English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 28/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Our Father in Heaven Prayer/Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut
the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you
Matthew 06/05-15/:"‘Whenever you pray, do not be like the
hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street
corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have
received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the
door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you. ‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as
the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many
words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask
him. ‘Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your
kingdom come. Your will be done,on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread. And forgive us our debts,as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,but rescue us from the evil one. For if
you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses."
Titles For The
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on July 27-28/2025
A
French Disgrace and a Lebanese Scandal: The Release of Terrorist Georges
Abdallah and His Reception as a Hero/Elias Bejjani/July 27/2025
In Syria, the Ruler Changed but the Regime Remained... Turkey Replaced
Iran/Elias Bejjani/July 24/2025
Video Link For an– Interview with Researcher and Academic Zeina Mansour
US envoy says Lebanese leaders must turn words into action on Hezbollah arms
Barrack: Government and Hezbollah need to fully commit and act now
Three killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon
Israeli Flights Over South Lebanon and the Beqaa as Incendiary Bombs Spark Fires
in Hamoul Valley, Naqoura
Year-end deadline for mass returns: Lebanon moves to close chapter on Syrian
refugees
Hezbollah Halts University Stipends for Children of Killed Fighters
US criticizes French release of Georges Abdallah
‘Where is the state?’: Fear grips Maameltein amid rising crime
President Aoun hails Zahle’s global wine city designation as national win
Funeral plans for Ziad Rahbani: final journey set to begin from Hamra, his
beloved Beirut neighborhood
Lebanon mourns Ziad Rahbani, enfant terrible of stage and song
Remembering Ziad Rahbani: a voice of rebellion whose words still echo in Lebanon
ChronicleIn Our National Life, Forgiveness Requests a Name/Fady Noun/This Is
Beirut/July 27/2025
Israel and Hezbollah Tighten the Noose Around the Lebanese Government/Bassam
Abou Zeid/July 27, 2025
Archbishop Audi: Days before the fifth anniversary of the Beirut bombing:
Lebanon is called to life, but many in it turn a blind eye to truth and justice
and remain silent out of fear, cowardice, complicity, or self-interest.
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on July 27-28/2025
Israel is pausing operations in some parts
of Gaza amid mounting horror over starvation. Will it be enough?
Aid trucks begin entering Gaza from Egypt as Israel declares 'tactical pause'
WFP urges quick approvals by Israel for trucks to move into Gaza
Syria says meeting with Israeli officials sought to 'contain escalation'
Syria to hold first parliamentary elections since Assad's fall in September
Pope Leo XIV: The humanitarian situation is deteriorating in Gaza, and hunger is
crushing civilians
Islamic State-backed rebels kill 38 in church attack in eastern Congo
Houthi: Launches Fourth Phase of 'Naval Blockade' on Israel
At least 35 killed in church attack in DR Congo
Two Jordanian and one Emirati aircraft dropped 25 tons of humanitarian aid over
Gaza
Trump: US tariffs on EU will not be less than 15%
US Senator: Israel Will Do in Gaza What We Did in Tokyo
Healy: Threats are increasing in the Indo-Pacific region
Britain: Ready to fight if conflict erupts over Taiwan
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources
on July 27-28/2025
Genocide in Gaza and the Struggle over the Holocaust/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq
Al-Awsat/July 27, 2025
'Bring the Head of Trump': Iran Must Be Stopped/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone
Institute./July 27, 2025
‘We Were Commanded [by Allah] to Kill You’: The Persecution of Christians, June
2025/ Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/July 27, 2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 27-28/2025
A French Disgrace and a Lebanese Scandal: The Release of Terrorist Georges
Abdallah and His Reception as a Hero
Elias Bejjani/July 27/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145708/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRXrzhqyisk&t=3s
In an appalling breach of justice and international responsibility, the French
state has committed a legal and moral offense by releasing convicted terrorist
and murderer Georges Ibrahim Abdallah after 41 years in prison. He had been
sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in deadly terror attacks on
French soil. As if that wasn’t enough, the Lebanese state—hijacked by Hezbollah
and Iran’s militias—welcomed him with official honors at Beirut International
Airport, treating him not as a criminal, but as a hero.
1. Who Is Georges Ibrahim Abdallah?
Georges Abdallah is not a “freedom fighter” or “resistance icon.” He is a
convicted terrorist and cold-blooded killer. Born in 1951 in the town of
Qoubaiyat in northern Lebanon, he joined radical leftist movements and became a
senior member of the so-called Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF), a
terror group closely linked to Palestinian, Syrian, and Iranian networks. He
emerged during a chaotic period in Lebanese history when Palestinian factions,
communist militias, Arab nationalist groups, and Islamic organizations dominated
the Lebanese political and security landscape under the deceptive slogans of
“resistance,” “liberation,” and “throwing Jews into the sea.” In reality, these
groups were nothing more than tools of chaos and mercenaries for regional
totalitarian regimes.
2. Abdallah’s Crimes – A Bloody Record on French Soil
In 1984, Georges Abdallah was arrested in Lyon, France, while carrying forged
passports. Investigations quickly uncovered his involvement in a series of
meticulously planned political assassinations carried out on French territory.
The crimes he was convicted for:
Assassination of Charles R. Ray, Deputy U.S. Military Attaché at the American
Embassy in Paris – shot and killed on January 18, 1982 outside his residence.
Assassination of Yacov Barsimantov, Second Secretary at the Israeli Embassy in
Paris – gunned down in broad daylight on April 3, 1982.
