discusses resuming cooperation
with World Bank
AFP/February 24, 2025
DAMASCUS: Syria’s economy minister sat down with the Middle East director of the
World Bank on Monday to discuss resuming cooperation with the lender, which was
suspended under the toppled government of Bashar Assad, state media reported.
Since ousting Assad in December, Syria’s new rulers have been trying to restore
ties to international institutions to support the country’s reconstruction and
revive its sanctions-hit economy. “The minister of economy, Mr. Bassel Abdel
Hanan, discussed with World Bank’s director for the Middle East, Jean-Christophe
Carret, the resumption of relations between the bank and Syria as well as the
prospects for their development,” the official SANA news agency said. Abdel
Hanan proposed the establishment of a “joint committee between the ministry and
the bank to evaluate a new start.”He added that “the nature of the financing
granted by the bank will determine the type of projects that will be financed,”
pointing to the energy, agriculture, industry and infrastructure sectors in
particular, SANA said. Abdel Hanan also said there was a need for “loans to
manufacturers whose facilities have been destroyed so they can resume their
activities, and raised the possibility of creating an investment fund to support
industry, provided the (bank) offers sanctions in this area.”The World Bank had
previously supported Syria with technical assistance and development advice, but
suspended all of its operations after the civil war broke out in 2011. Since the
fall of Assad, Syria has been urging the international community to drop
sanctions imposed on the former government. The European Union on Monday eased
sanctions on the energy, transport and banking sectors in a bid to help the
country’s reconstruction. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani called the
move “a step toward alleviating the suffering of our people.” A UN report
published last week found that 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty — three
times as many as before the war — while 75 percent rely on humanitarian aid. The
country is expected to form a transitional cabinet on March 1.
Syria's National Dialogue Conference Set to Kick off
Monday
Asharq Al Awsat/February 24/2025
A long-awaited national dialogue conference intended to help chart Syria’s
political future after the fall of former President Bashar Assad is set to begin
Monday. The main session will be held on Tuesday, with participants holding
workshops to discuss transitional justice, the structure of a new constitution,
reforming and building institutions, personal freedoms, the role of civil
society and the country’s economy, The AP reported. The outcome of the national
dialogue will be nonbinding recommendations to the country’s new leaders. Plans
for the conference — which had been promised by the country’s new authorities in
the immediate aftermath of Assad’s fall in a lightning opposition offensive in
December — had been in flux up until the last minute. The date of the conference
was announced on Sunday, one day before it was to start. Two days before that
announcement, Hassan al-Daghim, spokesperson for the committee organizing the
national dialogue, had said the date of the conference had not been set and the
timing was “up for discussion by the citizens.” He also said the number of
participants had not been determined yet and might range from 400 to 1,000. It
was not clear Monday what the final number would be or how the invited
participants had been selected. The committee said Sunday that it had held more
than 30 meetings across Syria’s provinces in which some 4,000 people
participated in the runup to the conference “to ensure the representation of
various components of Syrian society,” state-run news agency SANA reported. It
said participants had repeatedly called for a temporary constitutional
declaration, an economic plan, the restructuring of government sectors,
involving citizens in the management of institutions, and enhancing security and
stability. After Assad was toppled, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the main
former opposition group now in control of Syria, set up an interim
administration comprising mainly members of its “salvation government” that had
ruled in northwestern Syria. They said at the time that a new government would
be formed through an inclusive process by March. In January, former HTS leader
Ahmad al-Sharaa was named Syria’s interim president after a meeting of most of
the country’s former opposition factions. The groups agreed to dissolve the
country’s constitution, the former national army, security service and official
political parties. The armed groups present at the meetings also agreed to
dissolve themselves and for their members to be absorbed into the new national
army and security forces. Notably absent was the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic
Forces, which holds sway in northeastern Syria and which has not been invited to
participate in the national dialogue.
EU suspends sanctions on key Syria economic sectors
Reuters/February 24, 2025
BRUSSELS: European Union countries on Monday suspended a range of sanctions
against Syria with immediate effect, including restrictions related to energy,
banking, transport and reconstruction. The EU has a range of sanctions in place
targeting both individuals and economic sectors in Syria. European leaders began
rethinking their approach after insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat
Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) ousted former President Bashar Assad as president in
December. Meeting in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed to suspend
restrictions on the energy sector that covered oil, gas and electricity, and
sanctions on the transport sector. They have also lifted asset freezes for five
banks, eased restrictions on the Syrian central bank and indefinitely extended
an exemption to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid. EU states maintained a
range of other sanctions related to the Assad authorities, including those on
arms trading, dual-use goods with both military and civilian uses, software for
surveillance and the international trade of Syrian cultural heritage goods. They
said they would continue to monitor the situation in Syria to ensure that the
suspensions remained appropriate.
Israel ready to resume Gaza war, Netanyahu warns after
truce delay
Agence France Presse/February 24, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is prepared to resume
fighting against Hamas after the Palestinian group accused it of endangering a
five-week-old Gaza truce by suspending prisoner releases. The first phase of the
truce, which has largely halted more than 15 months of devastating war in the
Gaza Strip, is due to expire in early March, and details of a planned subsequent
phase have not been agreed. With tensions again surging over the deal, Israel on
Sunday announced an expansion of military operations against militants in the
occupied West Bank, a separate Palestinian territory where violence has soared
throughout the Gaza war. Netanyahu, speaking at a military ceremony a day after
Israel halted the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for
six hostages freed from Gaza, vowed to achieve the war's objectives in
negotiations "or by other means."
"We are prepared to resume intense fighting at any moment," he said. Since the
ceasefire began on January 19, Gaza militants have released 25 living Israeli
hostages in staged ceremonies, often flanked by masked gunmen and forced to
speak. After six were freed on Saturday, Israel put off the planned release of
more than 600 Palestinians, citing what Netanyahu called "humiliating
ceremonies" in Gaza. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has
facilitated the hostage-prisoner exchanges, has previously appealed to "all
parties" for the swaps to be carried out in a "dignified and private" manner.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said postponing the release exposes "the
entire agreement to grave danger."Naim called on the truce mediators,
"especially the Americans", to pressure Israel "to implement the agreement as it
is and immediately release our prisoners."
Both sides have accused each other of violations during the ceasefire but it has
so far held.
'Prevent return' -
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack, and has made
bringing back all hostages seized that day part of its war objectives. The
attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people,
and Israel's retaliation killed more than 48,000 in Gaza, according to figures
from both sides. Netanyahu on Sunday said that "we have eliminated most of
Hamas's organized forces, but let there be no doubt -- we will complete the
war's objectives entirely -- whether through negotiation or by other means."A
military statement later on Sunday said "it was decided to increase the
operational readiness in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip". US President
Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said he was headed to the Middle East this
week to "get an extension of phase one" of the truce. "We're hopeful that we
have the proper time... to begin phase two, and finish it off and get more
hostages released," Witkoff told CNN. Trump has floated the idea of a US
takeover of war-ravaged Gaza under which its Palestinian inhabitants would move
elsewhere, triggering widespread criticism. Alongside the Gaza war -- which
displaced almost the entire population of 2.4 million -- Israel has intensified
its military operations in the West Bank. According to UN and Israeli figures,
40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from refugee camps in the northern West
Bank since the start of a major Israeli offensive last month. The military said
a tank division will be sent into Jenin, the first such deployment to the West
Bank in 20 years. Defense Minister Israel Katz said he has told troops "to
prepare for a prolonged presence in the cleared camps for the coming year and to
prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism".
'Parading bodies' -
Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence for Le Beck risk management consultancy,
said the deployment of tanks in the West Bank comes at a "very sensitive time
for the ceasefire" in Gaza. He noted that Netanyahu, under domestic pressure
over his handling of the war, could face the choice of either returning to
fighting or his far-right coalition government potentially collapsing. In the
West Bank as well as in Gaza, families of Palestinian prisoners had waited with
uncertainty into the night on Saturday, hoping for their release. The six
Israelis freed Saturday were the last group of living hostages set for release
under the truce's first phase. The first transfer of dead hostages under the
truce earlier this week sparked anger in Israel when the remains of captive
Shiri Bibas were not initially returned, promoting Hamas to admit a possible
"mix-up of bodies" and finally hand over hers.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk condemned the "parading of bodies" during a
ceremony in which coffins, with pictures of the dead attached, were displayed on
a slogan-bedecked stage.
