English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 15/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Let them alone; they are blind guides
of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.
Saint Matthew 15,10-20.: “Then he called the crowd to him and said to
them, ‘Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a
person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’Then the disciples
approached and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when
they heard what you said?’ He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has
not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the
blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.’ But
Peter said to him, ‘Explain this parable to us.’ Then he said, ‘Are you also
still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth
enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth
proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come
evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.
These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Titles For The
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on July 14-15/2025
Urgent Appeal for International Protection of the Druze in Syria’s Sweida
Province/Elias Bejjani/July 14/2025
The Turbaned Sayed Faisal Shukr Threatens the Lebanese People on Behalf of
Hezbollah… So Where Are the Judiciary, Joseph Aoun, Nawaf Salam, and the
Government?/Elias Bejjani/July 12/2025
An important message to Tom Barak from the head of the Identity and Sovereignty
Gathering, former Minister Youssef Salameh addressing Barak’s recent statements
regarding the Lebanese entity rooted in history, civilization, and contributions
Video Link: A Remarkable Interview with the Distinguished Colonel Charbel
Barakat on “Dawayer Online”
Barrack reportedly says Israeli response to Lebanese paper positive
Aoun vows to preserve Lebanon's 'territorial integrity'
Lebanese Army Denies Reports Claiming Militant Infiltration and Troop Withdrawal
in Bekaa
Lebanon dismantles 'major' Captagon factory
Military says drugs lab in Baalbek region is among largest discovered so far
Lebanese army shuts illegal crossings along border with Syria
Hezbollah and FPM respond to Barrack's remarks
Contacts between Lebanon and US embassy after Barrack's remarks
Jumblat on Sweida clashes: We reject calls for external and Israeli intervention
The billionaire financier Tom Barrack was caught in a bind...Who Is Behind
Trump’s Links to Arab Princes? A Billionaire Friend/Published by the NYT on June
13, 2018
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on July 14-15/2025
Iran says ‘no specific date’ for US nuclear talks
Syria government forces take over Druze village in south
Israel strikes tanks in Syria after dozens die in fighting in Sweida
Syrian Defence Ministry sends forces to Druze heartland in latest outbreak of
violence
Attacks on Syrian Security Forces Sent to Quell Sectarian Clashes Leave 18 Dead
as Israel Strikes Targets to Protect Druze
Israeli ultra-Orthodox party leaves government over conscription bill
Trump Says He Hopes for Gaza Deal within a Week
Clerics Accuse West Bank Israeli Settlers of Attacking Christian Sites
Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 31 in Gaza as UN Agencies Warn of Fuel Crisis
Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak
Egypt Says Israel-EU Agreement Has Not Increased Aid to Gaza
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources
on July 14-15/2025
Syria’s Water Crisis: A Threat Looking for Solution/Fayez Sara/Asharq Al-Awsat
newspaper/July 15/2025
Iraq and the Fires of Its Neighbors/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat
newspaper/July 15/2025
Will Xi Jinping Attack America to Prevent His Political Demise?/Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone
Institute./July 14, 2025
The Strategic Ambiguity in U.S. and Western Policy Toward the Houthi Threat/Dr
Walid Phares/Middle East Coalition for Democracy/July 14, 2025
Selected Tweets for 13 July/2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 14-15/2025
Urgent Appeal for International Protection of the Druze in Syria’s Sweida
Province
Elias Bejjani/July 14/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145187/
Alongside all those who believe in
freedom and the fundamental rights of Middle Eastern peoples—particularly their
right to live in peace and practice their religious beliefs freely without
repression, terrorism, or extermination—we condemn, in the strongest terms and
most resolute language, the systematic attacks and organized aggression being
waged against the Druze community in the southern Syrian province of Sweida.
These attacks are being orchestrated by the so-called “Authority of Ahmad Al-Shara,”
known as “Al-Jolani,” who stands at the head of an extremist religious regime no
different in ideology or eliminationist practices from ISIS itself.
It is now evident that what Al-Shar’a’s regime presents in the media as a “local
dispute” between the Druze of Sweida and neighboring Arab tribes is nothing more
than a blatant cover for a bloody military campaign launched by the new Islamist
regime to seize control of Jabal Al-Arab, disarm its people, crush their free
will, and forcibly subject them to a takfiri rule that considers all who differ
as “apostates” worthy of extermination.
The ongoing assaults on Sweida—using tanks, armed drones against civilians, road
blockades, and mass killings—represent yet another chapter in a long series of
bloody episodes. These include horrific massacres committed against Druze near
Damascus just months ago, the bombing of Saint Elias Church in Damascus, the
killing and wounding of dozens of worshipers, and a wave of systematic attacks
on Alawites, Christians, and other religious minorities.
In essence, what is happening today in Sweida is a prelude to a major massacre,
being carefully prepared under false “security” pretenses and with explicit
foreign backing—primarily from Turkey, the foremost patron of the Muslim
Brotherhood, and from Qatar, the principal financier of extremist takfiri
ideologies.
Faced with this catastrophic reality, we must raise our voices loudly and
urgently to demand the following:
*Immediate international protection for the Druze population in Sweida, through
the deployment of international observers and the establishment of UN-supervised
demilitarized zones to prevent any takfiri military intrusion into their
territory.
*Official recognition that the “Shara regime” is a radical, extremist, takfiri
Islamist authority, no less dangerous than the Taliban or ISIS. It adopts an
ideology that targets all non-hardline Sunni communities—chief among them the
Druze, whom it labels as apostates.
*Holding the international community—particularly the United States and the
European Union—accountable for their suspicious silence and implicit support for
this regime, under the pretext of “counterterrorism,” while the regime itself
practices terrorism in its ugliest and most brutal forms against minorities.
*Issuing a moral and humanitarian appeal to the State of Israel, given its
ethical and historical responsibility to protect Druze communities in the region
and prevent genocide in Jabal Al-Arab. The Israeli Defense Forces have
repeatedly shown that the security of Israel’s southern border includes the
protection of threatened communities on the other side. Sweida must not be an
exception.
*Calling on all moderate Arab nations—particularly Gulf states, which
regrettably have supported the Shar’a regime—to intervene immediately,
politically and humanely, to protect and save the Druze and other minorities
from the jihadist killing machine now being driven by Al-Shar’a and his
affiliates.
*It must be emphasized that the “Shara regime,” with all its local and foreign
takfiri factions, bears full responsibility for the bloodshed inflicted upon
Syrian Druze, Christian, and Alawite minorities since it took control of parts
of Syria. For this reason, it must be internationally prosecuted as a terrorist
authority committing religious cleansing and sectarian genocide.
We further stress that no matter how much cosmetic support or international and
regional backing is given to the Shar’a regime, it does not—and will not—change
the core truth of its takfiri, terrorist, and bloody nature.
In conclusion: There is an urgent need—both regionally
and internationally—to protect the Druze of Sweida and to intervene through all
available means to stop the massacre being carried out by the Shara regime.
Silence in the face of this crime makes one a direct accomplice.
The Turbaned Sayed Faisal
Shukr Threatens the Lebanese People on Behalf of Hezbollah… So Where Are the
Judiciary, Joseph Aoun, Nawaf Salam, and the Government?
Elias Bejjani/July 12/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145155/
The direct and televised threat issued by Sayed Faisal Shukr, a turbaned cleric
and deputy official for Hezbollah in the Bekaa region, once again proves that
this Iranian, jihadist, and terrorist militia—despite its crushing defeat and
the downfall of its masters, the Iranian mullahs, and the humiliating death of
most of its leaders—still clings to the same strategy of intimidation,
oppression, and vulgar brutality against all those who oppose its occupation
schemes and criminal agenda.
In a provocative and dangerous speech, Shukr declared yesterday:
"To those inside the country who keep repeating the phrase ‘disarmament’… we
have two words for you: we will rip out your souls… because everything can be
subject to joking, discussion, or dialogue—except the weapons."
This is an open threat of murder by a Hezbollah official, directed at the
Lebanese people. The urgent question now is:
Where is the judiciary?
Where are the security forces?
Where is President Joseph Aoun?
Where is Prime Minister Nawaf Salam?
Those who rush to prosecute journalists and activists while turning a blind eye
to Hezbollah’s public threats are nothing more than cowards, submissive, or
complicit by silence.
Such disgraceful inaction in the face of a direct threat to citizens’ lives
constitutes an unacceptable collusion, a national betrayal, and a total
political and moral collapse.
President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and the entire judiciary are
now facing an existential test: Either they confront Hezbollah’s terrorism and
protect the people, or they must step down immediately—for they have proven
their utter failure and humiliating submission to the militia state.
Anyone who fails to immediately launch an investigation, arrest Faisal Shukr,
and put him on trial for threatening civil peace and inciting murder, is an
accomplice in the crime.
An important message to Tom
Barak from the head of the Identity and Sovereignty Gathering, former Minister
Youssef Salameh, addressing Barak’s recent statements regarding the Lebanese
entity rooted in history, civilization, and contributions
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145204/
Beirut, July 14, 2025
Former Minister Youssef Salameh, head of the Identity and Sovereignty Forum, has
addressed an open letter to Mr. Tom Barrack. The text reads as follows:
To the Embassy of the United States of America in Beirut
An Open Letter to Mr. Tom Barrack, Personal Envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump
Mr. Tom Barrack—a man of Lebanese descent and American citizenship—has he truly
forgotten that his Phoenician ancestors invented the alphabet and launched it
across the seas from the shores of Byblos, aboard ships crafted from Lebanese
cedar, long before Columbus discovered the American continent?
Has he also forgotten that the Lebanese entity traces its roots to the dawn of
recorded history? How, then, can he speak of Lebanon’s demise or its absorption
into a broader Levantine framework?
Mr. Barrack, The geopolitical function of the Sykes-Picot Agreement may have
ended in the Mashriq region, but that does not make Lebanon a mere byproduct of
it. Lebanon is no bastard child of Sykes-Picot. Rather, it is the culmination of
countless civilizations—an entity with a distinct identity, character, and the
full elements of life. Like the Phoenix, Lebanon rises time and again from
devastation, surviving every storm and betrayal fueled by the greed and
conspiracies of a brutal world.
Lebanon has resisted death for over fifty years, enduring a destructive war
shaped by internal, regional, and international powers. Gangs were imposed upon
it—criminals who seized its fate from within. Yet Lebanon, through deep-rooted
faith and unbreakable will, continued to heal. This resilience lives on in the
hearts of its sons and daughters across the globe—citizens like yourself, Mr.
Barrack—who remain loyal to their origin and heritage. You are a testament to
this enduring identity.