Attempted assassination of French military attaché Colonel Guy Le Moine de
Marchand, known as Guy Le Chérah – severely wounded in 1982 and later died from
his injuries. This added a third murder charge to Abdallah’s name, this time
targeting a French officer on French soil.
Attempted assassination of the U.S. Consul in Strasbourg in March 1984 – a
failed attack that nonetheless left serious injuries.
These attacks were carried out by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions with
full knowledge and planning from Abdallah. The French judiciary sentenced him in
1987 to life in prison, noting his total lack of remorse and continued
glorification of violence and terrorism throughout his trial and imprisonment.
3. An Illegitimate Release – Political Capitulation or Judicial Betrayal?
The decision to release Georges Abdallah after 43 years behind bars—despite a
final and irrevocable life sentence—constitutes a betrayal on two levels:
A betrayal of the victims—American, French, and Israeli diplomats who were
murdered in cold blood.
And a betrayal of the French public, who expect their justice system to uphold
the law without yielding to political pressure.
Abdallah never expressed regret, never cooperated with French authorities, and
repeatedly praised Hezbollah, Iran, and violent armed struggle. All legal
conditions for parole were absent, yet France caved to internal lobbying from
far-left groups and external pressure from the Tehran–Beirut–Damascus axis.
This was not a judicial act. It was a political surrender.
4. The Lebanese Disgrace – Official Honors for a Convicted Killer
As if France’s failure wasn’t shameful enough, Lebanon—now little more than a
vassal state for Iran—turned Abdallah’s return into a celebration of terror.
He arrived in Beirut on a French aircraft, escorted with official protocol, and
was received in the VIP lounge at Beirut International Airport.
Welcoming him were two sitting Members of Parliament:
One from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, the armed Iranian proxy designated as a
terrorist group by much of the world.
Another from Amal Movement, led by Nabih Berri, Speaker of Parliament for over
three decades and political ally of Hezbollah and the Iranian regime.
This disgraceful reception sends a chilling message: terrorism is not condemned
in Lebanon—it is rewarded.
While ordinary Lebanese citizens are humiliated in airports and treated with
suspicion abroad, an internationally convicted killer is welcomed with applause
and state honors.
This scene exposes Lebanon’s harsh reality: a failed state controlled by a
militia, with institutions used to serve foreign occupiers rather than its own
people.
5. The Lebanese Media – Complicit in Whitewashing Terror
The shame didn’t end at the tarmac. A large portion of the Lebanese media joined
the farce, describing Georges Abdallah as a “freedom fighter,” “national hero,”
and “resistance symbol.”
TV anchors and columnists praised his “steadfastness,” glorified his past, and
completely whitewashed the fact that he is a murderer.
Even supposedly “neutral” or opposition outlets either joined the praise or
remained shamefully silent.
This is not journalism. This is moral collapse, a betrayal of the media’s role
as a guardian of truth and justice. It reveals the degree to which parts of the
Lebanese media have become mouthpieces for Hezbollah and Iran, sanctifying
murderers while ignoring the suffering of innocent people and the destruction of
the state.
Conclusion: No Honor in Glorifying Murder – No Dignity in Embracing Terror
The release of Georges Abdallah is not a victory for freedom—it is a triumph for
political terrorism and moral hypocrisy.
France made a grave mistake by letting him go free. But Lebanon’s reception
turned that mistake into a national disgrace.
Georges Abdallah is a terrorist, not a hero. Those who glorify him, welcome him,
or remain silent about his crimes are accomplices in the betrayal of justice.
There is no “resistance” in celebrating assassins.
There is no “sovereignty” in bowing to Hezbollah.
And there is no “honor” in a state that salutes a convicted killer in its VIP
lounge while its people rot in poverty and humiliation.
Enough with the glorification of terrorists. Enough with the moral chaos. Enough
with the lies.
In Syria, the Ruler Changed but the Regime Remained... Turkey Replaced Iran
Elias Bejjani/July 24/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145618/
Introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKu6wjcGKjM&t=217s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gole3iFLI2U&t=7s
The head changed, but the body remained the same. This summarizes what happened
in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s barrel-bomb and chemical regime.
The dictatorship was not broken—it merely changed face. The mafia that ruled the
country did not disappear; it was replaced by a more extremist one, led by the
terrorist Ahmad al-Sharaa, known as "al-Jolani", leader of "Hay'at Tahrir
al-Sham" (formerly al-Nusra Front). With Assad’s fall, the authoritarian
structure and security apparatus remained—only the patron changed, from Iran's
mullahs to Erdogan’s Turkey, from Assad's “resistance axis” to Erdogan’s
cross-border Islamist Brotherhood project.
Al-Jolani’s Dictatorship: A New Face of Repression in the Name of Religion
Al-Jolani, who led jihadists in Idlib, quickly rebranded himself as “President”
of the new Syria, under Turkish regional backing and international complicity,
particularly from the West, Israel, and some Gulf states who seem to have traded
the real Syrian revolution for an illusion of "stability."
This illusory "stability" is based on the culture of political Islam, jihadism,
and Salafism, aimed at eliminating opponents, suppressing minorities, and
re-producing dictatorship with a sectarian face. Al-Jolani is forcefully
imposing Sharia law in its Muslim Brotherhood form on Christian areas,
threatening Christians with conversion or violence. The Church of Mar Elias in
Damascus was bombed by one of al-Jolani’s followers, killing dozens. He also
committed mass atrocities against Alawites in Latakia, killing over ten thousand
in a clearly sectarian campaign.
The Kurds, who initially cooperated with al-Jolani, were also betrayed. He
demanded they disarm without guarantees or political participation, repeating
the Brotherhood’s infamous pattern of treachery under Erdogan.