West Bank Palestinians fear Gaza-style clearance as Israel
squeezes Jenin camp
Reuters/February 25, 2025
The month-long operation in the northern West Bank has been one of the biggest
seen since the Second Intifada uprising by Palestinians more than 20 years ago
Already, Israel has campaigned to undermine UNWRA, the main Palestinian relief
agency, banning it from its former headquarters in East Jerusalem and ordering
it to stop operations in Jenin
JENIN, West Bank: Israeli bulldozers have demolished large areas of the now
virtually empty Jenin refugee camp and appear to be carving wide roadways
through its once-crowded warren of alleyways, echoing tactics already employed
in Gaza as troops prepare for a long-term stay. At least 40,000 Palestinians
have left their homes in Jenin and the nearby city of Tulkarm in the northern
West Bank since Israel began its operation just a day after reaching a ceasefire
agreement in Gaza after 15 months of war. “Jenin is a repeat of what happened in
Jabalia,” said Basheer Matahen, spokesperson for the Jenin municipality,
referring to the refugee camp in northern Gaza that was cleared out by the
Israeli army after weeks of bitter fighting. “The camp has become
uninhabitable.”
HIGHLIGHTS
• Tens of thousands cleared from camps in northern West Bank
• Israeli troops seen preparing for long stay
• Israeli hardliners look to Trump for support
He said at least 12 bulldozers were at work demolishing houses and
infrastructure in the camp, once a crowded township that housed descendants of
Palestinians who fled their homes or were driven out in the 1948 war in what
Palestinians call the ‘Nakba’ or catastrophe at the start of the state of
Israel.
He said army engineering teams could be seen making preparations for a long-term
stay, bringing water tanks and generators to a special area of almost one acre
in size. No comment was immediately available from the Israeli military but on
Sunday, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to prepare for “a prolonged
stay,” saying the camps had been cleared “for the coming year” and residents
would not be allowed to return. The month-long operation in the northern West
Bank has been one of the biggest seen since the Second Intifada uprising by
Palestinians more than 20 years ago, involving several brigades of Israeli
troops backed by drones, helicopters, and, for the first time in decades, heavy
battle tanks. “There is a broad and ongoing evacuation of population, mainly in
the two refugee camps, Nur Shams, near to Tulkarm and Jenin,” said Michael
Milshtein, a former military intelligence official who heads the Palestinian
Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.
“I don’t know what the broad strategy is but there’s no doubt at all that we
didn’t see such a step in the past.”
Israel launched the operation, saying it intended to take on Iranian-backed
militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad that have been firmly
implanted in the refugee camps for decades, despite repeated Israeli attempts to
root them out. But as the weeks have gone on, Palestinians have said the real
intention appears to be a large scale, permanent displacement of the population
by destroying homes and making it impossible for them to stay. “Israel wants to
erase the camps and the memory of the camps, morally and financially, they want
to erase the name of refugees from the memory of the people,” said 85-year-old
Hassan Al-Katib, who lived in the Jenin camp with 20 children and grandchildren
before abandoning his house and all his possessions during the Israeli
operation. Already, Israel has campaigned to undermine UNWRA, the main
Palestinian relief agency, banning it from its former headquarters in East
Jerusalem and ordering it to stop operations in Jenin. “We don’t know what is
the intention of the state of Israel. We know there’s a lot of displacement out
of the camps,” said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, adding that refugees
enjoyed protected status regardless of their physical location.
’MILITARY OPERATION’
The camps, permanent symbols of the unresolved status of 5.9 Palestinian
refugees, have been a constant target for Israel which says the refugee issue
has hindered any resolution of the decades-long conflict. But it has always held
back from clearing them permanently. On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon
Saar denied that the operation in the West Bank had any wider purpose than
combating militant groups. “It’s military operations taking place there against
terrorists, and no other objectives but that,” he told reporters in Brussels
where he met European Union officials in the EU-Israel Association Council.
But many Palestinians see an echo of US President Donald Trump’s call for
Palestinians to be moved out of Gaza to make way for a US property development
project, a call that was endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
cabinet. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, said the operation in the northern West Bank appeared to be repeating
tactics used in the Gaza, where Israeli troops systematically displaced
thousands of Palestinians as they moved through the enclave. “We demand that the
US administration force the occupation state to immediately stop the aggression
it is waging on the cities of the West Bank,” he said. Israeli hard-liners
inside and outside the government have called repeatedly for Israel to annex the
West Bank, a kidney-shaped area around 100 kilometers long that Palestinians see
as the core of a future independent state, along with Gaza. But pressure has
been tempered by fears that outright annexation could sink prospects of building
economic and security ties with Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, and face a
veto by Israel’s main ally, the United States. However, hard-liners have been
heartened by the large number of strongly pro-Israel figures in the new US
administration and by Trump himself, who said earlier this month that he would
announce his position on the West Bank within weeks.
How many hostages are left in Gaza?
JERUSALEM (AP)/February 24, 2025
Hamas freed six Israelis on Saturday in the last scheduled release of living
hostages by the militant group under the current stage of a ceasefire agreement
with Israel.
In all, a total of 33 Israelis are being freed during this stage — including
eight who are dead. Five Thai hostages have also been freed separately.
Sixty-three hostages, including the body of a soldier held since 2014, remain in
Gaza. The remains of four Israeli hostages have been returned in a transfer that
was marred when Hamas handed over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli
mother of two young boys abducted by militants. After a tense standoff, her
remains were returned and identified early Saturday. The final four sets of
remains are expected to be returned in the coming days. Hamas-led militants
abducted 251 people in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. More
than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been killed in
the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t
distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israel is releasing nearly 2,000 prisoners and detainees during the first phase
of the ceasefire in exchange for the hostages.Here are details on the hostages
taken on Oct. 7, 2023:
Total captured: 251
Hostages released in exchanges or other deals: 141, of whom 4 were dead
Hostages still in captivity: 62, of whom Israel has declared 35 to be dead
Hostages in captivity who are soldiers: 13, of whom Israel has declared 7 to be
dead
Bodies of hostages retrieved by Israeli troops: 40
Hostages rescued alive: 8
Non-Israelis still in captivity: 5 ( 3 Thais, 1 Nepalese, 1 Tanzanian), of whom
2 (1 Thai and 1 Nepalese) are believed to still be alive
Separately:
Hostages released who were held before Oct. 7, 2023: 2
Meanwhile, Israel retrieved the body of one soldier held in Gaza since he was
killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. The body of a second soldier killed in 2014
remains in Gaza.
EU must condemn Israeli atrocities at top-level meeting:
Human Rights Watch
Arab News/February 24, 2025
LONDON: EU officials must condemn Israeli atrocities and violations of
international law at the EU-Israel Association Council meeting on Monday, Human
Rights Watch has urged. The meeting will be led by EU High Representative Kaja
Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. Kallas will be joined by EU
foreign ministers. Together, they should “signal an end to the bloc’s reluctance
to acknowledge and address Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity —
including apartheid — and acts of genocide,” HRW said. Last February, Spain and
Ireland requested a suspension to the EU-Israel Association Agreement due to
Israel’s grave abuses of its human rights obligations. The request has yet to be
answered by the EU. The Association Council is the EU’s top-level bilateral
meeting with Israel, held as part of the agreement. The last meeting took place
in October 2022 following a 10-year pause initiated by Israel over discontent
with the EU’s condemnation of settlement-building in the Occupied Territories.
Claudio Francavilla, associate EU director at HRW, said: “There can be no
business as usual with a government responsible for crimes against humanity,
including apartheid, and acts of genocide, and whose sitting prime minister is
wanted for atrocity crimes by the International Criminal Court. “The only
purpose of this Association Council meeting should be to call out those crimes
and to announce long overdue measures in response.”More than 100 civil society
organizations, including HRW, urged the EU in a letter to center discussions
with Saar on the potential suspension of the agreement. Article 2 names human
rights and democratic principles as “essential elements” which, if violated, can
lead to the suspension of the treaty. HRW has documented extensive abuses by
Israel during the conflict in Gaza, including war crimes, ethnic cleansing,
crimes against humanity and acts of genocide. The EU has yet to adopt any
“concrete measure to press Israeli authorities” to halt these abuses, HRW
warned. Any move by the bloc requires unanimous approval by its 27 members.
Several EU foreign ministers have criticized the International Criminal Court’s
issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The EU approved two rounds of sanctions
against Israeli settlers who had committed abuses in the West Bank, but fell
short of punishing the authorities who have enabled them, HRW said. EU states
also continue to export weapons to Israel despite the risk of complicity in war
crimes. A smear campaign led by Israel also saw the EU and its member states
pause, and in some cases fully end, support for the UN Relief and Works Agency,
which provides vital services to Palestinian refugees. Francavilla said:
“Europe’s reluctance to condemn and address Israel’s atrocity crimes has fueled
them and given rise to well-grounded accusations of EU double standards. “Unless
the EU drastically changes course, it will provide a blank check for further
abuses and continue to undermine the EU’s stated commitment to human rights and
the rules-based international order.”
EU, Israel Resume Dialogue with Focus on Gaza's Future
Asharq Al Awsat/February 24/2025
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called for a constructive dialogue but
braced for criticism from some European countries as he arrived for talks on
Monday in Brussels. The Israeli minister is meeting senior European officials,
reviving a dialogue with the European Union as the bloc considers a role in the
reconstruction of Gaza following last month's fragile ceasefire deal. "I'm
looking for a constructive dialogue, an open and honest one, and I believe that
this is what it will be," Saar told reporters on arrival, Reuters reported. "We
know how to face criticism," he said, adding "it's okay as long as criticism is
not connected to delegitimisation, demonisation, or double standards ... but we
are ready to discuss everything with an open mind". Saar will co-chair a meeting
of the EU-Israel Association Council with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in
the first such session since 2022. Talks are set to focus on the humanitarian
situation in Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian relations and changing regional dynamics.