Mr. Barrack, I want to believe your message was intended to awaken the Lebanese
people—to provoke a long-awaited rebellion against a corrupt regime that has
dominated them for decades. This system looted their wealth, disfigured the
beauty of their lands and coasts, impoverished their families, and eroded the
foundations of their resilience. It continues to manipulate their instincts and
obstruct their uprising.
If that was your intent, then thank you. We assure you we will be among the
first to work toward forging a unified national will—one that protects and
empowers this message-like entity called Lebanon. We will strive to make it a
driving force for a culture of coexistence rooted in justice, freedom, and
equality for all the children of Abraham, and for all citizens of the Levant.
Lebanon can be a model of human convergence—bridging East and West.
Mr. Barrack, As the envoy of the most powerful nation in the modern world—a
nation with whom we share a system of values grounded in human rights—we appeal
to you, on the basis of your Lebanese roots and your revived connection to this
land: help us liberate Lebanon from a regime that dominates its destiny.
Tragically, this regime exploits your outreach and dialogue to further tighten
its grip on the people.
Mr. Barrack, President Donald Trump is indeed exceptional—he seeks to accelerate
the course of history and bring about peace through strength. Tell him this:
there is no peace in the world worth pursuing if it comes at Lebanon’s expense.
And the price of peace in Lebanon is not high. Removing the regime that
strangles its people could take no more than the stroke of a pen—if the will
exists and the intent is true.
Lebanon, Mr. Barrack, is a nation that embodies peace, love, and brotherhood.
Let us unite to preserve it—for its salvation is the salvation of us all.
Thank you for listening.
Youssef Salameh
(Free translation from Arabic by Elias Bejjani)
Video Link: A Remarkable Interview with the Distinguished Colonel Charbel
Barakat on “Dawayer Online”
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145212/
A sovereign and historical reflection on the rise and fall of the Lebanese
border zone, the disastrous Cairo Agreement, the founding of the South Lebanon
Army and his role in it, relations with Israel, the 1976 war, the Palestinian
and Syrian occupations followed by the Iranian occupation through Hezbollah, the
reasons behind his departure from Lebanon, and his family’s deep-rooted military
legacy—all within the context of the South Lebanon Army era and the border zone
period.
July 14, 2025
Introduction – Dawayer Online
Colonel Charbel Barakat: From the Frontlines to the Lines of Memory – A Military
and Political Testimony on the History of South Lebanon.
In this comprehensive and exclusive interview, Colonel Charbel Barakat revisits
the pivotal chapters that defined his career as a field officer in South Lebanon
and as a commander in the South Lebanon Army. A tireless documenter of the
South’s suffering, he stood as a witness and a resister against forgetfulness
and distortion, ultimately becoming the voice of the South in decision-making
circles and an influential political analyst on the international stage.
From the fiery battlefronts to U.S. Congressional hearings, from the archives of
the South to the memory of conflict and identity, Barakat opens the vault of his
personal and national journey, shedding light on critical turning points in
Lebanon’s modern history. Against the backdrop of growing regional tensions, he
responds directly to accusations of collaboration with Israel and clarifies the
true nature of that relationship.
This video explores the impact of the Palestinian conflict on Lebanon,
particularly the suffering endured by the southern population. It also delves
into Iran’s role in this ongoing conflict and its repercussions on the Lebanese
people, highlighting the broader challenges currently facing the region.
Barrack reportedly says
Israeli response to Lebanese paper positive
Naharnet/July 14, 2025
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has told Lebanese officials that the initial Israeli
response to the latest Lebanese paper was “positive,” Al-Jadeed TV reported
overnight. Barrack himself had said that he was very satisfied by the response
of Lebanon's authorities to a U.S. request to disarm Hezbollah and implement
reforms, although he warned Lebanon risks being left behind as change sweeps
other countries in the region. Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath
of more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have vowed a
state monopoly on bearing arms, while demanding Israel comply with a November
ceasefire. Israel has warned it will continue to strike until Hezbollah has been
disarmed, while the group's leader Sheikh Naim Qassem has said that Hezbollah
would not surrender or lay down its weapons in response to Israeli threats.
"It's thoughtful, it's considered. We're creating a go-forward plan," Barrack
said last Monday about Lebanon’s response. "Now what it takes is a... thrust to
the details, which we're going to do. We're both committed to get to the details
and get a resolution," he said, adding: "I'm very, very hopeful."Hezbollah was
heavily weakened in the latest conflict, with Israel battering the group's
arsenal of missiles and rockets and killing senior commanders including longtime
chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. The presidency said on X that President Joseph
Aoun handed Barrack "ideas for a comprehensive solution." Parliament Speaker
Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said his own meeting with Barrack was
constructive and "considered Lebanon's interest and sovereignty... and the
demands of Hezbollah." Barrack said that Hezbollah "needs to see that there's a
future for them, that that road is not harnessed just solely against them." A
Lebanese official told AFP that earlier this month, Beirut had submitted an
initial response to Washington, which requested modifications, then officials
worked through the weekend prior to Barrack’s visit to develop the final
version. Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of
the Litani river, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli frontier.
Israel was to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but has kept them deployed in
five areas that it deemed strategic. Lebanese authorities say they have been
dismantling Hezbollah's military infrastructure in the south near the Israeli
border. Hezbollah's Qassem said that Israel needed to abide by the ceasefire
agreement, "withdraw from the occupied territories, stop its aggression...
release the prisoners" detained during last year's war, and that reconstruction
in Lebanon must begin. Only then "will we be ready for the second stage, which
is to discuss the national security and defence strategy" which includes the
issue of the group's disarmament, he added.
Aoun vows to preserve
Lebanon's 'territorial integrity'
Naharnet/July 14/2025
President Joseph Aoun on Monday pledged to preserve Lebanon’s territorial
integrity, in the wake of the storm of controversy sparked by U.S. envoy Tom
Barrack’s latest remarks about Lebanon and Syria. “Lebanon’s territorial
integrity is a national principle that is enshrined in the constitution and
protected by the Lebanese Army and the will of the Lebanese who have offered
sacrifices throughout the years to preserve it,” Aoun said. "After my election
as president, I took an oath to preserve the country's independence and
territorial integrity and mistaken are those who think that he who has taken two
oaths to defend a unified Lebanon might break his oath for any reason or might
accept any similar proposals,” the president added. As for the thorny issue of
Hezbollah’s arms, Aoun reiterated that “the decision to monopolize arms in the
hands of the state has been taken, in line with the Taif Accord.”“This matter,
alongside having the decisions of peace and war in the hands of the state, are
among the main components and essential principles of any state,” the president
added. Barrack has warned in an interview with the UAE’s The National newspaper
that Lebanon risks being swallowed by regional powers unless it acts to address
Hezbollah’s arms and implement reforms. “You have Israel on one side, you have
Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if
Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the
historical name for the Syria region.
“Syrians say Lebanon is our beach resort. So we need to move. And I know how
frustrated the Lebanese people are. It frustrates me,” he added. Barrack later
clarified that his remarks were not a “threat to Lebanon.”“My comments … praised
Syria’s impressive strides, not a threat to Lebanon. I observed the reality that
Syria is moving at light speed to seize the historic opportunity presented by @POTUS’s
(U.S. President Donald Trump’s) lifting of sanctions: investment from Türkiye
and the Gulf, diplomatic outreach to neighboring countries, and a clear vision
for the future,” Barrack said in a post on X. “I can assure that Syria’s leaders
only want co-existence and mutual prosperity with Lebanon, and the United States
is committed to supporting that relationship between two equal and sovereign
neighbors enjoying peace and prosperity,” Barrack added.
Lebanese Army Denies Reports Claiming Militant Infiltration
and Troop Withdrawal in Bekaa
Asharq Al Awsat/July 14/2025
The Lebanese Army on Sunday denied reports alleging the infiltration of armed
groups into Lebanon and the army's withdrawal from border areas in the Bekaa
region. In an official statement posted on its X page, the army said, “Further
to previous statements, the Army Command denies what is being circulated on a
number of social media sites regarding the entry of armed persons into Lebanon
and the withdrawal of the army from border areas in the Bekaa.”The statement
affirmed that “the relevant military units continue to carry out their regular
missions to control the Lebanese-Syrian border, in addition to monitoring the
security situation internally to maintain stability and prevent any threat to
civil peace.”The Army Command then called for maintaining accuracy in reporting
news related to the military institution and the security situation, and
refraining from spreading rumors that could lead to tension among citizens.
Lebanon dismantles 'major' Captagon factory
Military says drugs lab in Baalbek region is among largest discovered so far
Jamie Prentis/The National/July 14/2025
Lebanon's army says it has dismantled a major Captagon factory after finding a
300-metre tunnel used to deliver and store materials for the lab. The military
said the site in Yammouneh, about 25km from the city of Baalbek, was “one of the
largest labs” raided to date. It said it seized about 10 tonnes of equipment and
machinery and destroyed a “large quantity of Captagon pills, crystal meth and
various narcotics”.Work is now under way to find the people who operated the
factory, the Lebanese Armed Forces added. They published footage of the raid, a
bulldozer filling in the tunnel and the burning of some of the material
captured. In May, the Lebanese army seized a large quantity of Captagon pills
and dismantled a laboratory used to produce the drugs in a raid near the border
with Syria. Also that month, the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam pledged to
continue the fight against Captagon smuggling in an interview with The National.
The illegal export of the drug has strained relations with Gulf states in recent
years. “We are looking to facilitate exports to Gulf countries, and we must do
our part to ensure that red lines are not crossed, particularly those that have
concerned Gulf states in the past, like the trafficking of Captagon through
Lebanon,” Mr Salam said at the time. “These drugs were produced in Syria, passed
through Lebanon, took on a Lebanese cover, and were exported from here. Today,
with the tightening of our border with the Syrian regime, smuggling and drug
exports are more controlled. But that doesn’t mean the problem is over.”The
often porous Syria-Lebanon border has long led to rampant smuggling of people,
weapons and drugs. Captagon was state-produced on a mass scale in Syria during
the last years of the Bashar Al Assad regime, providing a vital income source to
help prop up the cash-strapped government during the prolonged civil war.The
drug was often smuggled into Lebanon through border areas where Hezbollah – the
Lebanese armed group and political party that supported the Assad regime – held
sway. Mr Al Assad was overthrown in a rebel offensive in December. Syria's new
rulers have sought to eliminate production networks and publicly destroyed
seizures of large amounts of the drug. Lebanon often seizes of vast amounts of
Captagon and other drugs. In 2023, an estimated 10 million Captagon pills meant
to be smuggled to Senegal and then on to Saudi Arabia were intercepted. In April
2021, Saudi Arabia suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon after it
said shipments were being used as cover for drug smuggling.