Sweida: An Open Wound
What is happening in Sweida with the Druze continues unabated. Al-Jolani’s
bloody, hateful, and ideologically driven regime did not stop with earlier
massacres around Damascus. He now continues a policy of terror and
assassinations in southern Syria through jihadist death squads and armed Bedouin
militias that he funds and hides behind—with Turkish support—under the pretext
of “rebellion” or “collaboration with Israel.”
Economic Restructuring... Legalized Theft
A shocking investigative report by Reuters on July 24, 2025, revealed how the
president’s brother, Hazem al-Sharaa, is secretly leading a restructuring of
Syria’s economy with the help of an Australian-Lebanese terrorist financier
named Ibrahim Skaria (Abu Maryam), listed under terrorism sanctions.
Together, this shadowy duo is looting billions under the guise of “economic
reforms,” redistributing wealth to corrupt businessmen from the Assad era in
exchange for immunity. The result: institutionalized corruption, legalized
expropriation, and continued security-state dominance under new Islamist
branding.
Over $1.6 billion has been seized from three Assad-era figures, while Hazem al-Sharaa
and his partners now control Syria’s top telecom, oil, and aviation companies.
“Sham Wings” became “Fly Sham” in a suspicious deal, and a new sovereign fund
was created under the presidency, managed exclusively by Hazem—without any
public oversight.
From al-Nusra to the Presidential Palace: The New Caliphate?
Once known as "Abu Mohammad al-Jolani", he is now called “President Ahmad al-Sharaa”,
with his militias embedded in the state under names like “economic committees.”
There is no constitution, no elections, no pluralism. No place for dissent,
minorities, or human rights. Just clerical rule—an Islamic state in civilian
disguise—managed by Erdogan with a green light from the international community.
Erdogan’s Role in Fueling Conflict and Blocking Arab-Israeli Peace
In Syria’s tangled scene, one cannot ignore Erdogan’s destructive role. Like
Iran, he uses similar tools: stirring wars, weakening states, and obstructing
peace. By activating his jihadist proxies in Idlib and northern Syria, Erdogan
stokes conflict among Syrians and between them and minority groups—Druze,
Alawites, Christians, and Kurds—as seen today in Sweida, and previously in Homs,
Afrin, and Ras al-Ayn. This is a deliberate strategy to fragment societies and
make Syria a battleground for his expansionist ambitions. Worse still, these
conflicts serve a broader regional goal: to block normalization between Israel
and Arab states—especially Saudi Arabia’s accession to the Abraham Accords.
Erdogan is replicating Iran’s tactics—just like Hamas did with “Al-Aqsa
Flood”—by using HTS and similar militias to keep the region in permanent unrest,
sabotaging peace. Erdogan’s deep hatred for Arabs is clear. His neo-Ottoman
project aims to deny them the right to decide their future or make peace without
Turkish interference. Like Iran, he exploits the Palestinian issue for political
gain—hypocrisy disguised as solidarity—to expand his power at the expense of
Arab sovereignty and stability.
Erdogan Controls al-Jolani and Threatens the Arab World
It is now obvious—even to the blind and ignorant—that Erdogan, the neo-Ottoman
Islamist, sponsors and controls the jihadist al-Jolani. He is the godfather of
the Muslim Brotherhood and their protector. In short, all the massacres
committed in Syria—against Christians, Druze, Alawites, Kurds, and
freedom-loving free Muslims—are engineered by Erdogan to pave the way for his
Islamist-Turkish domination of the region.
Assad Is Gone... But the Regime Remains
Let it be said plainly: Assad is gone, but the regime remains. It has only been
rebranded—with more extremist Islamism. Repression remains. Sectarianism
remains. The politicized economy remains—but with new faces and new flags. The
revolution did not win—it was aborted. Syria was not liberated—it was
re-occupied. Not by Iran this time, but by Turkey. The only difference is that
al-Jolani speaks in the name of “Islamic moderation” instead of “resistance.”
Conclusion: Syria Caught Between Two Jaws – The Countdown Begins
Syria is no longer a state. It is a farm run by a former jihadist under the name
of al-Sharaa. The greatest danger is that this regime—which combines Assad’s
corruption, al-Qaeda’s extremism, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s cunning—could
spark an even greater explosion.
Druze are bleeding, Christians are threatened, Alawites are slaughtered, Kurds
are targeted, and the world watches under the banner of “reconstruction
opportunity.”
This is the farce of the century—and Syria is its first victim.
Video Link For
an– Interview with Researcher and Academic Zeina Mansour
July 27/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145728/
A realistic and geostrategic analysis of the Jihadi Syrian Chara regime, and the
divisive role it has been assigned, along with Ottoman Erdogan’s attempts to
replicate the role of the Persian mullahs/ Syria and Lebanon are caught in the
winds of new regional power realignments.
Israel, just as it rejected an Iranian presence on its borders, now also rejects
Turkey’s role for the same reason. Hezbollah hides behind a hesitant and
disengaged Lebanese state/Fears from the risks collapse of the Lebanese regime
and the rise of a terrorist role by Islamists operating under the guise of
“tribes.” The interview was conducted on the Beirut Ahadith Youtube platform.
US envoy says
Lebanese leaders must turn words into action on Hezbollah arms
LBCI/July 27/2025
The credibility of Lebanon’s government “rests on its ability to match principle
with practice,” U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said in a post on X Sunday, urging
immediate action to resolve the country’s armed group dilemma. “As its leaders
have said repeatedly, it is critical that ‘the state has a monopoly on arms,’”
Barrack noted, pointing to Hezbollah’s continued possession of weapons as a
major obstacle. “As long as Hezbollah retains arms, words will not suffice,” he
said, calling on both the government and the group to “fully commit and act now
in order to not consign the Lebanese people to the stumbling status quo.”