The Israeli foreign minister said that within the EU "there are very friendly
countries, there are less friendly countries", but that Monday's meeting showed
a willingness to renew normal relations. The Hamas attacks on Israel on October
7, 2023, and Israel's response, exposed sharp divisions within the EU. While all
members condemned the Hamas attacks, some staunchly defended Israel's war in
Gaza as others condemned Israel's military campaign and its toll on civilians.
COMPROMISE
In February 2024, the leaders of Spain and Ireland sent a letter to the European
Commission asking for a review of whether Israel was complying with its human
rights obligations under the 2000 EU-Israel Association Agreement, which
provides the basis for political and economic cooperation between the two
sides.But ahead of Monday's meeting, the bloc's 27 member countries negotiated a
compromise position that praises areas of cooperation with Israel while also
raising concerns. At the meeting, the EU will emphasize both Europe's commitment
to Israel's security and its view that "displaced Gazans should be ensured a
safe and dignified return to their homes in Gaza", according to a draft document
seen by Reuters.
Clash Between Gaza & Israel Advocacy Groups The Brigade
& Artists4Ceasefire Could Impact Sunday’s Oscars
Mike Fleming Jr/Mon, February 24, 2025
EXCLUSIVE: While this Oscar season has brought no shortage of controversy, the
awards shows have been largely apolitical. That might well change Sunday at the
Oscars because of a potential clash over the war in Gaza between Israel and
Hamas. You’ll be able to tell because of the visible lapel pins attendees and
nominees might wear. Brigade was formed by a group of high-powered Hollywood
publicists who coalesced the day after the vicious Hamas attack on Israel on
October 7 to focus on messaging in support of Israel and the Jewish cause. The
group, which has grown to over 700 in all segments of film and TV and organized
screenings of unedited footage of atrocities that Hamas terrorists took on
October 7, sent a fiery letter this morning to the organizers of
Artists4Ceasefire. That group is a collective of over 550 artists and advocates
also formed in October to press for a permanent ceasefire, full hostage release
and delivery of aid to Gaza. These factions are both on the side of peace and
compassion, but their allegiances seem on opposite sides with the perception
that Brigade’s sympathies are pro-Israel while Artists4Ceasefire’s sympathies
fall with the Palestinian citizens who’ve watched their homes decimated in
Israel’s efforts to root out Hamas from future attacks.
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Moore
Brigade is responding to an Artists4Ceasefire email to its members, asking them
to wear its support pins, which depicts an open hand with a heart in its palm.
Below is the letter from Brigade that Deadline has secured. It was sent in black
lettering on an orange background, which is the color associated with
10-month-old Kfir Bibas and 4-year-old Ariel Bibas. Hamas last week returned
their bodies and the body of their mother Shiri. While Hamas claimed the
children were killed in an Israeli airstrike, the Israel Defense Forces said an
autopsy proved someone used their bare hands to strangle the children, a
revelation that has complicated the ceasefire and delayed the freeing of
hostages on both sides, and created an international uproar. It seems from here
that the politics of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is so complex that for
well-meaning Hollywood folks trying to show support for a humanitarian crisis to
be placed on one side or other by wearing a pin, probably isn’t the smartest
thing here, but what do I know?
Here is the letter from Brigade, followed by the email from Artists4Ceasefire.
To the Red Hand Supporters,
We turned the other cheek when you pinned a symbol of Jewish murder to your
awards lapels.
We took the high road when you cried for a ceasefire that already existed before
Hamas shattered it on October 7th.
But today, we will not be silent.
On February 20th, the same day the world learned 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his
4-year-old brother Ariel were strangled to death by their terrorist captors in
Gaza, you doubled down—urging celebrities to proudly wear your bloodstained red
hand pin.
Have you no shame?
That pin is no symbol of peace. It is the emblem of Jewish bloodshed.
In 2000, Palestinian terrorists in Ramallah lynched two innocent Israelis,
ripped them apart limb by limb, and held up their blood-soaked hands to a
cheering mob. That infamous image is now your “ceasefire” badge.
And on the very day it was discovered that the Bibas babies—innocent Jewish
children—were strangled to death by the terrorist’s bare hands, you asked
Hollywood to wear it with pride.
Is this ignorance?
Or is this deliberate, calculated malice?
It’s not peace.
You Claim to See Humanity on Both Sides. Yet You…
Ignore the facts surrounding the historic barbaric October 7 terror attack on
Israel
Push your anti-Israel narrative even after Israel agreed to ceasefires with
Hamas AND Hezbollah.
Refuse to condemn Hamas’ grotesque, sadistic ceasefire tactics.
Did you speak up when Hamas:
– Returned hostages on the brink of death, frail, bruised, and starved?
– Executed Israeli captives AFTER a ceasefire was reached?
– Traded mutilated corpses while laughing in the faces of grieving families?
*Actors, Actresses, Filmmakers and people of our Hollywood Community, Read This
Before You Wear That Pin Again* Would you proudly wear the emblem of a lynching?
Would you parade the symbol of people who strangled babies with their bare
hands?
Because that is what the red hand represents.
To those who wore it without knowing—now you know.
To those who knew and wore it anyway—we see you and we will not be silent.
Members of the Brigade
Here is the email from Artists4Ceasefire program manager Isabel Naturman, which
has been redacted in the mention of names of specific recipients and was sent
before Sunday’s Spirit Awards:
Artists4Ceasefire is a collective of over 550 artists and advocates, formed in
October 2023 to amplify the global call for an immediate and permanent
ceasefire, full hostage release, and delivery of lifesaving aid in Gaza. The pin
is a representation of our continued advocacy for these demands, and symbolizes
support for universal human rights and lasting peace.
Over the past year, artists like Mark Ruffalo, Ava DuVernay, Nicola Coughlan and
Ayo Edebiri have worn the pin to major award shows, premieres, and on press
tours. It would mean so much to have your help in continuing to strengthen our
effort to save lives, and send a message that compassion must prevail.
If there’s interest, let us know, and we’ll send more info and a pin right away.
We’re conscious of all that’s happening in this time, especially in LA, so we
truly thank you both so much for considering.
With appreciation,
UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in
West Bank
AFP/February 24, 2025
GENEVA: The UN chief voiced alarm Monday at rising violence by Israeli settlers
in the West Bank and calls for annexation after Israel announced expanded
military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory. “I am gravely
concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers
and other violations, as well as calls for annexation,” Antonio Guterres told
the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Iraqi Kurdistan can start oil flows within days on
Turkish approval, minister says
Reuters/February 24, 2025
BAGHDAD: Iraq is waiting for Turkiye’s approval to restart the oil flows from
the Iraqi Kurdistan region, the Iraqi oil minister said on Monday, adding that
Kurdish oil exports will hopefully be ready in two days. Asked if resuming
Kurdish oil exports will affect Iraq’s OPEC compliance, Hayan Abdel-Ghani told
reporters that Baghdad is committed to the OPEC+ decisions and exported volumes
under the control of the Iraqi oil ministry. Iraqi Kurdistan authorities have
agreed with the federal oil ministry to restart Kurdish crude exports based on
available volumes, Kurdistan’s regional government said on Sunday. The pipeline
was halted by Turkiye in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce
(ICC) ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized
exports between 2014 and 2018. US President Donald Trump’s administration is
putting pressure on Iraq to allow Kurdish oil exports to restart or face
sanctions alongside Iran, sources have told Reuters. An Iraqi official later
denied pressure or the threat of sanctions. A speedy resumption of exports from
Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region would help to offset a potential fall in
Iranian oil exports, which Washington has pledged to cut to zero as part of
Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran. Asked if the northern oil
exports through neighboring Turkiye’s Ceyhan port will include crude oil
produced from Iraq’s Kirkuk fields, Hayan Abdel-Ghani told reporters:
“Production from Kirkuk fields will be for local use.”
Morocco says it dismantled Islamic State cell that was
planning attacks
Sam Metz/SALE, Morocco (AP)/February 24, 2025
Moroccan authorities this month arrested a dozen people they said were planning
attacks on behalf of the Islamic State in the Sahel, a region south of the
Sahara Desert, officials said Monday. The discovery of the terrorist cell and
what authorities called an “imminent dangerous terrorist plot” reflect the
expanding ambitions of extremist groups in the region. Authorities did not
provide details of the plot or motivations of those arrested, but released
photographs and videos showing officers raiding terrorist cells throughout the
country. The images showed weapons stockpiles found during police raids, Islamic
State flags drawn on walls, and thousands of dollars of cash. “Morocco remains a
major target in the agenda of all terrorist organizations operating in the
Sahel,” Habboub Cherkaoui, the head of Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial
Investigations, said at a news conference.