Lebanese army shuts illegal crossings along border with
Syria
NAJIA HOUSSARI/ArabNews/July 14, 2025
BEIRUT: A patrol from the Lebanese army and the Intelligence Directorate on
Monday closed several smuggling routes in Masharih Al-Qaa, a region between
Lebanon and Syria that lacks clearly defined borders. A Lebanese military source
said the area was used for smuggling goods, fuel and people and that the army
head “erected dirt mounds and rocks to prevent the passage of vehicles and
motorcycles.”The border between Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic stretches
about 375 km and runs through towns, villages and mountainous regions. The
Lebanese government estimates there to be 136 illegal crossing points, of which
more than half are in the Bekaa region. A shortage of personnel and surveillance
equipment means many of these areas are vulnerable to criminal activity,
including human trafficking and the smuggling of weapons, drugs and other goods.
These open borders have served the interests of Hezbollah and Palestinian
factions allied with Syria. Over the years, Hezbollah has established its own
border crossings and helped protect others used by smugglers from its support
base.
Palestinian factions also established their border posts, which served as
channels for weapons and people. Dismantling them was the first task undertaken
by the Lebanese army in implementing the policy of confining weapons to the
hands of the state. The army on Sunday denied claims made on social media that
armed men had entered Lebanon from Syria via the eastern mountain range and that
it had withdrawn from border areas in the Bekaa. Military units “continue to
carry out their routine missions to control the Lebanese-Syrian border, while
also monitoring the internal security situation to prevent any breach,” it said.
It also appealed for “accuracy in reporting news related to the army and the
security situation, to act responsibly and to refrain from spreading rumors that
lead to tension among citizens.”Since the regime change in Syria, several
meetings between the two countries have been held to improve coordination on
border security. On March 28, Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa and his
Syrian counterpart, Murhaf Abu Qasra, signed an agreement in Jeddah regarding
border demarcation and the strengthening of security coordination. This came in
the wake of violent clashes between the Syrian army and groups affiliated with
Hezbollah along the border earlier in the month.The issue of undefined borders
dates back to the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, when France was granted the
mandate over the two countries and drew the borders in a vague and incomplete
manner. Some parts were demarcated in 1934, but large areas remained undefined.
The Syrian regime later refused to officially recognize Lebanon as an
independent state and considered it part of “Greater Syria.”
Kuwait expresses solidarity
On Monday, the Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior
Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al-Sabah met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. He said that Lebanon “will
remain Lebanon” and that the “arms issue will be resolved soon.”He also affirmed
Kuwait’s support for Lebanon “in all areas, especially security cooperation” and
called for activating the work of the Kuwaiti-Lebanese Higher Joint Committee to
explore avenues for assisting Lebanon. The president’s media office said Aoun
told the Kuwaiti minister of the “importance of coordination to address common
challenges, particularly in terms of security cooperation to combat drug
smuggling and anything that threatens security in both countries.”
Hezbollah and FPM respond
to Barrack's remarks
Naharnet/July 14, 2025
MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi of Hezbollah said U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s latest remarks
about Lebanon risking being swallowed by regional forces were “not surprising at
all,” accusing Washington of having “evil plots.”
He added that Barrack’s “bizarre” statement “contradicts with the simplest rules
of logic and the principles of politics and diplomacy,” adding that it reflects
“dangerous intentions and clearly unveils the features of the American-Zionist
scheme planned for the region in general and Lebanon in particular.”“Lebanon is
a country that cannot be threatened and it does not bargain over its
sovereignty. It is rather the country of resistance, pride and resilience,”
Moussawi added, addressing Barrack. He also urged a “firm and strong response”
from the Lebanese state, calling on the Foreign Ministry to immediately summon
the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon to reject these “hostile and insolent
statements.”Prominent Free Patriotic Movement sources meanwhile told al-Akhbar
newspaper that the FPM will confront “any attempt by Syria to put its hand on
any grain of Lebanon’s soil.” “Let no one threaten us with the repetition of
experiences that had failed in the past,” the sources added, noting that “the
threat of annexing Lebanon to Syria is unnecessary, detrimental and does not
contribute to solutions in Lebanon.”
Barrack has clarified that his remarks were not a “threat to Lebanon.”“My
comments yesterday praised Syria’s impressive strides, not a threat to Lebanon.
I observed the reality that Syria is moving at light speed to seize the historic
opportunity presented by @POTUS’s (U.S. President Donald Trump’s) lifting of
sanctions: investment from Türkiye and the Gulf, diplomatic outreach to
neighboring countries, and a clear vision for the future,” Barrack said in a
post on X. “I can assure that Syria’s leaders only want co-existence and mutual
prosperity with Lebanon, and the United States is committed to supporting that
relationship between two equal and sovereign neighbors enjoying peace and
prosperity,” Barrack added. He had warned in an interview with the UAE’s The
National newspaper that Lebanon risks being swallowed by regional powers unless
it acts to address Hezbollah’s arms and implement reforms. “You have Israel on
one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself
so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,”
he said, using the historical name for the Syria region. “Syrians say Lebanon is
our beach resort. So we need to move. And I know how frustrated the Lebanese
people are. It frustrates me,” he added.
Contacts between Lebanon
and US embassy after Barrack's remarks
Naharnet/July 14, 2025
Contacts took place between the Lebanese state and the U.S. Embassy in Beirut
following the latest controversy sparked by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack’s remarks
about Lebanon being swallowed by regional forces, especially Syria, al-Akhbar
newspaper reported on Monday.Lebanese authorities “settled for” the
clarification posted by Barrack on the X platform, the daily added. “My comments
yesterday praised Syria’s impressive strides, not a threat to Lebanon. I
observed the reality that Syria is moving at light speed to seize the historic
opportunity presented by @POTUS’s (U.S. President Donald Trump’s) lifting of
sanctions: investment from Türkiye and the Gulf, diplomatic outreach to
neighboring countries, and a clear vision for the future,” Barrack said. “I can
assure that Syria’s leaders only want co-existence and mutual prosperity with
Lebanon, and the United States is committed to supporting that relationship
between two equal and sovereign neighbors enjoying peace and prosperity,”
Barrack added. He had warned in an interview with the UAE’s The National
newspaper that Lebanon risks being swallowed by regional powers unless it acts
to address Hezbollah’s arms and implement reforms. “You have Israel on one side,
you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly
that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said,
using the historical name for the Syria region. “Syrians say Lebanon is our
beach resort. So we need to move. And I know how frustrated the Lebanese people
are. It frustrates me,” he added.
Jumblat on Sweida clashes:
We reject calls for external and Israeli intervention
Associated Press/July 14, 2025
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat urged Monday the Syrian
government to find a political solution, after dozens of people were killed in
fighting between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters in Syria’s Sweida
province. "We reject calls for external protection and Israeli intervention,"
Jumblat stated, as he hoped for the return of security and stability to Sweida.
"We are in contact with the Syrian government," the Druze leader told local
Annahar newspaper. Clashes initially broke out between armed groups from the
Druze religious minority and Sunni Bedouin clans, with some members of the
government security forces "actively participating" in support of the Bedouins.
The Israeli army later attacked several tanks in Sweida Monday. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said the conflict
started with the kidnapping and robbery of a Druze vegetable seller, leading to
tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings.
Loyal minority -
Israel has previously intervened in Syria in defense of the Druze religious
minority. In May, Israeli forces struck a site near the presidential palace in
Damascus, in what was seen as a warning to Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The strike came after dozens were killed in fighting between pro-government
gunmen and Druze fighters earlier this year in the town of Sahnaya and the
Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement at the time that
Israel “will not allow the deployment of (Syrian government) forces south of
Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.” Over half of the roughly 1
million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most other Druze live in Lebanon and
Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the
1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Israel, Druze are seen as a loyal
minority and often serve in the armed forces. Factions from the Druze minority
have been suspicious of the new authorities in Damascus after former President
Bashar Assad fled the country in December during a rebel offensive led by Sunni
Islamist insurgent groups. On several occasions, Druze groups have clashed with
security forces from the new government or allied factions.
'Like unwrapping an onion' -
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century
offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. In Syria, they largely live in
the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana
and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south. The Druze developed their own militias
during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war, during which they sometimes faced
attacks by the Islamic State and other Islamist militant groups. Israel has
taken an aggressive stance toward Syria’s new leaders since Assad's fall, saying
it does not want Islamist militants near its borders. Israeli forces earlier
seized a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the border with
the Golan Heights and have launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in
Syria. The Trump administration has been pushing for the new Syrian government
to move toward normalization with Israel. Syrian officials have acknowledged
holding indirect talks with Israel to attempt to defuse tensions, but have not
responded to reports that the two sides have also held direct talks. U.S. envoy
to Syria Tom Barrack told The Associated Press last week that he believes
normalizing ties will happen “like unwrapping an onion, slowly.”
طوم باراك: الرجل الذي يقف وراء روابط ترامب بالأمراء العرب
والذي باع “باريس سان جرمان للقطريين/Who Is Behind Trump’s Links to Arab Princes?
A Billionaire Friend
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145172/
The billionaire financier Tom Barrack was caught in a bind.
Who Is Behind Trump’s Links to Arab Princes? A Billionaire Friend
Published by the NYT on June 13, 2018
In April 2016, his close friend Donald J. Trump was about to clinch the
Republican presidential nomination. But Mr. Trump’s outspoken hostility to
Muslims — epitomized by his call for a ban on Muslim immigrants — was offending
the Persian Gulf princes Mr. Barrack had depended on for decades as investors
and buyers.
“Confusion about your friend Donald Trump is VERY high,” Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba
of the United Arab Emirates emailed back when Mr. Barrack tried to introduce the
candidate, in a message not previously reported. Mr. Trump’s image, the
ambassador warned, “has many people extremely worried.”
Not deterred, Mr. Barrack, a longtime friend who had done business with the
ambassador, assured him that Mr. Trump understood the Persian Gulf perspective.
“He also has joint ventures in the U.A.E.!” Mr. Barrack wrote in an email on
April 26.
The emails were the beginning of Mr. Trump’s improbable transformation from a
candidate who campaigned against Muslims to a president celebrated in the royal
courts of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi as perhaps the best friend in the White House
that their rulers have ever had. It is a shift that testifies not only to Mr.
Trump’s special flexibility, but also to Mr. Barrack’s unique place in the Trump
world, at once a fellow tycoon and a flattering courtier, a confidant and a
power broker.
During the Trump campaign, Mr. Barrack was a top fund-raiser and trusted
gatekeeper who opened communications with the Emiratis and Saudis, recommended
that the candidate bring on Paul Manafort as campaign manager — and then tried
to arrange a secret meeting between Mr. Manafort and the crown prince of Saudi
Arabia. Mr. Barrack was later named chairman of Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee.