Barrack: Government and Hezbollah need to fully commit and
act now
Naharnet /July 27/2025
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack on Sunday warned that “the credibility of Lebanon’s
government rests on its ability to match principle with practice.”“As its
leaders have said repeatedly, it is critical that ‘the state has a monopoly on
arms,’” Barrack added, in a post on X.
“As long as Hezbollah retains arms, words will not suffice. The government and
Hezbollah need to fully commit and act now in order to not consign the Lebanese
people to the stumbling status quo,” the U.S. envoy said. He attached an
English-language news story from the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper to his post. The
story is titled “Lebanese President Acknowledges ‘Slow Progress’ in Talks with
Hezbollah on Disarmament”.Below is the full text of the news story as published
by Asharq al-Awsat: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun acknowledged on Friday that
negotiations with Hezbollah over its weapons are ongoing, though progressing
slowly. Speaking amid heightened tensions along the southern border with Israel,
Aoun emphasized that dialogue is being conducted directly with Hezbollah, not
through a formal security committee, and expressed cautious optimism over a
gradual breakthrough. “There is some responsiveness to the ideas we’re
discussing, even if things are moving at a slow pace,” said Aoun, stressing that
neither party desires war, which would carry severe consequences for all sides.
His remarks come as Hezbollah issued its first public response to the recent
visit by US envoy Tom Barrack, rejecting the American proposal focused on
centralizing arms under the Lebanese state. Hezbollah
insisted it is only concerned with implementing UN Resolution 1701, which calls
for Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory and a cessation of hostilities.
Aoun reiterated Lebanon’s demand for Israel to adhere to the ceasefire agreement
and withdraw from the remaining five occupied hills in the south, noting that
full army deployment remains hindered in areas still under Israeli control.
During his visit to Beirut this week, Barrack pushed for a “monopoly of arms” by
the Lebanese state, declaring that the US will only support Lebanon if its
government commits to ensuring that only official forces carry weapons.
In a statement, he reinforced that Hezbollah, in its entirety, is viewed
by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization, with no distinction between
its political and military wings. He added that the
responsibility now lies with Lebanon’s political leadership and army to seize
this opportunity and build a future free of Hezbollah’s grip. Hezbollah MP Ihab
Hamadeh dismissed the American initiative, affirming that the group is aligned
with the stance of parliament and ally Speaker Nabih Berri and will only engage
within the framework of Resolution 1701.He acknowledged a general agreement on
the principle of state monopoly over arms, but argued that this must be
accompanied by a comprehensive national defense strategy, especially in light of
ongoing Israeli attacks. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes have intensified,
targeting South Lebanon throughout the week. On Friday, an Israeli drone strike
killed a Hezbollah member in Bint Jbeil, while other raids reportedly hit
weapons depots and rocket launch sites. Tensions escalated further when an
Israeli soldier shot a Lebanese civilian near the border.
In response to repeated attacks, residents of the border town Aita al-Shaab
issued a strongly worded statement condemning the government’s inaction and
warning that they may resort to self-defense. “Security is not a luxury; it is
our right,” the statement read.
Three killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon
Agence France Presse/July 27/2025
The Health Ministry said three people were killed in Israeli strikes in the
south on Saturday despite a ceasefire, as the Israeli military said one of them
targeted a Hezbollah militant."The Israeli enemy drone strike that targeted a
vehicle" in Tyre district "killed one person," a ministry statement said. The
Israeli military said that it "struck and eliminated" a Hezbollah commander who
was "involved in efforts to rehabilitate the ... organization in the area of
Bint Jbeil," near the border. It did not specify where the strike took place.The
Lebanese health ministry later reported that another Israeli strike in Tyre
district, on the town of Debaal, killed two people. The state-run National News
Agency reported that it targeted a house. The Israeli military did not
immediately respond to an AFP request for comment about the reported strike in
Debaal. Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite a November ceasefire
that sought to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two
months of all-out war. It has warned it will continue to strike until the
Iran-backed militant group has been disarmed. Under the truce, Hezbollah was to
withdraw its fighters north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles)
from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese Army and United Nations
peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region.
Israel was to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon but has kept them in five
areas it deems strategic.
Israeli Flights Over South Lebanon and the Beqaa as
Incendiary Bombs Spark Fires in Hamoul Valley, Naqoura
This is Beirut/July 27/2025
Israeli warplanes were reported flying at low altitude over the eastern sector
of South Lebanon and the Nabatiyeh region, as well as over several villages in
the Bint Jbeil district, particularly the towns of Tibnine, Baraachit, Safad
el-Battikh and Beit Yahoun. Meanwhile, Israeli drones were also seen flying at
medium altitude over the Beqaa Valley and the areas surrounding the eastern
mountain range and at low altitude over the skies of Baalbeck and Western Bekaa.
A fire also broke out in the Hamoul Valley on the northern outskirts of
Naqoura after an Israeli drone dropped incendiary bombs in the area. The
Lebanese Civil Defense and local associations worked to extinguish the flames.
An Israeli drone also dropped an incendiary bomb in Wadi Maryamin, on the
outskirts of the town of Yater. Earlier, after midnight, an Israeli force
infiltrated the town of Kfar Kila and carried out a detonation in one of its
eastern neighborhoods.These incidents come amid the ongoing daily Israeli
assaults on Lebanon, continued occupation of several points in the south and
repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024.