Militant groups have been expanding their presence in the Sahel, capitalizing on
instability in countries including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Since French
troops began withdrawing almost two years ago, the Islamic State in the Sahel
has launched deadly campaigns and taken control of lucrative transit routes.
Groups like Islamic State in the Sahel have found support in impoverished
communities that feel neglected by their governments. Their growth has
destabilized and in several cases contributed to the overthrow of elected
leaders. It has alarmed neighboring states — including in North Africa and
coastal west Africa — and worried western powers concerned about militant groups
using their regional bases to orchestrate violence elsewhere. Authorities said
the Morocco-based cell called itself "the Lions of the Caliphate in the Maghreb”
and took direction from Islamic State in the Sahel commanders. More than a year
of tracking done by Morocco’s General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance
showed Islamic State in the Sahel commanders worked to recruit, arm and direct
sympathizers to carry out attacks in Morocco.
The weapons found include materials to make explosives including nail bombs,
dynamite and gas cylinders as well as knives, rifles and hand guns whose serial
numbers had been scratched off. Investigators said the 12 men arrested ranged
from 18 to 40 years old and were apprehended in nine different cities, including
Casablanca, Fez and Tangier. The majority were unmarried and had not finished
high school. They have not yet been charged under Morocco's anti-terrorism laws.
Based on materials gathered in raids last week, authorities were able to locate
a cache of weapons in the desert near Morocco’s border with Algeria, including
firearms and ammunition wrapped in newspapers printed in Mali in late January.
Authorities said the suspects arrested this month had maintained ties to Adnan
Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, a militant leader born in the Morocco-controlled Western
Sahara who was killed by French forces in 2021. In the years since, they took
direction from the Libyan commander Abderrahmane Sahraoui, who oversees the
group's operations outside the Sahel. Episodes of violence would be particularly
damaging in Morocco, where the economy relies heavily on tourism. More than 17
million people visited the North African Kingdom last year and the tourism
industry makes up more than 7% of its GDP. Morocco is the only in North Africa
not to have experienced a major terrorist attack for more than a decade. But its
security services regularly underscore that the threat remains and claim attacks
are regularly foiled when terrorist cells are dismantled. They have in recent
years dismantled 40 such cells, including one as recently as January. Cherkaoui
said the operation revealed that Islamic State in the Sahel Sahel aimed to
expand and establish operations in Morocco or recruit Moroccans to fight abroad,
including most recently in Somalia. He said the groups “do not hide their desire
to target Morocco through propaganda platforms” and said Morocco’s aggressive
counterterrorism posture made it a target. Morocco has worked to present itself
as a regional leader in combatting violent extremism, forging deeper ties with
new governments throughout the Sahel, including Mali, with which signed a joint
military cooperation agreement last month.
UN General Assembly backs EU over US in rival
resolutions calling for end to war in Ukraine
Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/February 24, 2025
NEW YORK CITY: The UN General Assembly on Monday passed a resolution, backed by
the EU and Ukraine, condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, demanding the
immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, and calling for a quick end to
hostilities and a peaceful resolution to the war.
The resolution passed with 93 votes in favor. The US and Russia were two of 18
UN members who voted against it, and 65 countries, including China and Gulf
Cooperation Council member states, abstained. All other Arab countries also
abstained, with the exception of Lebanon, which voted in favor.
The resolution reaffirms the assembly’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and
to the principle “that no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or
use of force shall be recognized as legal.”It calls for “a deescalation, an
early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against
Ukraine” and reiterated “the urgent need to end the war this year.”Over the
weekend, the US had urged countries to vote against the Ukrainian resolution. On
Friday, Washington proposed its own, last-minute, very brief rival resolution
that acknowledged “the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine
conflict,” implored “a swift end to the conflict” and further urged efforts to
achieve “a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.” It stopped short of
mentioning Russian aggression. The US resolution was only passed by the General
Assembly after an amendment, proposed by France, that made it clear Russia had
invaded its smaller neighbor in violation of the UN Charter. The vote on the
amended US resolution passed with 93 votes in favor and eight against. There
were 73 abstentions, including the US, which abstained from the final vote on
its own resolution. US envoy Dorothy Shea said several previous UN resolutions
condemning Russia and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops “have failed to
stop the war,” which “has now dragged on for far too long and at far too
terrible a cost to the people in Ukraine and Russia and beyond.”She added: “What
we need is a resolution marking the commitment from all UN member states to
bring a durable end to the war.” Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, Mariana
Betsa, called for “all nations to stand firm and to take (the) side of the (UN)
Charter, the side of humanity and the side of just and lasting peace, peace
through strength.”She added: “This war has never been about Ukraine only; it is
about the fundamental right of any country to exist, to choose its own path and
to live free from aggression.”Speaking on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council
after the vote, Kuwait’s permanent representative to the UN, Tarek Al-Banai,
told the assembly that GCC members abstained in order to give priority to
dialogue, and expressed the council’s commitment to resolving the conflict in
Ukraine as quickly as possible. Al-Banai said that for the past three years, GCC
member countries have assumed the role of mediators, which helped facilitate the
release of hostages through negotiations. He also expressed hope that the talks
between Russia and the US in Riyadh last week will prove to be the first step
toward resolving the conflict.He vowed that the GCC will continue its efforts to
pursue “serious solutions that will make it possible to stop the bloodshed and
put an end, once and for all, to the conflict.”
Western leaders visit Kyiv and pledge military support
against Russia on the war's 3rd anniversary
Justin Spike/The Associated Press/February 24, 2025
Ukraine on Monday marked the bleakest anniversary yet of its war against the
Russia invasion, with the country's forces under severe pressure on the
battlefield and U.S. President Donald Trump's administration apparently
embracing the Kremlin in a reversal of U.S. policy. The three-year milestone
drew more than a dozen Western leaders to Kyiv for commemorative events in a
conspicuous show of support. They warned of the war’s wider implications for
global security and vowed to keep providing billions of dollars in support for
Ukraine as uncertainty deepens over the U.S. commitment to help. Washington did
not send any senior official to the occasion. The fourth year of fighting could
be pivotal as Trump uses his return to office to press for a peace deal. “The
autocrats around the world are watching very carefully whether there’s any
impunity if you violate international borders or invade your neighbor, or if
there is true deterrence,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
warned. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau echoed that sentiment. Canadians,
he said, “believe deeply that it’s not just about Ukraine. It’s about the rules
and the values and the principles of sovereignty, of independence, territorial
integrity that protects every country in the world. All of us rely on those
rules to be able to build peace and security."
Some observers say Russian success in Ukraine could embolden China’s ambitions.
Just as Moscow claims that Ukraine is rightfully Russian territory, China claims
the self-governing island of Taiwan as its own. North Korea and Iran have also
aided Russia's war effort. In a cascade of unwelcome developments for Kyiv,
Trump has in recent days called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a
dictator, suggested Ukraine is to blame for the war and ended Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s three-year diplomatic isolation by the United States. U.S.
officials have also indicated to Ukraine that its hopes of joining NATO are
unlikely to be realized and that it probably won’t get back the land that
Russia’s army occupies, which amounts to nearly 20% of the country. Meanwhile,
Putin’s troops are making steady progress on the battlefield while Ukraine is
grappling with shortages of troops and weapons.
The guests in Kyiv and the leaders appearing by video had similar messages:
Ukraine and its European partners must be consulted in any peace negotiations,
Putin’s ambitions must be thwarted, and Europe must take on more of the burden
for its own defense. Alarm bells sound in Europe as Washington changes course.
The shift in Washington's policy has set off alarm bells in Europe, where
governments fear being sidelined by the U.S. in efforts to secure a peace deal.
They are mulling how they might pick up the slack of any cut in U.S. aid for
Ukraine. The changes have also placed strain on transatlantic relations.
European Council President Antonio Costa on Sunday announced that he would
convene an emergency summit of the 27 EU leaders in Brussels on March 6, with
Ukraine at the top of the agenda. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French
President Emmanuel Macron are both visiting Washington this week.
EU foreign ministers on Monday approved a new raft of sanctions against Russia.
The measures target Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of ships that it uses to
skirt restrictions on transporting oil and gas, or to carry stolen Ukrainian
grain. The EU said 74 vessels were added to its shadow fleet list. Asset freezes
and travel bans were imposed on 83 officials and “entities” — usually government
agencies, banks or companies. Britain, too, imposed new sanctions, targeting 107
businesses and individuals in what it says is its biggest package targeting
Russia’s war machine since the early days of the conflict in 2022. The measures
take aim at Russia’s military supply chains, including companies in several
countries — notably China — that Britain says are supplying machine tools,
electronics and dual-use goods for Russia’s military. Spanish Prime Minister
Pedro Sánchez said his country would provide a 1 billion-euro ($1.04 billion)
military systems package to Ukraine this year.