But Mr. Manafort has since been indicted by the special prosecutor investigating
Russian meddling in the presidential election. The same inquiry is examining
whether the Emiratis and Saudis helped sway the election in Mr. Trump’s favor —
potentially in coordination with the Russians, according to people familiar with
the matter. Investigators have also asked witnesses about specific contributions
and expenses related to the inauguration, according to people familiar with
those interviews.
A spokesman for Mr. Barrack said he has been advised he is not a target of the
special prosecutor. Investigators interviewed him in December but asked
questions almost exclusively about Mr. Manafort and his associate Rick Gates,
said a person familiar with the questioning.
Mr. Barrack has steered clear of any formal role in the administration; he has
said he rebuffed offers to become treasury secretary or ambassador to Mexico.
(He sought a role as a special envoy for Middle East economic development, but
the idea never gained traction in the White House.)
Instead, he has continued making money, as he has for decades, working with the
same Persian Gulf contacts he introduced two years ago to Mr. Trump. Mr.
Barrack’s company, known as Colony NorthStar since a merger last year, has
raised more than $7 billion in investments since Mr. Trump won the nomination,
and 24 percent of that money has come from the Persian Gulf — all from either
the U.A.E. or Saudi Arabia, according to an executive familiar with the figures.
Colony NorthStar has not disclosed the investors in its funds.
Mr. Barrack’s email correspondence with Ambassador Otaiba, which has not
previously been reported, was provided to The New York Times by an anonymous
group critical of Emirati foreign policy, and it illustrates the formative role
Mr. Barrack played as a matchmaker between Mr. Trump and the Persian Gulf
princes.
Mr. Barrack’s representatives did not dispute the authenticity of the emails.
His spokesman said in a statement that Mr. Barrack “sees his business in the
Middle East as a way to help political dialogue and understanding, not the other
way around, and he does so through relationships that span as far back as the
reign of even some of the grandfathers of the current regional rulers.”
But having the ear of the president, say other executives and former diplomats
who work in the gulf, has only enhanced Mr. Barrack’s stature in the region.
“He is the only person I know who the president speaks to as a peer,” said Roger
Stone, a veteran Republican operative who has known both men for decades.
“Barrack is to Trump as Bebe Rebozo was to Nixon, which is the best friend,” Mr.
Stone added, referring to the wealthy real-estate developer who is best
remembered for his closeness to President Richard Nixon during his impeachment
process.
Mr. Barrack’s closeness to Mr. Trump extends to the president’s family. By 2010,
he had acquired $70 million of the debt owed by Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared
Kushner, on his troubled $1.8 billion purchase of a skyscraper at 666 Fifth
Avenue in New York. After a call from Mr. Trump, Mr. Barrack was among a group
of lenders who agreed to reduce Mr. Kushner’s obligations to keep him out of
bankruptcy.
A month after his first outreach to Ambassador Otaiba, Mr. Barrack wrote again
on May 26 to introduce Mr. Kushner, who was preparing for a role as a
presidential envoy to the Middle East.
“You will love him and he agrees with our agenda!” Mr. Barrack promised in
another email.
A Billionaire Buddy
Thomas J. Barrack Jr. and Donald J. Trump first met in the 1980s, and Mr.
Barrack got the better of the encounters. He negotiated Mr. Trump into
overpaying for two famous assets: a one-fifth stake in the New York department
store chain Alexander’s in 1985, and the entire Plaza Hotel in 1988. Mr. Trump
paid about $410 million for the Plaza and later lost both properties to
creditors.
But Mr. Barrack nonetheless parlayed the deals into a lasting friendship, in
part by flattering Mr. Trump about his skill as a negotiator.
“He played me like a Steinway piano,” Mr. Barrack recounted in a speech at the
Republican convention.
At 71, Mr. Barrack is the same age as President Trump and shares his fondness
for expensive trophies. He owns a 700-acre winery and polo ranch in the Santa
Ynez Valley in California, sold a seven-bedroom mansion in Santa Monica last
year for $38 million, and snapped up an Aspen ski resort for a reported $18
million just in time for the start of the season.
Yet people who know him well say he still tells new acquaintances that he is
truly honored to meet them, cheerfully doling out superlatives like
“first-class,” “amazing” and “brilliant.” He invariably tells the story of his
own success as a parable about luck and perseverance, never about talent.
He grew up speaking Arabic as the son of Lebanese immigrants to Los Angeles; his
mother worked as a secretary and his father ran a grocery store in Culver City.
By 1972 he had earned a law degree from the University of Southern California
and he interviewed for a job with Nixon’s personal lawyer, Herbert Kalmbach. As
Mr. Barrack tells the story, he returned moments later to drop off a book about
football that they had discussed, and his gesture won him a job over candidates
with more prestigious degrees.
Dispatched to Saudi Arabia because of his Arabic skills, Mr. Barrack was
enlisted as a squash partner for “a local Saudi,” he often says, and the Saudi
turned out to be a son of the king and his first big break in business.
In the decades to come, Mr. Barrack cultivated relationships across the region,
once befriending an elderly Bedouin on a bus who turned out to be an executive
of Aramco, the Saudi oil giant. Mr. Barrack invited his new Bedouin friend to
stay with him in Newport Beach, Calif., while seeking a medical treatment, and
the favor landed Mr. Barrack an assignment to help Aramco buy 375 Blue Bird
school buses, the biggest deal in his life at the time.
His friends describe him as a concierge to the Persian Gulf royals, helping them
buy American or European homes, looking after their children on visits to the
West and vacationing with them at his home in the south of France. After his
private equity firm bought a resort built by the Aga Khan on 35 miles of the
Sardinian coast, Mr. Barrack, a Catholic, opened a halal restaurant to welcome
gulf royals who came by in their yachts.
As a young lawyer, Mr. Barrack once negotiated drilling rights with Ambassador
Otaiba’s father, who was then the Emirati oil minister. The emails show that
Ambassador Otaiba later worked with Mr. Barrack to help seal a 2009 deal in
which his private equity firm sold the L’Ermitage Raffles hotel in Beverly Hills
to a joint venture half owned by an Abu Dhabi investment fund for $41 million.
Three years later, Ambassador Otaiba invested $1 million in a fund that Mr.
Barrack had set up to buy homes on the cheap after the real estate crash,
according to the emails.
When Ambassador Otaiba worried about Mr. Trump’s proposed Muslim ban — “even
someone as nonjudgmental as I am, had a problem with that statement” — Mr.
Barrack wrote back that Mr. Trump was “the king of hyperbole.”
“We can turn him to prudence,” Mr. Barrack wrote in an email. “He needs a few
really smart Arab minds to whom he can confer — u r at the top of that list!”
A Shift In Policy
Mr. Barrack’s efforts began to pay off. Mr. Kushner met Ambassador Otaiba in May
2016. Soon after, Mr. Barrack and Ambassador Otaiba began working to arrange a
secret meeting between Mr. Manafort, who became Mr. Trump’s campaign manager
that June, and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, the
dominant adviser to his father, King Salman.
Mr. Barrack had befriended Mr. Manafort in the 1970s, when they were both living
in Beirut and working for Saudi interests. Early in 2016, when Mr. Trump faced
the prospect of a contested nomination fight at the Republican convention, Mr.
Barrack had recommended Mr. Manafort for the job of campaign manager. “The most
experienced and lethal of managers” and “a killer,” Mr. Barrack called him in a
letter to Mr. Trump.
Prince Mohammed was widely seen as an ambitious protégé of the Emirati rulers,
and in an email to the Emirati ambassador, Mr. Barrack presented a Manafort
meeting as a prelude to a meeting with Mr. Trump.
“I would like to align in Donald’s mind the connection between the U.A.E. and
Saudi Arabia which we have already started with Jared,” Mr. Barrack wrote to
Ambassador Otaiba on June 21, 2016. “I think it is important that you be the
center pin!!”
Mr. Barrack had competition. The Saudi prince had tried to reach the Trump
campaign through “a midlevel person” at the rival private equity giant
Blackstone, Mr. Barrack wrote in a follow-up email. “Obviously I would like the
meeting to be arranged by you and me rather than Blackstone,” Mr. Barrack told
the ambassador.
Mr. Barrack also pitched Mr. Manafort on the value of the Emirati connection.
“Paul is totally programmed on the closeness and alignment of the U.A.E.” and
agreed to meet Prince Mohammed “because he is a friend of your boss and the
U.A.E.,” Mr. Barrack wrote.
The emails show that the meeting was scheduled for June 24, and that Mr.
Manafort sought to meet at the prince’s hotel to avoid the news media. But a
spokesman for Mr. Barrack said that Mr. Manafort had canceled at the last minute
for scheduling reasons.
Regardless, Mr. Barrack’s advocacy apparently proved effective. The day after
the meeting was scheduled, Mr. Barrack forwarded to the ambassador a message
from Mr. Manafort with a “clarification” that modulated Mr. Trump’s call for a
Muslim ban.
A few weeks later, on July 13, Mr. Barrack informed Ambassador Otaiba that the
Trump team had also removed a proposed Republican platform provision inserted to
“embarrass” Saudi Arabia. The provision had called for the release of redacted
pages about the kingdom in a report on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
When Mr. Trump won in November, Ambassador Otaiba was eager to pull Mr. Barrack
even closer. “We have a lot of things that we will have to do together. Together
being the operative word,” he wrote in a note congratulating Mr. Barrack on Mr.
Trump’s upset victory.
“Let’s do them together,” Mr. Barrack responded.
Later, Mr. Barrack attended a dinner party at Ambassador Otaiba’s home with
other Arab ambassadors and former American officials (the chef was from the
world-renowned Inn at Little Washington). Mr. Barrack offered to make
introductions in the new administration. “Tell me who is high on your hit list.”
“Thanks to you, I’m in consistent contact with Jared and that has been extremely
helpful, for both sides I think,” Ambassador Otaiba wrote Mr. Barrack.
They celebrated again in May 2017, when Mr. Trump made his first foreign trip as
president, to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia for an Arab summit meeting.
“It all started with you and JK and I so congratulations on a great beginning,”
Mr. Barrack wrote to Ambassador Otaiba, referring to Mr. Kushner by his
initials.
Things Go Sour — But Not For Barrack
Two weeks after the Riyadh meeting, Mr. Trump began to align himself firmly with
the Saudis and Emiratis against their rivals around the region. When those two
states imposed an embargo on their neighbor Qatar — home to a major United
States air base — Mr. Trump broke with his own administration to throw his
weight squarely behind the Saudis and Emiratis.
He quickly congratulated Prince Mohammed when he assumed the title of crown
prince — and commended him again when he summarily detained about 200
businessmen and rivals in a consolidation of his power. This spring, Mr. Trump
handed the Saudis and Emiratis an even greater victory by pulling out of the
nuclear deal with their nemesis, Iran. In turn, the gulf monarchs have made only
pro forma protests against Mr. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital
of Israel.