Year-end deadline for mass returns: Lebanon moves to close
chapter on Syrian refugees
LBCI/July 27/2025
Since May 1, 2025, more than 440,000 Syrian nationals have left Lebanon, marking
a significant shift in the country's handling of the longstanding refugee
crisis. While the figure is striking, officials say the real story lies in what
it represents: a turning point in Lebanon's political stance and operational
policy toward the presence of Syrian refugees. In recent months, the context
surrounding the refugee issue has undergone significant changes. With the Syrian
regime falling and a growing international push to ease sanctions, the original
justifications for asylum—political persecution and security concerns—have
largely dissipated.
The United Nations has also scaled back its assistance programs, leaving many
Syrians without international aid. Lebanon now argues the refugee situation has
transitioned into an economic migration crisis, rather than a humanitarian one.
On July 1, a ministerial committee led by Minister Tarek Mitri launched
Lebanon's first official plan for the organized return of Syrian refugees. Over
17,000 individuals have registered to repatriate so far. The shift is backed by
a unified political stance—uncharacteristically free of partisan gridlock—and
endorsed by the Lebanese presidency, government, and security institutions. A
significant factor in operationalizing the returns is the Lebanese General
Security's new initiative. It includes sweeping legal exemptions for
undocumented Syrians who voluntarily leave by the end of September 2025, with
the possibility of extending that deadline through the end of the year. These
individuals will not face fines or re-entry bans, but those who remain in the
country illegally could be subject to arrest. The plan also rejects a previous
UNHCR proposal called "Go and See," which would have allowed refugees to test
life in Syria and return to Lebanon if conditions proved challenging.
General Security chief Major General Hassan Choucair dismissed that approach,
pointing out that refugees currently in Lebanon enjoy international
aid—financial support, healthcare, and education—which would naturally make them
reluctant to leave or unlikely to remain in Syria once they visit. LBCI has
learned that some Syrians are already living in Syria but return to Lebanon at
the start of each month to collect aid, then return home. To curb such
practices, the Lebanese government has developed its own refugee database in
cooperation with the UNHCR, identifying nearly two million Syrians currently in
the country, including both registered and unregistered individuals. Once a
refugee leaves Lebanon, their record will be removed from the system. If they
return, they will no longer be eligible for international assistance. In another
major shift, even Europe now supports the return of Syrian refugees.
According to LBCI sources, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex,
has held meetings with Lebanese General Security over a surge in smuggling boats
ferrying Syrian refugees from Lebanon to Europe across the Mediterranean.
Now, Lebanese authorities say they are determined to close the refugee file once
and for all. The final deadline for voluntary returns has been set for December
31, 2025. However, the situation is complicated by a lack of detention space,
which limits the ability of authorities to arrest undocumented Syrians who
refuse to leave.Despite continued instability in certain parts of Syria and new
waves of refugees attempting to cross into Lebanon, the state's position appears
firm. The political divide over the refugee
issue, which has long been a source of paralysis, has ended. Syrian refugees in
Lebanon are now either welcomed guests preparing to leave or violators
accountable for their decision to stay.
Hezbollah Halts University Stipends for Children of Killed Fighters
This is Beirut/July 27/2025
Hezbollah has informed the families of its members who were killed in battles of
a new decision to halt all university education stipends for their children.
Exclusive information obtained by Al Arabiya/Al Hadath reveals that Hezbollah’s
“Martyr Foundation,” responsible for supporting the families of the deceased,
has begun systematically informing these families of its decision.
The decision affects the children of fighters killed in all of
Hezbollah’s battles, from the war with Israel in the 1980s until last year’s
66-day war with Israel. Any student who had lost a father in Hezbollah’s ranks
was previously entitled to choose the private university they wished to attend.
However, today, families are being instructed to enroll their children
only at the Lebanese University or at Al-Maaref University, which is affiliated
with Hezbollah. Coverage will now be limited strictly to registration fees,
excluding all other expenses. Despite initial promises to review the situations
of continuing students, sources confirmed that Hezbollah ultimately reversed any
proposed exceptions and has informed all families that the decision will be
applied uniformly. The austerity measures are not
limited to university education. They now include school education as well.
Families no longer have the freedom to choose schools for their children as they
once did. Education is now restricted to Al-Mahdi and Al-Mabarrat schools, which
are affiliated with Hezbollah. As for healthcare, the foundation still covers
treatment, but only within hospitals and clinics tied to the party. Sources
close to Hezbollah explained that these measures are part of a broader policy of
“resource rationalization.”
US criticizes French release of Georges Abdallah
Agence France Presse/July 27/2025
The United States bas criticized the release from a French prison of
pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who spent more than
40 years behind bars for the alleged killings of two diplomats, one of them
American. Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987
for his alleged involvement in the murders of U.S. military attache Charles
Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. Earlier this month,
a French appeals court ordered Abdallah's release on the condition that he leave
French territory and never return. He left a prison in southwest France on
Friday and later arrived in his hometown in Lebanon. "The United States opposes
the French government's release and expulsion to Lebanon of convicted terrorist
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a
statement on social media. "His release threatens the safety of U.S. diplomats
abroad and is a grave injustice to the victims and the families of those killed.
The United States will continue to support the pursuit of justice in this
matter," she added.While Abdallah had been eligible for release since 1999, his
previous requests were denied as the United States -- a civil party to the case
-- had consistently opposing his leaving prison.
Abdallah, who is Lebanese of Maronite Christian heritage, has always insisted he
is not a "criminal" but a "fighter" for the rights of Palestinians, whom he said
were targeted, along with Lebanon, by the United States and Israel.