Starmer said Ukrainians’ voices “must be at the heart of the drive for peace,”
while Trump’s intervention had “changed the global conversation” and “created an
opportunity.”“Russia does not hold all the cards in this war," he said.
Coming off a victory in Sunday’s German elections, conservative leader Friedrich
Merz — also a staunch backer of Ukraine — posted on X Monday: “More than ever,
we must put Ukraine in a position of strength."“For a fair peace, the country
that is under attack must be part of peace negotiations,” he wrote.
Diplomacy ramps up after record Russian drone attack
On Sunday, Russia launched its biggest single drone attack of the war, pounding
Ukraine with 267 drones. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, insisted that the
U.S. cannot seal any peace deal to end the war without Ukraine or Europe being
involved. She highlighted what she claimed were pro-Russian positions being
taken up by the Trump administration.
“You can discuss whatever you want with Putin. But if it comes to Europe or
Ukraine, then Ukraine and Europe also have to agree to this deal,” Kallas told
reporters in Brussels, where she was leading a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Kallas is scheduled to travel to Washington on Tuesday for talks with U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the third anniversary was “a grim
milestone.”“More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured. Entire
communities reduced to rubble. Hospitals and schools destroyed,” he said in
Geneva.
In a win for Ukraine, the United States on Monday failed to get the U.N. General
Assembly to approve its resolution seeking to end the war without mentioning
Russian aggression. The U.S. draft resolution was amended by the assembly to add
language making clear that Russia invaded its smaller neighbor in violation of
the U.N. Charter.
Washington and Moscow draw closer
In other developments, Trump said Putin would accept European peacekeepers in
Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end the war.
“Yeah, he will accept it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I have
asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more
war.”
Putin has previously said that European or U.S forces in Ukraine would be a
major security issue for Russia. He has never publicly indicated that he would
accept Western troops in Ukraine, and multiple Russian officials have indicated
that would be a red line for Moscow.
Russia's foreign ministry said Saturday that preparations for a face-to-face
meeting between Trump and Putin were underway, and U.S. officials have said that
they agreed with Moscow to reestablish diplomatic ties and restart economic
cooperation.
At a virtual meeting with leaders of the Group of Seven economies also held
Monday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the U.S. are “working productively” on an
economic agreement that would help lock them together. Trump attended the
meeting.
“And, President Trump, we would really like to hear from you because all our
people, all our families, are very worried. Will there be support from America?
Will America be the leader of the free world?” Zelenskyy said.
China’s Xi affirms ‘no limits’ partnership with Putin in
call on Ukraine war anniversary
Reuters/February 24, 2025
BEIJING: China’s President Xi Jinping affirmed his “no limits” partnership in a
phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, China’s state media
reported, on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The leaders held the talks as US President Donald Trump has pushed for a quick
deal to end the Ukraine war, raising the prospect that Washington could draw a
wedge between Xi and Putin and focus on competing with the world’s second
largest economy. The call appeared aimed at dispelling any such prospects — the
two leaders underscored the durability and the “long-term” nature of their
alliance, with its own “internal dynamics” that would not be impacted by any
“third party.” “China-Russia relations have strong internal driving force and
unique strategic value, and are not aimed at, nor are they influenced by, any
third party,” said Xi, according to the official readout published by Chinese
state media. “The development strategies and foreign policies of China and
Russia are long-term,” said Xi, adding that the two countries “are good
neighbors that cannot be moved apart.”Trump has alarmed Washington’s European
allies by leaving them and Ukraine out of talks with Russia last week and
blaming Ukraine for Russia’s 2022 invasion. On Ukraine, Xi said that China was
“pleased to see the positive efforts made by Russia and all parties concerned to
defuse the crisis,” noting China’s initiatives such as the creation of a group
of nations called “friends of peace.” “All in appearance is normal and seems
nothing happened to Sino-Russian partnership, but either side must know that
many things could be different after Trump-Putin bilateral diplomacy, though
itself highly confusing and uncertain,” said Shi Yinhong, professor at the
School of International Studies, Renmin University. This was the second call
both leaders have held this year, after they discussed how to build ties with
Trump in January. China and Russia declared a “no limits” strategic partnership,
days before Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February
2022. Xi has met Putin over 40 times in the past decade and Putin in recent
months described China as an “ally.”Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow for
its role in the war, straining its ties with Europe and the US as a result.
Both sides also discussed preparations for the commemoration of the Soviet
victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. Earlier this month Xi accepted
Russia’s invitation to attend the event.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on February 24-25/2025
Hamas's October 7 Massacre Is Part of Its Jihad to Destroy Israel
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/February 24, 2025
Some people in Israel are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step
down and agree to Hamas's demand to end the war in the Gaza Strip.... These
Israelis fail to understand that the October 7 massacre is just another phase of
the Islamists' Jihad (holy war) against Israel.
Since its violent, brutal takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has done
nothing to help the local residents. Instead of building hospitals, schools and
economic projects, Hamas, with the help of Iran and Qatar, has devoted huge
resources to manufacturing weapons, such as rockets and missiles, and building a
massive network of tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, in a document published shortly after the October 7 attack, openly admits
that it is opposed to the presence of Jews in Israel. The document frankly
admits that the conflict did not start as a result of the Holocaust, or when
Israel declared independence in 1948, or on October 7, 2023, but 105 years ago,
"including 30 years of British colonialism and 75 years of Zionist occupation."
The document goes on to explain that Hamas "is a Palestinian Islamic national
liberation and resistance movement. Its goal is to liberate Palestine and
confront the Zionist project."
Hamas's 1988 charter emphasizes the importance of Jihad as the main means for
the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to achieve its goals...
Significantly, the charter quotes Hassan al-Banna, who founded the Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, as saying: "Israel will arise and continue to
exist until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished what went before." Hamas is the
Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
US President Donald J. Trump would do well to designate the Muslim Brotherhood,
the font of all the Islamic jihadist organizations, as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization. Such an act would make it difficult for those countries that
promote and finance jihadi terrorists to keep on doing so.
What happened on October 7 should be seen in the context of Qatar's, Iran's and
Hamas's continuing Jihad. The massacre on October 7 was just another phase in
the Islamist groups' efforts to eliminate Israel. After the October 7,
massacres, the Qatari government media consistently praised the massacres, and
weeks ago vowed more of them.
Anyone who believes that Hamas would abandon Jihad as a result of a ceasefire
agreement is engaging in extreme self-deception. Hamas has not yet accomplished
its mission of destroying Israel. Hamas's main goal, especially now, is to
remain in power after the war.... Any deal that keeps Hamas in power would pave
the way for the Islamist murderers, rapists and baby-killers to carry out still
more massacres against Israelis.
Regrettably, there is no alternative to eradicating Hamas.
The October 7, 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel was part of Hamas's Jihad to
destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamist state. The Jihad does not aim to
free prisoners or remove settlements and checkpoints, but to murder Jews and
obliterate Israel. Iran and Hamas do not care if tens of thousands of
Palestinians lose their lives, so long as it is permitted to pursue their Jihad
against Israel. Any deal that keeps Hamas in power would pave the way for the
Islamist murderers, rapists and baby-killers to carry out still more massacres
against Israelis.
Some people in Israel are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step
down and agree to Hamas's demand to end the war in the Gaza Strip, as if Hamas's
October 7, 2023 attack on Israel was just another round of fighting with the
Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group.
These Israelis fail to understand that the October 7 massacre is just another
phase of the Islamists' Jihad (holy war) against Israel.
Hamas did not attack Israel on October 7, 2023, just because it wanted to
release Palestinian convicts from Israeli prisons or improve the living
conditions of the Palestinians under its rule in the Gaza Strip. The attack,
resulting in the murder of 1,200 Israelis and the wounding of thousands more, as
well as the abduction of more than 250 to the Gaza Strip, came as part of
Hamas's Jihad to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamist state.
For Hamas and other Islamist organizations, the conflict with Israel is not
about prisoners, settlements or checkpoints. It is a conflict about Israel's
very existence in the Middle East. The Jihad does not aim to free prisoners or
remove settlements and checkpoints, but to murder Jews and obliterate Israel.
Since its violent, brutal takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has done
nothing to help the local residents. Instead of building hospitals, schools and
economic projects, Hamas, with the help of Iran and Qatar, has devoted huge
resources to manufacturing weapons, such as rockets and missiles, and building a
massive network of tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip. The result was that the
Gaza Strip quickly became one of the largest bases for Jihad and terrorism in
the Middle East.
After the October 7 massacre, Hamas repeatedly affirmed its commitment to Jihad
against Israel. On February 21, 2025, Hamas said in a statement that its
"determination and resolve to continue the path of Jihad until liberation and
victory has increased." For Hamas, "liberation" means the elimination of Israel
through Jihad and "armed resistance" (terrorism).