Yet many of the connections facilitated by Mr. Barrack have brought liabilities,
too.
The linkages between Mr. Trump and the Saudis and Emiratis have come under new
scrutiny. A few months after Mr. Barrack arranged the initial introductions,
George Nader, a Lebanese American businessman and a top adviser to the de facto
ruler of the U.A.E., met with the candidate’s son Donald Trump Jr. at the Trump
headquarters in New York. In that Aug. 3, 2016, meeting, Mr. Nader reported that
the rulers of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates supported the Trump
campaign and offered their assistance, according to people familiar with the
discussion.
Such help would have violated campaign laws, and Mr. Nader is now cooperating
with the special prosecutor, who is examining that meeting as well as a string
of others that followed, according to people familiar the matter.
Mr. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to charges of financial fraud and lying to
federal investigators in connection with his work for Russian-backed interests
in Ukraine. Mr. Gates, whom Mr. Barrack hired to help run the inauguration and
then as a Washington consultant, has pleaded guilty to making false statements
to investigators and agreed to cooperate with the special prosecutor.
Mr. Kushner has also given testimony to the special prosecutor.
But Mr. Barrack’s business is still going strong, in part as a result of his
continuing relations with the Saudis and Emiratis. When his company was looking
for partners in its $400 million purchase last year of a landmark Los Angeles
office tower, One California Plaza, it sold a $70 million stake to an Israeli
insurance company. Another $70 million stake went to a state investment company
controlled by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates,
according to a person familiar with the deal.
What is more, Mr. Barrack may profit more directly than ordinary shareholders or
executives from the investments he helps bring in, because in some cases,
according to Colony NorthStar filings, he earns the extra fees known as carried
interest on profits from funds he raised — as if he were a partner in a private
equity firm rather than merely a chairman of a publicly traded company.
Friends of Mr. Barrack argue that his long history of business in the Persian
Gulf shows that the investments are unrelated to any White House connections.
Yet one thing has shifted.
Until recently, Mr. Barrack’s most prominent gulf customers were neither the
Emiratis nor the Saudis — but their bitter rivals the Qataris, who bought the
film studio Miramax and a Paris soccer team from him, among other marquee
properties. During the campaign, Mr. Barrack reached out to the Qataris as well,
helping set up a meeting between Mr. Trump and the emir of Qatar in Trump Tower
in September 2016.
“Tom wanted Qatar to know he arranged it,” said a person involved in meeting,
“and he wanted Trump to know he arranged it.”
But Mr. Trump’s stance on the dispute with Qatar appears to have cast a shadow
over Mr. Barrack’s business there: None of the gulf investments that Mr.
Barrack’s company has brought in since Mr. Trump’s nomination have come from
Qatar.
“We still consider Tom a friend and partner,” said a senior Qatari official,
speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering the White House. “But
with all the recent things that have happened we have suspicions about the level
of his involvement in this crisis.”
**Ben Protess, Maggie Haberman and Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting from
Washington.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on July 14-15/2025
Iran says ‘no specific date’ for US nuclear talks
AFP/July 14, 2025
TEHRAN: Iran said Monday it had “no specific date” for a meeting with the United
States on Tehran’s nuclear program, following a war with Israel that had
derailed negotiations. “For now, no specific date, time or location has been
determined regarding this matter,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil
Baqaei of plans for a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi
and US envoy Steve Witkoff. Iran had been negotiating with the United States
before Israel began strikes on its nuclear facilities last month, which
Washington later joined. Araghchi and Witkoff met five times, starting in April,
without concluding a deal, before Israel launched surprise strikes on June 13,
starting a 12-day war. “We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation
process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth
round the Zionist regime, in coordination with the United States, committed
military aggression against Iran,” said Baqaei. The United States launched its
own set of strikes against Iran’s nuclear program on June 22, hitting the
uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well
as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.
The extent of the damage from the strikes remains unknown. With its own strikes,
numbering in the hundreds, Israel killed nuclear scientists and top-ranking
military officers as well as hitting military, nuclear and other sites. Iran
responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel, while it attacked a US base
in Qatar in retaliation for Washington’s strikes. Israel and Western nations
accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently
denied. While it is the only non-nuclear power to enrich uranium to 60-percent
purity, close to the level needed for a warhead, the UN’s atomic energy watchdog
has said it had no indication that Iran was working to weaponize its stockpiles.
Syria government forces
take over Druze village in south
AFP/July 14, 2025
AL-MAZRA’AH: Syrian government forces were advancing toward the southern city of
Sweida on Monday after taking control of a Druze village nearby, an AFP
correspondent said, on the second day of sectarian clashes there. Security
forces were deployed in Sweida province following clashes between Druze fighters
and Bedouin tribes that killed at least 89 people since Sunday. The AFP
correspondent saw forces under the Syrian defense ministry deployed in Al-Mazraa
village, where Bedouin fighters were also located. The forces continued to
advance in the direction of Sweida city. A commander, Ezzeddine Al-Shamayer,
told AFP the forces “are heading toward Sweida.”The Israeli army said on Monday
that it struck several tanks between the villages of Al-Mazraa and Sami that
were heading to Sweida. It added that it would not allow “the establishment of a
military threat in southern Syria and will operate against it.”Druze spiritual
leaders called for calm and urged Damascus to intervene.But Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri,
one of the three Druze spiritual leaders in Sweida, expressed his “rejection of
the entry” of general security forces into the province, demanding
“international protection.”The fighting underscores the challenges facing
interim Syrian leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa, whose Islamist forces ousted president
Bashar Assad in December.
Israel strikes tanks in Syria
after dozens die in fighting in Sweida
Syrian Defence Ministry sends forces to Druze heartland in latest outbreak of
violence
Khaled Yacoub Oweis/The National/July 14/2025
Israel launched air strikes on southern Syria on Monday after dozens of people
were killed in fighting between allies of the Syrian government and sects wary
of the post-Assad order. Syrian troops were sent to the Druze heartland of
Sweida after 38 people were killed in clashes. The government said six of its
troops were among the dead, while an estimated 30 government auxiliaries were
also killed.Druze sources said pro-Syrian government militias launched attacks
on the city of Sweida from Sunni areas to its west as the province came under
siege by government forces. A war monitor put the total death toll at 89.
The Syrian Defence Ministry said it had begun “spreading military units in the
affected areas”. It blamed “an institutional vacuum” for “worsening the chaos”.
Israel later said its military struck a number of tanks in southern Syria. It
did not provide details, but a source in Sweida said the area where the tanks
were hit, between Sijen and Samii in Deraa province, had been a launchpad for
attacks on the Druze. The Israeli strikes were "a message and a clear warning to
the Syrian regime - we will not allow harm to be done to the Druze in Syria,"
said Defence Minister Israel Katz. "Israel will not stand idly by."
Israel intervened in April to halt attacks on Druze communities in Damascus and
Sweida that killed dozens of civilians. Syria contains most of the world's one
million Druze, who follow an offshoot of Islam that is also present in Israel,
Lebanon and Jordan. The latest violence also follows the killing over two days
in March of 1,300 Alawites in incursions by government forces and auxiliaries
into Syria's coastal Alawite region.
Dozens killed in sectarian clashes in southern Syria
On Sunday, at least one Druze town was seized by militias from neighbouring
Deraa, in the worst violence against the community of 800,000 people since the
April clashes, sources said. Syrian authorities said they were “following the
bloody developments in Sweida with worry and sadness”. They said troops had
begun deploying in affected areas, providing safe passage for civilians and
disengaging combatants. Sweida and parts of eastern Syria, where the mostly
Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces are powerful, are the only areas where the
Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) government that last year ended the rule of the
dictator Bashar Al Assad does not exert control. The leadership of both the
Kurds and the Druze have opposed what they describe as HTS's religious agenda
under Syria's new President, Ahmad Al Shara. The latest clashes started last
week after Fadlalah Duwara, a vegetable seller and member of the Druze
community, was abducted while driving his lorry on the main road from Sweida to
Damascus, which is under government control. His tribe responded by abducting a
man in a Sunni neighbourhood of Sweida.
Syrian government forces have been deployed to Suweida after fighting erupted
involving the Druze minority.
The area is inhabited by members of Bedouin tribes who moved to the city decades
ago from a rugged region on the outskirts. The attacks provoked a kidnapping
cycle that broke into clashes in the city on Sunday, according to residents and
sources in Jordan who are in contact with people in the province. By Monday the
situation in Sweida had calmed after most of the hostages from the two sides
were freed. But the western outskirts came under attack by militias based in
Lajat, Busra Al Harir and Busra Al Sham, the Druze sources said. They said the
Druze town of Al Dour fell to the militias overnight, while Daara, another Druze
town, has changed hands several times. A Druze political figure close to the
Druze spiritual leader Hikmat Al Hijri told The National that Sweida is “falling
under siege”, with the 40th division of the new Syrian army backing the militias
from Deraa who are attacking the Druze in the west. The 70th Division was
deployed last month in the east of Sweida city, and since Sunday regular troops
have provided manpower from the north. The south of Sweida province borders
Jordan.
Suhail Thebian, a prominent Druze civil figure, said the attackers from the west
were being met with heavy resistance. “If the incursion works out, there will be
a sectarian massacre, like the one that befell the coast,” he said, adding that
the authorities would blame “undisciplined elements” within their ranks.
“Al Shara wants to break the mountain in any shape of form,” Mr Thebian added.
Sweida is known as the Mountain of the Arabs. It is where a failed revolt
against French rule started in 1925. That uprising was crushed after two years
but it helped carve out an image of the Druze as Syrians above all.
Sana, the official Syrian news agency, said Syrian security forces had been sent
to the administrative borders between the Deraa and Sweida provinces. Secondary
school exams due to take place on Monday were postponed. Many Druze,
particularly the minority's spiritual leadership under Sheikh Al Hijri, have
resisted attempts by the central authorities to control the province by
deploying new police units. Sheikh Al Hijri has accused the HTS government of
extremism and lack of interest in a civil-based, democratic order to replace the
past regime. HTS, a group formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda, led an offensive
that ended five decades of Assad family rule in December. In the last year of Mr
Al Assad's rule, the Druze, led by Sheikh Al Hijri, mounted a peaceful
anti-regime protest movement in Sweida, although the Assad regime maintained its
forces in the area. The Druze have survived persecution by the French and the
Ottomans, and retribution for a failed coup led by a Druze officer against the
country’s Alawite rulers in the 1960s, as well as the 13 years of civil war that
preceded the downfall of Mr Al Assad.
In the offensive that toppled Mr Al Assad, the HTS swept out from areas in
northern Syria that it had run according to its strict interpretation of Islamic
jurisprudence. Many inside the HTS rebel movement view the Druze – whose
religion contains elements of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism – as
heretics.