‘Where is the state?’: Fear grips Maameltein amid rising
crime
LBCI/July 27/2025
It’s a situation any girl or woman walking along the coastal road in Maameltein
might face. Simply passing through this notorious street can expose her to
harassment — a growing burden on local residents and families living in the
area. According to residents and local municipalities, criminal networks have
turned what was once a tourist strip into a hotspot for illicit activity,
including prostitution, drug trafficking and the spread of illegal weapons.
Inside an abandoned hotel, illegal activities are reportedly taking
place, confirmed by local community leaders who say municipal authorities alone
are unable to raid the premises. Around the area, groups of women involved in
sex work can be seen along the road day and night — a trade that thrives
alongside drug sales. Just weeks ago, the municipality caught a drug dealer
using cocaine along the stretch of the road that falls under Jounieh’s
jurisdiction.
But that’s not all. If you're simply passing through Maameltein, you could be
struck by a bullet fired in a moment of rage by someone intoxicated or armed and
outside the law — like individuals captured in a video, filmed early Sunday
morning. The stabbing of two locals, George and Liliane, has added to this grim
reality. In response, a group called the Guards of Ghadir has called for a
protest this coming Wednesday. One of the core problems is that the Ghazir
municipality lacks sufficient police personnel. It is currently relying on local
volunteers to secure night patrols, while the Keserwan Ftouh Federation is
working to establish a new security committee. But even when municipalities
notify security forces about illegal activity, arrests are often not made —
either due to overcrowded detention centers or, if a suspect is detained, they
are quickly released. This pattern suggests that these gangs enjoy both
political and security protection. As for Maameltein and its residents, it is
the state’s duty to provide them with safety and peace of mind.
President Aoun hails Zahle’s global wine city designation
as national win
LBCI/July 27/2025
President Joseph Aoun hailed the designation of Zahle as an “International City
of Vine and Wine” by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine as a
national achievement and a testament to years of joint efforts. He credited the
Agriculture Ministry and Lebanese wine producers for their work in developing
and promoting the country’s wine industry over the years.
“Congratulations to Zahle and to Lebanon. Lebanese wine has now gone
global,” Aoun said.
Funeral plans for Ziad Rahbani: final journey set to begin
from Hamra, his beloved Beirut neighborhood
LBCI/July 27/2025
From a local hospital in Beirut’s Hamra—the neighborhood dearest to his
heart—Ziad Rahbani is set to begin his final journey, leaving behind a legacy
rooted in a life spent among the neighborhood’s cafés, alleys, and the places
where he moved between friends and admirers. He leaves behind remarkable traces
that reflect his unique voice and presence. Rahbani
departs on Monday morning, but not alone. He will be accompanied by friends from
all walks of life—representing diverse intellectual, cultural, religious, and
artistic backgrounds. They will gather to say their
final farewell, expressing their love for Ziad. A silent vigil will be held
outside the hospital, where they will wait for the ambulance carrying his body,
from 8 to 9 a.m., before the procession departs for Mhaydseh in the Matn region
of Bikfaya. In accordance with the family’s wishes,
this spontaneous farewell will be the only public goodbye. There will be no
final procession through the streets of Hamra with Rahbani carried on shoulders.
Those who choose to gather outside the hospital will instead accompany the
transfer of his body to Mhaydseh, where friends and admirers will join Rahbani’s
extended and immediate family at the church hosting the funeral. There, upon the
arrival of the casket, the family—and specifically Fairuz—will bid him a final
farewell in a private, intimate moment. The family
will begin receiving condolences at 11 a.m., both before and after the funeral
service, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday.
Lebanon mourns Ziad Rahbani, enfant terrible of stage and
song
Agence France Presse/July 27/2025
Lebanon is mourning musician and composer Ziad Rahbani, son of iconic singer
Fairuz and a musical pioneer in his own right, who died on Saturday aged 69
after a decades-long career that revolutionized the country's artistic scene.
Tributes poured in for Rahbani, also a playwright and considered the enfant
terrible of Lebanese music, who left a huge mark on multiple generations with
his often satirical plays and songs that for many reflected a deep understanding
of Lebanon's political and economic reality. "On Saturday at 9:00 am (0600 GMT),
the heart of the great artist and creator Ziad Rahbani stopped beating," said a
statement from the Beirut hospital where he was being treated. According to
Culture Minister Ghassan Salame, Rahbani needed a liver transplant but refused
to undergo such an operation. Salame wrote on X that "we dreaded this day as we
knew his health was worsening and that his desire for treatment was
dwindling."His funeral is to be held on Monday at 4:00 pm at a church in
Bikfaya, according to a notice from the family. Rebellious and visionary,
Rahbani's work foreshadowed Lebanon's civil war before it erupted in 1975, and
later reflected the conflict and the harsh realities of the ensuing economic
crisis. His fame extended to the rest of the Arab world and beyond.
One of his most famous theater pieces, "Film Ameriki Tawil", or "The
American Motion Picture", was a satirical depiction of Lebanon during the civil
war, set in an asylum populated with characters who represented different facets
of society. President Joseph Aoun said in a statement that Rahbani was "a voice
that rebelled against injustice, an honest mirror for the oppressed and
marginalized."