Hamas, in a document published shortly after the October 7 attack, openly admits
that it is opposed to the presence of Jews in Israel. The document frankly
admits that the conflict did not start as a result of the Holocaust, or when
Israel declared independence in 1948, or on October 7, 2023, but 105 years ago,
"including 30 years of British colonialism and 75 years of Zionist occupation."
The document goes on to explain that Hamas "is a Palestinian Islamic national
liberation and resistance movement. Its goal is to liberate Palestine and
confront the Zionist project."
Hamas's 1988 charter emphasizes the importance of Jihad as the main means for
the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to achieve its goals: An uncompromising
Jihad must be waged against Israel and any agreement recognizing its to right to
exist must be totally opposed. Jihad is the personal duty of every Muslim.
Hamas, according to the charter, views the "problem of Palestine" as a
religious-political Muslim issue, and the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation as a
conflict between Islam and the "infidel" Jews. "Palestine" is presented as a
sacred Islamic land, so it is strictly forbidden to give up even one inch of it
because no one (including Arab-Muslim rulers) has the authority to do so.
Significantly, the charter quotes Hassan al-Banna, who founded the Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, as saying: "Israel will arise and continue to
exist until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished what went before." Hamas is the
Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
US President Donald J. Trump would do well to designate the Muslim Brotherhood,
the font of all the Islamic jihadist organizations, as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization. Such an act would make it difficult for those countries that
promote and finance jihadi terrorists to keep on doing so.
Article 2 of the Hamas charter states:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in
Palestine. Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which
constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times. It is characterized by
its deep understanding, accurate comprehension and its complete embraced of al
Islamic concepts of life, culture, culture, creed, politics, economics,
education, society, justice and judgement, the spreading of Islam, education,
art, inflation, science, of the occult and conversion to Islam."
Since its founding, Hamas has remained completely faithful to its charter. Hamas
has never recognized Israel's right to exist; it has rejected all peace
agreements between Arabs and Israel, and, most importantly, not only has it
carried out thousands of terrorist attacks against Israel, its leaders have
vowed to keep on carrying out terrorist attacks "until Israel is annihilated."
Last week it was reported that Hamas's patron, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps Major-General Ebrahim Jabbari, stated that Iran's "Operation True
Promise 3 will be carried out at the right time, with precision, and on a scale
sufficient to destroy Israel and raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground."
The massacre on October 7 was just another phase in the Islamist groups' efforts
to eliminate Israel. Iran and Hamas do not care if tens of thousands of
Palestinians lose their lives, so long as it is permitted to pursue their Jihad
against Israel.
What happened on October 7 should be seen in the context of Qatar's, Iran's and
Hamas's continuing Jihad. The massacre on October 7 was just another phase in
the Islamist groups' efforts to eliminate Israel. After the October 7,
massacres, the Qatari government media consistently praised the massacres, and
weeks ago vowed more of them.
Two weeks after the October 7 assault, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal acknowledged
that his group was intentionally sacrificing Palestinians to achieve as part of
the Jihad against Israel: "We know very well the consequences of our operation
on October 7," he said. "The Palestinian people are just like any other nation.
No nation is liberated without sacrifices."
Anyone who believes that Hamas would abandon Jihad as a result of a ceasefire
agreement is engaging in extreme self-deception. Hamas has not yet accomplished
its mission of destroying Israel. Hamas's main goal, especially now, is to
remain in power after the war.
The terrorist group in Gaza bears full responsibility for the death of thousands
of Israelis and Palestinians. Any deal that keeps Hamas in power would pave the
way for the Islamist murderers, rapists and baby-killers to carry out still more
massacres against Israelis.
It is time to remind the world of what senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said
after October 7:
"The Al-Aqsa Flood [Hamas's name for the Oct. 7 invasion] is just the first
time, and there will be a second, third, and fourth, because we have the
determination, the remove, and the capabilities to fight.... Israel is a country
that has no place on our land. We must remove that country."
Regrettably, there is no alternative to eradicating Hamas. In a civilized world,
a terrorist group that is openly hell-bent on genocidal destruction has
forfeited its right to exist.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
*Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
US trip offers Starmer chance to show leadership
Chris Doyle/Arab News/February 24, 2025
Ever since 2014, the UK has been at the forefront of trying to push back
Russia’s encroachment into Ukraine, including opposing the full-scale invasion
of 2022. Britain worked hard to ensure that the US and Europe acted collectively
to repel the Russian forces and sanction Moscow. As peace talks between the US
and Russia last week kicked off in Riyadh, how can London support this process
and can it adapt to what President Donald Trump has initiated? This will be in
sharp focus as Prime Minister Keir Starmer heads to Washington for his turn in
the Trump White House this Thursday. For Starmer, this is unlikely to be a
comfortable meeting. Hitherto, he has steadfastly resisted the temptation to
criticize Trump directly, such as on the Middle East. But Britain sees Russia as
a direct national security issue. Starmer does not have the option to gloss over
core differences. Starmer has taken issue with Trump’s policy positions. He
pushed back at the notion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a
dictator, as Trump had suggested, or that Ukraine was the aggressor. The British
defense secretary also challenged Trump’s line that Ukraine had started the war.
“Three years ago, one country illegally invaded another and, since then, the
Ukrainians have been fighting for their freedom,” said John Healey. Trump has
hit out at Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, saying: “They didn’t do
anything either (to end the war). The war’s going on, no meetings with Russia,
no nothing.”
What can the UK do? Starmer still aims to be a bridge between Europe and the
Trump administration. Many query whether he can effectively carry out this role.
He is hardly from the same brand of politics as the US president and he still
has some way to go to impress his European colleagues. One advantage he has is
that Trump will know Starmer will be around for at least another four years,
unlike Macron. Starmer will want to exit the Oval Office with this bridging role
secured.
But his American counterpart does not appear to be in the mood for building
bridges. He wants to shake things up. One month into his second tenure, he is
doing just that. Starmer will have to dodge some of the hand grenades that may
be launched at him. He should avoid reacting to Trump’s wilder commentary and
focus on being clear in his own messaging, not least emphasizing the long-term
benefits of strategic alliances and why they matter. Starmer is not alone. Most
European states have been unnerved by the dramatic and swift change in US
policy. Even though Trump’s team signaled this, the speed at which the US has
engaged in direct talks with Russia, with Ukraine sidelined, has caught many by
surprise.
Starmer’s usefulness to Trump depends on his influence in Europe. Can Starmer
persuade European states to increase their defense spending, as Trump demands?
Trump despises European freeloading. He has a point. Europe should take
ownership of its defense. Starmer has pledged to increase UK defense spending to
2.5 percent of gross domestic product from about 2.3 percent now. Trump will ask
when. A bolder Starmer move was pledging UK troops as peacekeepers in Ukraine,
provided there was a US backstop role.
A far bigger challenge is that Trump is not wedded to a transatlantic alliance.
He sees little benefit to the US. He is serving notice: Sort out your act,
Europe. And in ways that he approves of. European powers can no longer bet on
the US security umbrella, its full participation in NATO or even that this
military alliance will survive. As Macron observed last week: “Do not think that
the unthinkable cannot happen, including the worst.”A far bigger challenge is
that Trump is not wedded to a transatlantic alliance. He sees little benefit to
the US.
Trump’s approach veers toward short-termism above long-term strategic value. He
may be aggressive, at times outlandish, but Trump’s antics may be a medicine
that Europe needs. In years gone by, Europe might have just ignored this and
waited for the end of the Trump presidency. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
its interference in European elections and its ambitions in other states such as
Georgia and Moldova mean it is imperative that the defense and security picture
now changes.
Europe and especially Ukraine need a full role in these talks with Russia. Not
every concession or compromise equals appeasement. European powers should build
a full-fledged strategy that includes engaging Russia from a position of united
strength.
The UK, as a key military power in Europe and a rock-solid supporter of
Ukrainian liberation, can take the lead. This offers a chance for Starmer to
showcase leadership skills on the international stage: a mix of toughness,
creativity and long-term strategic thinking is required. A forever war is in
nobody’s interests, but a forever peace requires the serious fundamentals to be
taken care of.
*Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in
London. X: @Doylech
The unseen map that promised to bring peace to the Middle
East
Paul Adams - Diplomatic correspondent/BBC/ February 24/2025
"In the next 50 years, you will not find one Israeli leader that will propose to
you what I propose to you now.
"Sign it! Sign it and let's change history!"
It was 2008. Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was imploring the Palestinian
leader to accept a deal he believed could have brought peace to the Middle East.
It was a two-state solution - a prospect which seems impossible today.
If implemented, it would have created a Palestinian state on more than 94% of
the occupied West Bank.
The map Olmert had drawn up now has an almost mythical status. Various
interpretations have appeared over the years, but he has never revealed it to
the media.
In Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October, the latest series from
documentary filmmaker Norma Percy available on iPlayer from Monday, Olmert
reveals the map he says he showed to Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting in Jerusalem on
16 September 2008. "This is the first time that I expose this map to the media,"
he tells the filmmakers. It shows, in detail, the territory which Olmert
proposed to annexe to Israel - 4.9% of the West Bank. That would have included
major Jewish settlement blocs - just like previous proposals dating back to the
late 1990s.