But since becoming Syria's President in January, Mr Al Shara, the leader of HTS,
has repeatedly signalled that no harm will come to members of the country’s many
minorities unless they are found to have been complicit in the crimes of the
former regime.
Attacks on Syrian Security Forces Sent to Quell Sectarian
Clashes Leave 18 Dead as Israel Strikes Targets to Protect Druze
Asharq Al Awsat/July 14/2025
At least 18 members of Syria's security forces have been killed in the
predominantly Druze city of Sweida, the Defense Ministry said, after they
deployed to quell deadly sectarian clashes that had resumed on Monday, while
Israel said it struck tanks in a town in the same province on the same day.
Sunday's fighting between Druze militiamen and Bedouin tribal fighters was the
first time that sectarian violence erupted inside the city of Sweida itself,
following months of tensions in the broader province. Defense Ministry
spokesperson Hassan Abdel-Ghani said in statements reported by Syrian state news
agency SANA that a number of troops were also injured during attacks on military
points by "outlawed groups". Earlier, the ministry said in a statement to
Reuters that these groups, who it did not identify further, had attacked a
number of its units at dawn. It said its forces responded to the attacks and had
pursued the groups that refused to halt hostilities and continued to target
security forces. Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it attacked several tanks
in a town in Sweida. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes were
a "clear warning to the Syrian regime", adding that Israel would not allow harm
to the Druze living in Syria.
Close ties between the Israeli state and its 120,000 Druze citizens,
strengthened by the fact that Druze men serve in the Israel army, are one of the
reasons for Israel's deepening involvement in Syria. The fighting on Sunday left
30 people dead and prompted Syria's security forces to deploy units to the city
to restore calm and guarantee safe passage for civilians looking to leave, the
defense ministry said in earlier statements. But intense clashes broke out again
on Monday, local news outlet Sweida24 reported. Another security source said
that Syrian troops would aim to exert state control over the whole province to
prevent any more violence, but that this could take several days. It marked the
latest episode of sectarian bloodshed in Syria, where fears among minority
groups have surged since opposition fighters toppled President Bashar al-Assad
in December, installing their own government and security forces.
The factions which fought Assad during the war agreed in December to dissolve
into the Defense Ministry but efforts to integrate armed factions from minority
groups - including Druze and Kurds - have largely stalled. In southern Syria,
efforts have been further complicated by Israel's stated policy that it would
not allow Syria's new army to deploy south of Damascus and that Sweida and
neighboring provinces should make up a demilitarized zone. Interior Minister
Anas Khattab said in a written statement carried on state media that the
"absence of state institutions, especially military and security institutions,
is a major cause of the ongoing tensions in Sweida and its countryside."
Sunday's violence erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction
of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida,
witnesses said.
Israeli ultra-Orthodox
party leaves government over conscription bill
Reuters/July 15, 2025
JERUSALEM: One of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it
was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition due to a
long-running dispute over failure to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students
from military service. Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, which is
comprised of the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of
resignation. Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of UTJ, had resigned a month ago. That
would leave Netanyahu with a razor thin majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat
Knesset, or parliament. It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-Orthodox
party, would follow suit. Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after
conferring with its head rabbis, "and following repeated violations by the
government to its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who
diligently engage in their studies ... (its MKs) have announced their
resignation from the coalition and the government." Ultra-Orthodox parties have
argued that a bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their
agreement to join the coalition in late 2022. A spokesperson for Goldknopf
confirmed that in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government.
Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have long threatened to leave the coalition over the
conscription bill. Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking
exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service
that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such
exemptions altogether. The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military
service, which applies to most other young Israelis, but last year the Supreme
Court ordered the defence ministry to end that practice and start conscripting
seminary students. Netanyahu had been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his
coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present
crisis. The exemption, in place for decades and which over the years has spared
an increasingly large number of people, has become a heated topic in Israel with
the military still embroiled in a war in Gaza.
Trump Says He Hopes for Gaza Deal within a Week
Asharq Al Awsat/July 14/2025
US President Donald Trump said Sunday he hoped talks for a ceasefire between
Israel and Hamas will be "straightened out" this week. The US is backing a
60-day ceasefire with a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals
from parts of Gaza and talks to end the conflict. Trump told reporters, "We are
talking and hopefully we're going to get that straightened out over the next
week."On Sunday, Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 32 people,
including six children at a water collection point, while the Palestinian death
toll passed 58,000 after 21 months of war, local health officials said.
Israel and Hamas appeared no closer to a breakthrough in indirect talks meant to
pause the war and free some Israeli hostages after Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's Washington visit last week. A sticking point has emerged over
Israeli troops ' deployment during a ceasefire.
Israel says it will end the war only once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes
into exile, something it refuses to do. Hamas says it is willing to free all the
remaining 50 hostages, about 20 said to be alive, in exchange for the war's end
and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Clerics Accuse West Bank Israeli Settlers of Attacking
Christian Sites
Asharq Al Awsat/July 15/2025
Christian leaders accused Israeli settlers on Monday of attacking sacred sites
in the West Bank, in violence that one said was forcing some to consider
quitting the occupied territory. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem,
Theophilos III - visiting the Christian town of Taybeh with other
Jerusalem-based clerics - said settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a
5th century church there last week. "These actions are a direct and intentional
threat to our local community ... but also to the historic and religious
heritage," the patriarch told diplomats and journalists at a press conference in
Taybeh. Settlers had also attacked homes in the area, he said. "We call for an
immediate and transparent investigation on why the Israeli police did not
respond to emergency calls from the local community and why these abhorrent
actions continue to go unpunished," he added.Israel's government spokesperson
did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Israel's
government had previously said that any acts of violence by civilians are
unacceptable and that individuals should not take the law into their own hands.
During the visit, the heads of the churches led locals in prayer as candles
flickered in the ruins of the 5th century church of St George. They spoke with
residents who described their fears. B'Tselem and other rights groups say
settler violence in the West Bank has risen since the start of Israel's war
against Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza in late 2023. Dozens of Israelis have
also been killed in Palestinian street attacks in recent years and the Israeli
military has intensified raids across the West Bank. Palestinian health
authorities and witnesses said two men, including a US citizen, were killed by
settlers during a confrontation on Friday night. Fears over violence were
pushing Christians to leave the West Bank, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the
Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem since 2020, said. "Unfortunately, the
temptation to emigrate is there because of the situation," he added. "This time
it's very difficult to see how and when this will finish, and especially for the
youth to talk about hope, trust for the future." Around 50,000 Christian
Palestinians live in Jerusalem and in the West Bank, an area that includes many
of the faith's most sacred sites including Bethlehem where believers say Jesus
was born.Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in
the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the
1967 war, which Palestinians see as part of a future state.
Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 31 in Gaza as UN Agencies
Warn of Fuel Crisis
Asharq Al Awsat/July 14/2025
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight killed at least 31 people,
according to local hospitals, as UN agencies warned on Monday that critical fuel
shortages put hospitals and other critical infrastructure at risk. The latest
attacks came after US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu held two days of talks last week that ended with no sign of a
breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release. Twelve people
were killed by strikes in southern Gaza, including three who were waiting at an
aid distribution point, according to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which
received the bodies. Shifa Hospital in Gaza City also received 12 bodies,
including three children and two women, after a series of strikes in the north,
according to the hospital's director, Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia. Al-Awda Hospital
reported seven killed and 11 wounded in strikes in central Gaza. The Israeli
military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It
blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely
populated areas. Separately, three Israeli soldiers were killed in northern
Gaza, according to the military. A military official, speaking on condition of
anonymity in line with regulations, said on Monday that they died in an
explosion in their tank, apparently after it was hit by an anti-tank missile,
though the incident was still being examined. UN agencies, including those
providing food and health care, reiterated a warning made at the weekend that
without adequate fuel, they "will likely be forced to stop their operations
entirely." In a joint statement, they said that hospitals are already going dark
and ambulances can no longer move. Without fuel, transport, water production,
sanitation and telecommunications will shut down and bakeries and community
kitchens cannot operate, they said. The agencies confirmed that some 150,000
liters of fuel entered Gaza last week - the first delivery in 130 days. But they
said it is "a small fraction of what is needed each day to keep daily life and
critical aid operations running." "The United Nations agencies and humanitarian
partners cannot overstate the urgency of this moment: fuel must be allowed into
Gaza in sufficient quantities and consistently to sustain life-saving
operations," they said. The agencies signing the statement were the UN
humanitarian office OCHA, food agency WFP, health organization WHO, children's
agency UNICEF, the agency helping Palestinian refugees UNRWA, population agency
UNFPA, development agency UNDP, and UNOPS which oversees procurement and
provides management services. Israel's military said a June 19 strike killed
Muhammad Nasr Ali Quneita, a senior Hamas fighter who it said had taken part in
the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and held hostage Emily Damari, a dual Israeli-British
citizen, in his home at the start of the war. There was no comment from Hamas
and no independent confirmation. Thousands of Hamas-led fighters stormed into
Israel that day, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251
people, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other
deals. The fighters are still holding 50 hostages, less than half of them
believed to be alive.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to
Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half
of the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its
tally.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and is led by medical
professionals. The United Nations and other experts consider its figures to be
the most reliable count of war casualties. Israel's air and ground war has
destroyed vast areas of Gaza and driven some 90% of the population from their
homes. Aid groups say they have struggled to bring in food and other assistance
because of Israeli military restrictions and the breakdown of law and order, and
experts have warned of famine. Israel's Knesset meanwhile voted to expel a
prominent Arab lawmaker, but the measure failed to pass the threshold of 90
votes in the 120-member assembly. Seventy-three members voted in favor. The
attempt to remove Ayman Odeh from parliament was related to a social media post
in January in which he welcomed the release of both Israeli hostages and
Palestinian prisoners in a Gaza ceasefire.
The prisoners released in the agreement included scores of fighters convicted of
deadly attacks against Israelis, and rival lawmakers accused Odeh of supporting
terror, allegations he denied. Many Palestinians view those imprisoned by Israel
as freedom fighters jailed for resisting Israel's decades-long occupation of
lands the Palestinians seek for a future state. Israel's Arab minority, which
makes up some 20% of the population, has citizenship, including the right to
vote, but faces widespread discrimination. Its members have close family ties to
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and largely support their
cause, leading many Jewish Israelis to view them with suspicion or contempt.
Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak
Asharq Al Awsat/July 14/2025
An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on
security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for
allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.
Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case,
which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024. Netanyahu has
described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on
Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the
charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond
doubt, reported Reuters. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement
late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from
the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild. Their intent, she
said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about
the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late
August 2024. The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged
hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had
faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.
Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame
for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal
had been reached. Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more
than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached,
according to a defense official at the time. The Bild article in question was
published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in
southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire
talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant
group over the deadlock. Bild said after the investigation was announced that it
does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic
documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
Monday. A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the
release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are
presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another
truce. In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement
was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.
Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of
Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has
sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.
Egypt Says Israel-EU Agreement Has Not Increased Aid to Gaza
Asharq Al Awsat/July 15/2025
Egypt's foreign minister said on Monday that the flow of aid into Gaza has not
increased despite an agreement last week between Israel and the European Union
that should have had that result. "Nothing has changed (on the ground),"
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters ahead of the EU-Middle
East meeting in Brussels on Monday. The EU's top diplomat said on Thursday that
the bloc and Israel agreed to improve Gaza's humanitarian situation, including
increasing the number of aid trucks and opening crossing points and aid routes.
Asked what steps Israel has taken, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar referred
to an understanding with the EU but did not provide details on implementation.
Asked if there were improvements after the agreement, Jordanian Foreign Minister
Ayman Safadi told reporters that the situation in Gaza remains "catastrophic".
"There is a real catastrophe happening in Gaza resulting from the continuation
of the Israeli siege," he said. Safadi said Israel allowed the entry of 40 to 50
trucks days ago from Jordan but that was "far from being sufficient" for the
besieged enclave. EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of Monday's
meeting that there have been some signs of progress on Gaza aid but not enough
improvement on the ground. Israel's continued military operations and blockade
have left the entire population of 2.3 million people in Gaza facing acute food
insecurity, with nearly half a million at risk of famine by the end of
September, a joint United Nations report said last month.
The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources on July 14-15/2025
Syria’s
Water Crisis: A Threat Looking for Solution
Fayez Sara/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/July 15/2025
Syria is facing the most severe water crisis in modern history. All of Syria’s
provinces have suffered, albeit to varying degrees, and it has had impacts on
the majority of Syrians if not all of them. In characterizing the water crisis,
it can be said that it is comprehensive. It is a major issue in the agricultural
sector, which dominates the country's economy. Rain-fed agriculture, which is
suffering from declining rainfall across most regions, is not the activity that
has faced problems. Irrigated farming areas along river basins, such as the
Euphrates and its tributaries, as well as the Orontes, Barada, and Yarmouk
rivers, have seen a decrease in water supplies from wellsprings and rainfall,
along with a decline in groundwater reserves. All of this has led to shortages
in both the quantity and quality of Syria’s agricultural output, and it has had
repercussions for livestock (including meat, hides, and dairy).
It seems only natural for the crisis to extend to drinking water as well. Demand
for potable water is concentrated in Syria’s major cities- oases with high
population density like Damascus, Aleppo, and most cities in the south and
north. Rising population density and other factors have contributed to depleting
surface water from rivers and springs, as well as most groundwater reserves.
Today, water is rationed in most areas, both urban and rural, with access to
drinking water limited to periods ranging between two and five days.
This limited supply is expected to shrink further unless reforms are implemented
and serious measures that introduce effective solutions are taken.
A severe shortage of water is one aspect of Syria’s water crisis. Another is the
deterioration of the water’s quality as a result of wide-ranging interventions
and contaminations over the past few decades. Some water sources have become
unfit for consumption, and others unsuitable for agricultural use without
treatment. The deterioration of Syria’s water quality to the point where it has
become unusable was born of an array of interconnected causes. In addition to
climate change, which has reduced rainfall and led to rising temperatures, water
management in the country has played a prominent role in compounding the crisis.
Corruption has been a major driver of water depletion, as certain individuals
have been allowed to exploit water in an excessive and unregulated manner. One
of the most significant consequences of this corruption has been the collapse of
river basins: in the Khabur in the Jazira region, the Orontes in central Syria,
and the rivers of the Damascus Ghouta. These policies have also led to the
pollution of water sources, both above and below the ground.
Contamination is often the result of misuse, like releasing untreated sewage and
wastewater from various industries into rivers and lakes. The years of war (2011
to 2024) aggravated things. Waterways and basins were polluted by primitive oil
refining and the heavy use of munitions.
The consequences of Syria’s water crisis are profound. It undermines the
nation’s ability to achieve stability and ensure sustainable development, as
well as worsening living conditions. If the crisis continues to worsen, it will
lead to a broad array of political, economic, social, and security-related
problems in the future. Given the gravity of this issue, a comprehensive
national plan is needed to address it and overcome the challenges it poses to
Syria and its citizens. Based on available data, any national water plan must be
built on three main pillars. First, the creation of a water map that identifies
the country’s various water sources and their potential for development; this
map would serve as a foundation for water policy across all sectors. Second,
raising awareness about the water resources and good practices in using them,
with particular emphasis on the importance of conservation and reducing
unnecessary consumption.
Third, improving water resources in two key ways: securing fair agreements with
neighboring countries over Syria’s rights to shared water resources (especially
Turkiye, Iraq, and Lebanon) all of which share major rivers with Syria,
including the Tigris, Euphrates, and Orontes; and strengthening efforts for
water recycling and reuse. The water crisis has become a vicious and pressing
problem that demands radical solutions from both the government and the broader
Syrian population. Otherwise, Syria will fail to overcome the current and future
dangers and challenges it poses to the people and the country.
Iraq and the Fires of Its Neighbors
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat
newspaper/July 15/2025
I once asked a man who had worked in Saddam Hussein’s palace whether he had ever
heard him swear. “No, he did not have a habit of swearing. He would fall silent
when he became angry, but sparks would flash in his eyes; whenever he accused
someone of treason, betrayal, or embezzlement of public funds, his visible rage
was terrifying,” the man replied. He then nuanced his view. “To be precise, I do
recall him once saying: ‘To hell with Iran, to hell with Türkiye.’ It seemed
that Saddam had been bemoaning Iraq’s geographical location.”Let us set aside
Saddam’s complaints about fate and geography. The reality is that destiny has
associated Iraq with flames- in its region, along its borders, and its
neighborhood. Iraq has always had a fraught relationship with neighboring Syria,
and these tensions have left the two neighbors on the brink of open conflict on
several occasions. Saddam Hussein and Hafez al-Assad’s decades-long mutual
animosity never abated. Today, the long and complicated relationship between the
two countries is being tested once again. Saddam’s complaints about geographical
fate came to mind when I was in Baghdad, where I heard that, during the recent
Israeli-Iranian war, Iraq narrowly averted “an existential threat even greater
that ISIS had posed when it rolled through a third of Iraq’s territory.” Iraq
managed to keep this threat at bay by staying out of the firestorm raging near
its borders even as warplanes and missiles flew through its airspace. My
interlocutor attributed Iraq’s narrow escape to several factors: the Iraqi
authorities and the factions operating in Iraqi territory had taken Israel’s
threats seriously, the United States went from offering advice to raising the
alarm, and, crucially, Iran had not asked the factions to join the war. On the
contrary, it had urged them to do nothing. He added that the factions- after
having seen how Israel had breached Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the first
Israeli strike on Iran, which exposed the latter’s vulnerability- realized that
they were far too weak to enter this fight, and he noted that Iraqi authorities
had thwarted three attempts by “rogue factions” to attack Israel. The last time
Iraq faced such a difficult test was when Aleppo fell into the hands of Hayat
Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). At the time, Iran encouraged its allies to come to the aid
of Bashar al-Assad. Iraq’s "State Administration Coalition," the parliamentary
bloc that had formed the current government, held a closed-door meeting attended
by all of its members.
Some factions were eager to intervene, arguing that “the implications of
terrorists gaining ground in Syria would inevitably spill over into Iraq.”
However, the factions needed to transport heavy weaponry if they were to
intervene effectively, and this was not possible amid Israel’s control of the
skies.
At this point of the debate, it was suggested that the Iraqi army could
undertake this operation. However, several attendees warned of the risks: such a
step could reignite Sunni-Shiite conflict on Iraqi soil, fracture Iraq’s state
institutions, and create a serious rift between Baghdad and Erbil. After a tense
meeting, the coalition settled on limiting its response to diplomatic channels
and media campaigns. Baghdad made one last effort to persuade Assad to publicly
agree to meet Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but he remained intransigent. Only on the
eve of his departure did he agree to a low-level meeting between the two
countries’ foreign ministers in Baghdad. By then, however, the window had closed
and the moment had passed. One Iraqi observer summed up this episode
pertinently. “Iraq’s political forces did not shed many tears for the Assad
regime. He is a Baathist, and Iraq’s political system had been built on the
wreckage of Baathist horrors. Moreover, the man, fearing that his regime would
be the next target after Saddam fell, had been responsible for the deaths of
thousands of Iraqis. The Assad regime funneled thousands of extremists into
Iraq, where they carried out suicide bombings, massacres, and devastating
attacks.”
Nonetheless, the observer noted, “the image of Ahmed al-Sharaa sitting in
Assad’s chair was deeply unsettling to the factions in Baghdad. None of them had
forgotten that he had spent years in an Iraqi prison before the West decided to
rehabilitate him. The Iraqi government has responded to these apprehensions
pragmatically. The two countries are coordinating on security matters, and the
foreign ministers of both countries have met. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
even met Sharaa in Doha, despite being criticized for doing so. One could say
Baghdad is keeping a close eye on Sharaa and monitoring his policies. However,
we probably won’t see him in Baghdad anytime soon, even as he heads to other
regional and international capitals.”Baghdad, he went on, is especially
concerned by “rumors that Sharaa has decided to withdraw his country from the
conflict with Israel. The Iraqis are aware that his regional and international
backers want him to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from returning to Syria, and to
remove any link between Syria and resistance to Israel. That last point is
particularly consequential.”In recent months, Iraq managed to narrowly escape
two daunting threats: the collapse of the Assad regime and the Israeli-Iranian
war. Now, in the sweltering heat of summer, the winds of Iraq’s upcoming
parliamentary elections, scheduled for November, have begun blowing. If past
experience offers any guidance, “electoral wars” are never simple in Iraq, nor
are the power struggles within the circle of elites. Indeed, Sudani has
confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he intends to run for re-election, making
clear that he intended to finish what he had started during his current term.
The electoral stakes are high. Iraqis can only hope that flames will not once
again erupt in Iran, threatening to propel Iraq into an even more dangerous and
destabilizing debacle than that of a contested parliamentary election.
Will Xi Jinping Attack
America to Prevent His Political Demise?
Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute./July 14, 2025
"Xi is obviously in some sort of trouble. The smoke keeps pouring out." —
Charles Burton, Senior Fellow, Prague-based Sinopsis think tank, former Canadian
diplomat, to Gatestone Institute, July 2025.
The world is at great risk... if Xi is now engaged in no-holds-barred fighting
for his political life. In this case — the most probable in my view — he might
feel he has every reason to stop at nothing to save himself.