'Our conscience'
Rahbani was the son of Arab musical icon Fairuz, who turned 90 last year, and
the late Lebanese composer Assi Rahbani, who along with his brother Mansour
modernized Arab music by blending Western, Russian and Latin American sounds
with Eastern rhythms. Already adored by older generations, Fairuz became a youth
idol when her son began composing jazz-influenced songs for her, calling the
result "Oriental jazz". While Fairuz transcended Lebanon's deep sectarian
divides, her son was fiercely left-wing, secular and a supporter of the
Palestinian cause -- but was also beloved by many on the opposite side of the
political spectrum. He spent his life decrying the
divisions that brought ruin upon the country. In 2018, he performed at Lebanon's
annual Beiteddine festival with a musical showcase of his and his family's
decades of work -- one of his last major onstage appearances. Prime Minister
Nawaf Salam said "Lebanon has lost an exceptional artist and creative, a free
voice who stayed faithful to the values of justice and dignity," and who said
"what many don't dare to say". Lebanese actress Carmen Lebbos, his former
partner, wrote on X: "I feel like everything has gone. I feel like Lebanon has
become empty." Lebanese journalist Doha Shams, who knew Rahbani for three
decades, told AFP that "Ziad was our conscience, the conscience of Lebanese
society, and the person who understood Lebanese society the most -- and knew
where it was going".
Remembering Ziad Rahbani: a voice of rebellion whose words still echo in Lebanon
LBCI/July 27/2025
Ziad Rahbani wasn’t just a creative genius—though he rejected being called
one—he was also a popular philosopher and a sharp critic in his own unique way.
He wasn’t concerned with pleasing anyone as much as he was driven by rejection
of, and rebellion against, the reality around him. His entire life was an
expression of that resistance, in his own voice.
Rahbani was a philosopher of the people—a mirror for those who felt he was
speaking their pain and truth, especially during the civil war and in a country
fractured along sectarian lines.
Coming from a communist, leftist background, he despised classism and fought it.
Many of the phrases he used in his earliest plays became part of everyday
speech, passed down from generation to generation. His lyrics turned him into a
cultural compass for those seeking to describe specific social realities.Themes
of livelihood, daily struggle, and survival frequently appeared in his work
because they reflected the concerns of ordinary people.
He described sectarian and religious conflict in his own way, and many
still quote his words today. One haunting question, which he and many Lebanese
wrestled with, became the title of one of his plays—a question still repeated
today: بالنسبة لبكرا شو؟ (What about tomorrow?) He
never ruled out anything happening in Lebanon. To him, everything was possible:
"In this country, anything can happen."For the many political, military, and
economic analysts who claim to understand everything, Rahbani had much to
say—and he wrote accordingly: حاج تحلل وحياتك تسلملي تحليلاتك (Stop analyzing,
for the love of God. Spare me your analyses). One
unforgettable scene that mothers still reference today comes from one of his
plays: waiting anxiously for their children’s school grades: إبنك حمار يا ثريا ،
علاماتو تحت الصفر...عم يدرس بسيبيريا (Your son is an idiot, Thourayya. His
grades are below zero—it's like he's studying in Siberia).
Romantic relationships, with all their complications, were also present
in his music and theater. Ziad Rahbani was a true
mirror of society. He avoided concealing any detail. That was his
distinction—his words remain relevant across time and place: before, during, and
after the war, in a country called Lebanon, where joy is scarce, sorrow is
common, and contradictions abound. He portrayed them all in his own way.
His plays offered a vivid panorama of Lebanese society. That’s why they
entered the minds and hearts of audiences without resistance and became part of
everyday conversation. Rahbani’s quotes have become
cultural trends. Few are unfamiliar with them—and they are certain to remain in
the collective memory of generations for years and decades to come.
ChronicleIn Our National Life, Forgiveness Requests a Name
Fady Noun/This Is Beirut/July 27/2025
In every human being, there is a child who demands a story before falling
asleep. The need for fiction is universal. But sometimes, as the title of a
long-lost book once said, “Reality Surpasses Fiction.” Some true stories exceed
in “unlikeliness” even the wildest inventions.
Lebanon’s history is not far from illustrating this idea. There is something
staggering and even indecent about certain self-evident truths voiced over the
past two weeks. It feels like a sad regression in time. Take, for instance, the
claim that the unity of Lebanese people is the strongest weapon we can wield
against Israel. The fear of civil war rekindling is, in itself, humiliating.
Must our blood truly be so thick that, faced with what happened in Sweida, we
feel compelled to solemnly proclaim the “unshakable” bonds of our national
unity? Are we not already immune to this pathology? Have we not yet rationalized
this fear?
At the same time, an episcopal commission for the “purification of memory,”
headed by former Archbishop of Beirut, Boulos Matar, is being put together.
Composed of Bishops Michel Aoun (Jbeil), Antoine Charbel Tarabay, Antoine Bou
Najem (Kornet Chehwan) and Mounir Khairallah (Batroun), the group was received
on Thursday, July 17, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda. Its mission is to
restore trust among Lebanese political parties and to consign traumatic memories
of war to the past. According to President Aoun, its timing is ideal amid
regional tension. The initiative is expected to expand later to other
institutional bodies, all under a National Committee sponsored by the President.
The Bishop of Batroun announced that he intends to lead by example, launching in
his diocese a congress bringing together political parties, municipal
authorities, Church movements and civil associations.
Lebanon is thus taking a page from South Africa’s experience, a country that
courageously emerged from its conflict through Truth and Reconciliation
Commissions. “There is no future without forgiveness,” wrote Anglican Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, one of the leading figures, alongside Nelson Mandela, in the
struggle against the injustices, atrocities and barbarity of apartheid. The
adaptation of Tutu’s statement to Lebanon is straightforward: Lebanon’s future
depends on forgiveness.