In return, the prime minister said Israel would give up an equal amount of
Israeli territory, along the edges of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The two
Palestinian territories would be connected via a tunnel or highway – again,
something that had been discussed before.
In the film, Olmert recalls the Palestinian leader's response.
"He said: 'Prime minister, this is very serious. It is very, very, very
serious.'"
Crucially, Olmert's plan included a proposed solution to the thorny issue of
Jerusalem. Each side would be able to claim parts of the city as their capital,
while administration of the "holy basin" - including the Old City, with its
religious sites, and adjacent areas - would be handed over to a committee of
trustees consisting of Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the US.
The implications of the map, for Jewish settlements, would have been colossal.
Had the plan been implemented, dozens of communities, scattered throughout the
West Bank and Jordan Valley, would have been evacuated.
When the previous Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, forcibly removed a few
thousand Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, it was regarded as a
national trauma by those on the Israeli right. Evacuating most of the West Bank
would have represented an infinitely greater challenge, involving tens of
thousands of settlers, with the very real danger of violence.
But the test never came.
At the end of their meeting, Olmert refused to hand over a copy of the map to
Mahmoud Abbas unless the Palestinian leader sign it. Abbas refused, saying that
he needed to show his experts the map, to make sure they understood exactly what
was being offered. Olmert says the two agreed to a meeting of map experts the
following day. "We parted, you know, like we are about to embark on a historic
step forward," Olmert says. The meeting never happened. As they drove away from
Jerusalem that night, President Abbas's chief of staff, Rafiq Husseini,
remembers the atmosphere in the car. "Of course, we laughed," he says in the
film.
The Palestinians believed the plan was dead in the water. Olmert, embroiled in
an unrelated corruption scandal, had already announced that he was planning to
resign.
"It is unfortunate that Olmert, regardless of how nice he was… was a lame duck,"
Husseini says, "and therefore, we will go nowhere with this." The situation in
Gaza also complicated matters. After months of rocket attacks from the
Hamas-controlled territory, Olmert ordered a major Israeli assault, Operation
Cast Lead, at the end of December, triggering three weeks of intense fighting.
But Olmert tells me it would have been "very smart" for Abbas to sign the deal.
Then, if a future Israeli prime minister tried to cancel it, "he could have said
to the world that the failure was Israel's fault".
Israeli elections followed in February. Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu, a vocal
opponent of Palestinian statehood, became prime minister.
Olmert's plan, and map, faded from view.
The former prime minister says he's still waiting for Abbas's reply, but his
plan has since joined a long list of missed opportunities to end the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In 1973, the former Israeli diplomat, Abba Eban, quipped that the Palestinians
"never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity". It's a phrase that Israeli
officials have frequently repeated in the years since. But the world is more
complicated than that, especially since the two sides signed the historic Oslo
Accords in 1993.
The peace process ushered in by a handshake on the White House lawn between
former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
had moments of genuine hope, punctuated by tragedy. Ultimately, it resulted in
failure.
The reasons are complex and there's plenty of blame to go around but in truth,
the stars were never properly aligned.
I witnessed this non-alignment at first hand 24 years ago.
In January 2001, at the Egyptian resort of Taba, Israeli and Palestinian
negotiators once again saw the outlines of a deal. A member of the Palestinian
delegation drew a rough map on a napkin and told me that, for the first time,
they were looking at the rough outlines of a viable Palestinian state.But the
talks were irrelevant, drowned out by the violence raging on the streets of the
West Bank and Gaza, where the second Palestinian uprising, or "intifada", had
erupted the previous September. Once again, Israel was in the midst of a
political transition. Prime Minister Ehud Barak had already resigned. Ariel
Sharon comfortably defeated him a few weeks later.The map on the napkin, just
like Olmert's map eight years later, showed what might have been.
The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faces a key deadline. Will it
last?
Samy Magdy And Joseph Krauss/The Associated Press/Mon, February 24, 2025
The first phase of the ceasefire that paused 15 months of brutal warfare between
Israel and Hamas militants is set to end on Saturday — and it's unclear what
comes next. The two sides were supposed to start negotiating a second phase
weeks ago in which Hamas would release all the remaining hostages from its Oct.
7, 2023, attack, which triggered the war, in exchange for more Palestinian
prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip.
But those negotiations have not begun — there have only been preparatory talks —
and the first phase has been jolted by one dispute after another.
Hamas has freed all 25 living hostages included in the first six-week phase
ending on March 1 in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. It has also
released the bodies of four captives and is expected to turn over four more,
though it's unclear if that will happen Thursday as planned. That leaves it with
more than 60 captives, around half of whom are believed to be dead. Israel has
meanwhile delayed the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners who were
supposed to be freed last weekend over the treatment of the captives, who were
paraded before crowds.
Israel is reportedly seeking an extension of the first phase to secure the
freedom of more captives. But Hamas says it won't negotiate anything until the
prisoners whose release was delayed are freed. Negotiations over Phase 2 will be
even more contentious.
Phase 2 was always the biggest challenge
The second phase was always going to be the most difficult because it would
likely force Israel to choose between its two main war goals — the safe return
of the hostages and the annihilation of their captors. Hamas, though weakened,
remains in power with no internal challengers. In exchange for the remaining
living hostages — its main bargaining chip — it is demanding a lasting ceasefire
and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. A third phase would see the exchange
of remains and the start of Gaza's daunting reconstruction process, which is
expected to take years and cost billions of dollars. Steve Witkoff, the Trump
administration's Mideast envoy, is returning to the region this week. In an
interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, he said he will aim for an
extension of Phase 1 to buy time for negotiating the second phase. But Egypt,
which has served as a key mediator, has refused to discuss an extension of Phase
1 until negotiations over Phase 2 begin, according to two Egyptian officials who
were not authorized to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity. One
official familiar with the negotiations said the mere launch of Phase 2 talks
would keep the truce intact, according to the language of the deal. That would
mean a continued halt in fighting and aid flowing into Gaza, though there would
be no further hostage releases beyond what has already been negotiated, he said,
speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed diplomatic contacts.
Hamas has previously said it is open to a short extension to complete talks on
Phase 2, but that was before Israel held up the release of the prisoners.
One of the Egyptian officials said Egypt is also demanding Israel complete its
withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor, on the Gaza side of the border with
Egypt, before moving on to the next phase. The agreement calls for that
withdrawal to begin this weekend and be completed within eight days.
Netanyahu has not publicly stated what he will do this weekend. He is under
heavy pressure from hard-line coalition partners to resume the war against
Hamas. But after images showed freed hostages returning home in poor condition,
he also faces heavy public pressure to bring the remaining hostages home.
Witkoff said Netanyahu is committed to bringing back all the hostages but has
set a “red line” that Hamas cannot be involved in governing Gaza after the war.
Netanyahu has also ruled out any role in Gaza for the Western-backed Palestinian
Authority, dominated by Hamas' main rival, Fatah.
Hamas has said it is willing to hand over control of Gaza to other Palestinians.
But the militant group, which does not accept Israel's existence, would still be
deeply entrenched in Gaza. And it says it won't lay down its arms unless Israel
ends its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands captured in
the 1967 Mideast war that Palestinians want for a future state.
Hamas has also dismissed Israel's suggestion that its Gaza leadership go into
exile.
Phase 1 is unfinished and has further embittered both sides
The first phase of the ceasefire has yet to be completed and has only deepened
the bitter mistrust on both sides.
Israelis were shocked to see the captives — some of whom were emaciated —
paraded before crowds upon their release, with some forced to smile, wave,
deliver statements and, in one case, kiss a masked militant on the head. After
returning to Israel, hostages said they were held under harsh conditions.
Last Thursday, Hamas displayed coffins holding what it said were the remains of
Shiri Bibas and her two small children, who it said were killed in an Israeli
airstrike. Israel said a forensic investigation showed the two children were
killed by their captors. The third body turned out to be someone else. Hamas
then released another body that was confirmed to be the mother.
On Saturday, Hamas filmed two hostages who were forced to watch the release of
others, turning to a camera and begging to be released, in yet another public
spectacle that infuriated Israel. That appears to have prompted Israel to
postpone the release of the prisoners. Hamas has accused Israel of violating the
ceasefire by killing dozens of people who the army said had approached its
forces or entered unauthorized areas. It also accused Israel of dragging its
feet on the entry of mobile homes and equipment for clearing rubble, which
entered late last week, and of beating and abusing Palestinian prisoners prior
to their release.
Israel has also launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank
that has displaced some 40,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations.
Israel says it is cracking down on militants who threaten its citizens, while
Palestinians see it as trying to further cement its decades-long rule.
Mixed signals from Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump took credit for the ceasefire, which Witkoff helped
push across the finish line after a year of negotiations led by the Biden
administration, Egypt and Qatar.