It is apparent that Chinese agents are now in place in America. Toward the end
of the Biden administration, U.S. Border Patrol officers noticed packs of
military-aged Chinese males coming from Mexico, all outfitted in identical kit.
Border Patrol apparently knew that some pack members had links to the Chinese
military. In addition, Border Patrol suspects that China's military was
orchestrating the infiltration.
Why would Xi Jinping order an attack? Perhaps to show other Communist Party
figures that he has the strength to take on the United States — or to create a
crisis during which no one would dare to depose him.
Rumors say mighty Xi Jinping will lose his Communist Party and Chinese state
posts in the next few months. There is, however, also a large group of China
watchers and academics who say that little or nothing is out of place and Xi is
fine.
Whatever the truth, the U.S. and other countries need to prepare for the regime
to lash out without warning. Xi may now have reason to take the world by
surprise.
There are clear signs that Xi has lost control of the People's Liberation Army,
the most important faction in the Communist Party of China. A series of
articles, beginning on July 9 of last year, in PLA Daily, the military's main
propaganda organ, praised "collective leadership," a clear criticism of Xi's
one-man style of rule. At the same time, many of Xi's loyalists were removed
from their posts.
The most prominent of those removed was Xi's No. 1 hatchet man, General He
Weidong, last seen in public on March 11. Some believe the general, the No. 2
uniformed officer, was "suicided" in May in the military's 301 Hospital in
Beijing, at about the same time that another Xi supporter, General He Hongjun,
was also reportedly killed.
There are also indications that Xi has lost the support of senior civilian
officials. His absence from the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro in early July --
the first time he had skipped this event as China's leader -- sparked talk that
either he was in so much trouble that he felt he had to stay close to Beijing or
that others in the leadership had prevented him from leaving the country.
Analysts who closely track the Communist Party — today's version of the Cold
War's Kremlinologists — have noticed that state and Party media, from late April
to late June, portrayed Xi in a diminished role. For instance, Charles Burton of
the Prague-based Sinopsis think tank, pointed out that Xi at a Communist Party
symposium on June 13 was publicly forced to praise "collective leadership,"
another sign that he had lost influence.
Nonetheless, many academics and veteran China watchers think that nothing
unusual has occurred. "Much of the speculation about Xi's political misfortunes
relies on unsubstantiated rumors or glaring ignorance of context," writes
SinoInsider, a New York-based China consultancy, in a widely circulated June 25
analysis. "In some cases, a cursory look at the so-called 'signs' reveals them
to be entirely normal occurrences. In other cases, there are simpler and more
convincing explanations for developments regarded as unusual."
At the moment, there is great disagreement among China analysts about whether
the Party's Politburo had issued rules, publicized on June 30, to restrict Xi's
powers over internal commissions and groups. Hong Kong's South China Morning
Post carried a piece suggesting that Xi himself initiated the rules because he
wanted to delegate power.
Strongman Xi is not known for delegating power, but in any event, there are too
many out-of-the-ordinary events this year to explain away. "Where there's smoke,
there's fire," Burton, who served as a Canadian diplomat in Beijing, told
Gatestone this month. "Xi is obviously in some sort of trouble. The smoke keeps
pouring out."
What does all this mean for the rest of the world?
If Xi is indeed weakened and has accepted his fate, the consequences for other
countries are unlikely to be great. There are reports that Xi's mother in early
June hosted a lunch for Party elders, during which she negotiated her son's safe
withdrawal from the regime. If that rumor is true, a power transition in Beijing
should prove to be relatively smooth.
If Xi is still in command and is as strong as ever, he would have no additional
incentive to disrupt the status quo.
The world is at great risk, however, if Xi is now engaged in no-holds-barred
fighting for his political life. In this case — the most probable in my view —
he might feel he has every reason to stop at nothing to save himself. He could,
for example, trigger a confrontation or start a war, not to rally the Chinese
people — at the moment China's people do not want war — but to prevent other
senior Communist Party figures from challenging him.
Xi probably does not have the power to order the military to launch major
operations, such as an invasion of the main island of Taiwan, but he can trigger
a war.
For instance, he could, through his other channels, activate networks of Chinese
agents in the United States, giving them the go-signal to bring down power
lines, poison reservoirs, bomb shopping centers, start wildfires and kill
Americans in the streets.
It is apparent that Chinese agents are now in place in America. Toward the end
of the Biden administration, U.S. Border Patrol officers noticed packs of
military-aged Chinese males coming from Mexico, all outfitted in identical kit.
Border Patrol apparently knew that some pack members had links to the Chinese
military. In addition, Border Patrol suspects that China's military was
orchestrating the infiltration.
The flood of suspicious Chinese illegal immigrants coincided with a marked
increase by Chinese nationals attempting to gain entry onto American military
bases. There has also been an accompanying uptick in these nationals illicitly
surveilling those facilities. China is obviously studying patterns and searching
for vulnerabilities. This is preparation for attack.
Why would Xi Jinping order an attack? Perhaps to show other Communist Party
figures that he has the strength to take on the United States — or to create a
crisis during which no one would dare to depose him.
Perhaps the Chinese regime is not tearing itself apart. In the Communist Party's
opaque political system, it is hard to know what is happening. So, given the
"smoke," as Charles Burton terms it, the U.S. needs to be prepared for China's
regime to solve its internal disputes by burning down America — and perhaps the
rest of the world.
*Gordon G. Chang is the author of Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America,
a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory
Board.
*Follow Gordon G. Chang 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.
The Strategic Ambiguity in U.S. and Western Policy Toward
the Houthi Threat
Dr Walid Phares/Middle East Coalition for Democracy/July 14, 2025
The central problem with U.S. and Western policies regarding the persistent
Houthi threat to international shipping in the southern Red Sea and the Arabian
Sea lies in a fundamental lack of strategic clarity. What is the actual
objective of the international coalition?
Is the goal to open dialogue with the Houthis and recognize them as a legitimate
part of the Yemeni government, as was the approach under both the Obama and
Biden administrations? Or is the aim to apply limited pressure to deter the
Houthis from targeting key maritime routes such as Bab el-Mandeb, while
otherwise preserving the status quo? Or perhaps—since the most recent
ceasefire—the strategy is to maintain pressure while simultaneously initiating
negotiations to reach some sort of “deal.”
Whichever of these scenarios is in play, they all seem to point toward a broader
objective: a larger diplomatic agreement with the Islamic regime in Iran.
Tehran, through its IRGC command structure, directs Houthi drone and missile
attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. The implicit message seems to be: Cut a deal
with us, and we can rein in the Houthis (as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the
Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq). It appears that U.S. and Western strategies are once
again orbiting around this logic.
However, a fundamentally different strategic option was adopted by Saudi Arabia
and its Arab and Muslim coalition a decade ago: defeat the Houthis outright and
help establish a normal, peaceful government in Yemen. That path was opposed by
both the Obama and Biden administrations, who instead pressured Riyadh and Abu
Dhabi to halt their military campaign against the Houthis—a catastrophic
miscalculation that prolonged the war.
During its first term, the Trump administration took a different course,
supporting the Saudi-led Arab coalition and encouraging them to “drive out the
terrorists” (as highlighted in the Riyadh speech of May 2017). But domestic
opposition in the U.S.—still influenced by Obama-era policies—undermined Trump’s
strategy in Yemen, even as his administration made major gains elsewhere:
exiting the Iran Deal, designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, and
eliminating Qassem Soleimani.
The Biden administration reversed those policies. It reinstated funding to Iran
and, in its first week in office in 2021, delisted the Houthis as a terrorist
organization. When the second Trump administration returned, it initially
allowed Israel to retaliate against Houthi missile attacks and launched U.S.
strikes in response. However, only weeks ago, the administration announced new
talks with the Houthis—parallel to negotiations with Hamas and the regime in
Tehran. In my view, Iran is simply buying time to rearm and resume its regional
expansion.
Given this reality, I have proposed a Plan B should these talks fail. That plan
is to reassemble a ground force comprised of units loyal to the legitimate
Yemeni government (now in exile in Aden), and—crucially—the Southern
Transitional Council (STC), whose forces are based in the Aden region and
maintain frontlines adjacent to Houthi-controlled territory. Notably, STC forces
have achieved the most significant victories against the Khomeinist militias in
past years.
The United States should back, fund, and train these southern forces for renewed
ground operations along the Red Sea coast, particularly to retake the vital port
city of Hodeidah. Simultaneously, northern units loyal to the Yemeni government
could advance toward the capital, Sanaa. Allied airpower would provide the
necessary cover to enable a southern-northern pincer movement that could
collapse the Houthi hold on Yemen and eliminate the threat entirely.
This would pave the way for future negotiations—not with Tehran’s proxies—but
with a federated, pro-Western Yemeni government independent of Iranian
influence. That is the unavoidable Option B the West must now consider.
*Dr Walid Phares is the author of Iran an Imperialist
Republic and US Policy, a former foreign policy advisor to President Donald
Trump and the senior advisor to AMCD
Selected Tweets for
13 July/2025
Camille Dory
Chamoun
To say things clearly, and in order
to avoid all the recent allegations about Israel annexing South Lebanon and
Syria taking North Lebanon , the Lebanese urgently need the full application of
UN resolution 1701 before it's too late. No more room for cowards and traitors !
Rania Hamzeh
https://x.com/i/status/1944574162342686976
The Druze defense groups conducted a successful operation in Hazm / Sweida,
against an extremist armed groups forcing their retreat, the government is
helping the terrorists to kill the Druze, leaving the Druze to protect
themselves, safeguarding their homeland and honor
Walid Abu Haya
The terror campaign carried out by the mixture of extreme Islamist forces,
supported by the authorities and the leader of the so-called "New Syria",
against the minorities must stop immediately! There is a vast difference between
what al-Jolani tells the West and the reality on the ground. What is happening
in Syria is not the building of a new Syrian state replacing the dictatorship of
the tyrant of Damascus, but rather the establishment of an extreme Islamic
dictatorship based on the ideology of ISIS and al-Qaeda! The protection of
Syria’s minorities from ethnic cleansing and securing their rights and freedoms
must be a major concern and priority.
Dr. Reda Mansour
If the government in #Damascus does not stop killing the #Druze and trying to
bring war to #Suwayda, Suwayda will bring the war to Damascus. I am just saying.
The Druze will not bow to any Islamic extremist oppression. Druze means live
#free or die.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Radical Syria Islamists tear down and step on poster of Syrian Druze historic
leader Sultan Pasha Atrash, who waged a war against the French mandate to oppose
French creation of a Druze state in the south. Sultan fought for merger with
Syria. When Islamist thugs step on his poster, their message is that they want
to annihilate the “Druze pigs,” regardless of their national politics.