But Trump has since sent mixed signals about the deal.
Earlier this month, he set a firm deadline for Hamas to release all the
hostages, warning “all hell is going to break out” if it didn't. But he said it
was ultimately up to Israel, and the deadline came and went. Trump sowed further
confusion by proposing that Gaza's population of some 2 million Palestinians be
relocated to other countries and for the U.S. to take over the territory and
develop it. Netanyahu welcomed the idea, which was universally rejected by
Palestinians and Arab countries, including close U.S. allies. Human rights
groups said it could violate international law.
Trump stood by the plan in a Fox News interview over the weekend but said he's
“not forcing it.”
Shifting Paradigms and Policy-Making
Dr. Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut/February 24/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140575/
The cascading events that have resulted in the defeat of Iranian proxies in the
Near East have not yet elicited the due questioning among political actors. The
systematic dismantling of the power nodes that have structured the strategic
continuum patiently woven by Iran throughout the last two decades should have
impelled political actors to review their operational schemes and their
underlying ideological subtexts. Paradoxically enough, they seem to surf on a
seamless web of contradictions and fallacies that serve their vested interests,
helping them strengthen their psychotic defenses and shield themselves from
realities. The purported ontological enmity with Israel caters to their hoaxes
and conceals their true motivations: stay in power, transmit power to their
heirs, set aside cognitive dissonance, and safeguard their privileges and
institutionalized perquisites.
The newly propelled strategic and political dynamics have barely impacted
Lebanese politics, and none of the political actors realize that the
politics-as-usual template has become redundant and irrelevant. Traditional
politicians, warlords and political parvenus are still operating with a sense of
unmistakable certainty to dampen their insecurities and extend their political
tenures, without the slightest concern for the new issues they are supposed to
tackle. The warmongering of Hezbollah, its trail of Shiite millenarianism,
institutionalized terrorism and organized criminality has come to an end with
the destruction of its operational platforms, the extermination of its leaders
at every scale, and the debunking of its ideological and military rhetoric and
narratives.
However, the traditional oligarchs and the purported reformers have not yet
drawn the proper conclusions and dared to challenge Hezbollah’s politics of
domination and brazen audacity. The late presidential election and the newly
formed cabinet are still operating within the bounds of the oligarchic system
and instrumentalizing the anti-Israeli rhetoric to keep the system afloat and
make sure to remain in power. The state of denial in the face of the
transformative dynamics and their revolutionary effects is quite puzzling and
questions the rationale behind it. The Shiite fascist group is impervious to
critical self-examination, dismissive of its defeat, and still adamant about its
domination and unrealistic power projections.
The incoming executive, while accommodating the Shiite political whims and
exculpating their destructive power strategies, recapitulates the indolent
cliches of political antisemitism, fails to implement the international security
resolutions, continues the immature game of externalizing blame, and refuses to
engage the true question of pacification in a country that had to cope with six
decades of open-ended conflicts triggered by ideological fallacies and
undeconstructed enmity and its strategic doubles.
The idle discussions about the Israeli threats are fraudulent since they reject
the conflict resolution blueprints based on negotiations and the conclusion of a
peace treaty that circumvents the institutional fallacies and their ideological
framing. The blind indoctrination and its political criminality double within
the Shiite community, rather than being critically parsed and politically
deconstructed, resonate with the members of the motley cabinet, which rehearses
the trite ideological tropes while disengaging the real diplomacy inspired and
impelled by the strategic transformation driven by the Israeli counteroffensive.
The incoming executive has a hard time adjusting to the emerging realities of
the post-Iranian era for both ideological and psychological reasons. Breaking
away from the weighty legacy of the Islamic Cold Wars, Islamist radicalism and
the residual “Palestinian” ideology of erstwhile leftism (Nawaf Salam, Ghassan
Salameh, Tarek Mitri) and the fears and inhibitions of an inexperienced
president is no easy task, and the laborious gestation of the ministerial
declaration testifies to these obstacles. The casuistry around the strategic and
defense issues is at best hedging tactics mandated by ideological views and
binding strategic interests. The commissioned team to draft the statement
(namely Ghassan Salameh and Tarek Mitri) reveals its partisan nature, the sturdy
shackles of Shiite revanchism, and the flawed political representation of the
current cabinet. As long as these imbalances persist, the ability to redress
them is difficult, if not impossible. The cabinet is still hostage to the
ideological views of its core component and the power calculations of the Shiite
vetoing power and sabotaging stratagems. The only way out of these dilemmas is
to adhere to the internationally mandated agenda and depart from the
conventional narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The signing of a
peace treaty with Israel is the only path to stability and reconstruction if we
are to end this era of open-ended conflicts that have been plaguing our country
for six decades. I am highly skeptical about the willingness and ability of the
current executive to operate major inflections and rewrite the narrative of a
destructive conflict and its institutionalized impasses.
US trip offers Starmer chance to show leadership
Chris Doyle/Arab News/February 24, 2025
Ever since 2014, the UK has been at the forefront of trying to push back
Russia’s encroachment into Ukraine, including opposing the full-scale invasion
of 2022. Britain worked hard to ensure that the US and Europe acted collectively
to repel the Russian forces and sanction Moscow.
As peace talks between the US and Russia last week kicked off in Riyadh, how can
London support this process and can it adapt to what President Donald Trump has
initiated? This will be in sharp focus as Prime Minister Keir Starmer heads to
Washington for his turn in the Trump White House this Thursday.
For Starmer, this is unlikely to be a comfortable meeting. Hitherto, he has
steadfastly resisted the temptation to criticize Trump directly, such as on the
Middle East. But Britain sees Russia as a direct national security issue.
Starmer does not have the option to gloss over core differences.
Starmer has taken issue with Trump’s policy positions. He pushed back at the
notion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a dictator, as Trump had
suggested, or that Ukraine was the aggressor. The British defense secretary also
challenged Trump’s line that Ukraine had started the war. “Three years ago, one
country illegally invaded another and, since then, the Ukrainians have been
fighting for their freedom,” said John Healey. Trump has hit out at Starmer and
French President Emmanuel Macron, saying: “They didn’t do anything either (to
end the war). The war’s going on, no meetings with Russia, no nothing.”
What can the UK do? Starmer still aims to be a bridge between Europe and the
Trump administration. Many query whether he can effectively carry out this role.
He is hardly from the same brand of politics as the US president and he still
has some way to go to impress his European colleagues. One advantage he has is
that Trump will know Starmer will be around for at least another four years,
unlike Macron. Starmer will want to exit the Oval Office with this bridging role
secured.
But his American counterpart does not appear to be in the mood for building
bridges. He wants to shake things up. One month into his second tenure, he is
doing just that. Starmer will have to dodge some of the hand grenades that may
be launched at him. He should avoid reacting to Trump’s wilder commentary and
focus on being clear in his own messaging, not least emphasizing the long-term
benefits of strategic alliances and why they matter.
Starmer is not alone. Most European states have been unnerved by the dramatic
and swift change in US policy. Even though Trump’s team signaled this, the speed
at which the US has engaged in direct talks with Russia, with Ukraine sidelined,
has caught many by surprise.
Starmer’s usefulness to Trump depends on his influence in Europe. Can Starmer
persuade European states to increase their defense spending, as Trump demands?
Trump despises European freeloading. He has a point. Europe should take
ownership of its defense. Starmer has pledged to increase UK defense spending to
2.5 percent of gross domestic product from about 2.3 percent now. Trump will ask
when. A bolder Starmer move was pledging UK troops as peacekeepers in Ukraine,
provided there was a US backstop role.
A far bigger challenge is that Trump is not wedded to a transatlantic alliance.
He sees little benefit to the US. He is serving notice: Sort out your act,
Europe. And in ways that he approves of. European powers can no longer bet on
the US security umbrella, its full participation in NATO or even that this
military alliance will survive. As Macron observed last week: “Do not think that
the unthinkable cannot happen, including the worst.”
A far bigger challenge is that Trump is not wedded to a transatlantic alliance.
He sees little benefit to the US.
Trump’s approach veers toward short-termism above long-term strategic value. He
may be aggressive, at times outlandish, but Trump’s antics may be a medicine
that Europe needs. In years gone by, Europe might have just ignored this and
waited for the end of the Trump presidency. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
its interference in European elections and its ambitions in other states such as
Georgia and Moldova mean it is imperative that the defense and security picture
now changes.
Europe and especially Ukraine need a full role in these talks with Russia. Not
every concession or compromise equals appeasement. European powers should build
a full-fledged strategy that includes engaging Russia from a position of united
strength.
The UK, as a key military power in Europe and a rock-solid supporter of
Ukrainian liberation, can take the lead. This offers a chance for Starmer to
showcase leadership skills on the international stage: a mix of toughness,
creativity and long-term strategic thinking is required. A forever war is in
nobody’s interests, but a forever peace requires the serious fundamentals to be
taken care of.
**Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in
London. X: @Doylech