Primacy of Experience
But what is forgiveness? It is simply the opening to a new, benevolent and
trusting relationship with the others, in their difference. To clarify this, let
us take a detour through literature. “The quality of a
work almost always depends on the quality of its author’s life,” asserts British
poet and professor Michael Edwards, a member of the Académie française. Citing
Plato, Shakespeare and Goethe, Edwards writes: “It is bracing to suppose that we
will only rise, as readers, to the level of the greatest works by living better
lives ourselves” (De l’émerveillement, Fayard, p.149).
Conversely, one of the most disheartening experiences for any reader is to see
their favorite author copying himself, endlessly rewriting the same book due to
lack of inspiration. No author is immune to this temptation. Nobel laureate T.S.
Eliot humbly admitted his fear of never again reaching the level of inspiration
that gave birth to his masterpiece, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Critics often note how certain authors seem condemned to “writing the same book”
over and over again. The conclusion is clear: in order to write something new,
one must live something new. The same holds true for nations. If there is a
broken tile on the roof of our national life, we must replace it. If that tile
is forgiveness, then we must forgive. Art, or rather
beauty, is one of the most fertile sources of renewal, for both individuals and
nations. Every great work is born between nature and grace. “I can only write a
poem if I have first received something,” confides poet Jean-Pierre Lemaire,
winner of the Grand Prix de Poésie of the Académie française (1999). Otherwise,
he says, “there is no point sitting down to write.”“As long as I wanted to
express myself first and entirely, I only produced opaque, pretentious poems.
True poetry began for me when I gave up on that, allowing instead what was
calling to me from the outside — from the world and events — to speak through my
words,” he writes (Bernadette Soubirous, la plus secrète des saintes, L’Âge
d’homme). Elsewhere, Lemaire cites Reverdy, who wrote:
“Poetry appears each time the author makes a revelation above himself.” And
Lemaire adds: “The life of a poem plays out entirely in the thin crystal film
between what has already been named and what accepts, for the first time, to be
named. The experience of novelty, which regenerates us, is commonly shared, even
by those who do not write poetry. The poet, it seems, is the one for whom this
novelty demands a name.”In our national life, forgiveness demands a name. It
demands that we wipe away the dust that years of hatred and prejudice have left
on its letters. It calls to be recreated.
Israel and Hezbollah Tighten the Noose Around the Lebanese
Government
Bassam Abou Zeid/July 27, 2025
President Joseph Aoun’s statement that he is holding talks with Hezbollah over
its weapons and that negotiations are progressing slowly was especially
noteworthy. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt’s remarks were
equally notable, as he called on Hezbollah to give up its heavy weaponry,
deeming it ineffective in confronting Israel. Informed
sources reveal that Hezbollah has received several domestic and international
requests to surrender its advanced weapons, particularly its precision missiles
and drones, while being allowed to retain other arms, including anti-tank
weapons. The leader of the party’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, was
given such a request by a senior official. He gave no immediate response but
promised to follow up, a promise that remains unfulfilled. That silence may well
align with the party’s consistent public stance, reiterated by its leadership
and Secretary-General: Hezbollah will not relinquish any of its weapons.
The same sources note that Hezbollah maintains active communication only
with House Speaker Nabih Berri, while contact with the president and prime
minister is limited and sporadic, citing security concerns. In fact, senior
Lebanese officials say the party is unwilling to engage in any meaningful
discussion or dialogue regarding its weapons. Those attempting to engage
Hezbollah on this issue may find themselves waiting for years without a direct
response, aside from the usual rhetoric delivered in speeches and public
statements.
Lebanese government officials have come to accept that Hezbollah may hold on to
its weapons for years to come. However, the party itself has no intention of
surrendering them and is, in fact, increasingly determined to maintain its
arsenal. The reasons are many. First, handing over its weapons would amount to
admitting defeat, a notion entirely alien to Hezbollah’s ideology. Second, it
would mean abandoning the very community that has made tremendous sacrifices in
support of the party. Third, it would require abandoning the goal of eliminating
Israel, thereby undermining the very foundation of Hezbollah’s existence.
Fourth, it would mean relinquishing the leverage and political influence the
party wields within Lebanon, resulting in a significant loss of power. Official
Lebanese sources describe Hezbollah’s arsenal as the group’s lifeline, despite
the risks it poses to Lebanon’s stability. They highlight mounting signs that
the United States and its allies, including several Arab countries, are
preparing to withdraw entirely from Lebanon. This withdrawal would leave the
country isolated, with no reconstruction aid, no new investments and no
meaningful international or regional support. It could also lead to severe
pressure, including the suspension of military and financial assistance to the
Lebanese army, the country’s last line of defense. Such a scenario would push
Lebanon closer to collapse. Against this backdrop, the sources question whether
it would not be wiser for Hezbollah to transfer its weapons to the Lebanese army
rather than risk their destruction in repeated Israeli airstrikes.
Sources say the Lebanese government is caught between two pressing
challenges: escalating Israeli pressure on one side and Hezbollah’s steadfast
refusal to disarm on the other. This deadlock has left the authorities
paralyzed, unable to confront Israel yet unwilling to challenge Hezbollah for
fear of sparking a civil war. However, as tensions mount, Lebanon faces the
prospect of outcomes potentially more destructive than civil war itself.
Archbishop Audi:
Days before the fifth anniversary of the Beirut bombing: Lebanon is
called to life, but many in it turn a blind eye to truth and justice and remain
silent out of fear, cowardice, complicity, or self-interest.
National/July 27, 2025
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut and its Dependencies, Archbishop Elias
Audi, presided over the Mass service at St. George's Cathedral. After the
Gospel, he delivered a sermon in which he said: “In a few days, we will witness
the fifth anniversary of the sinful bombing that struck our beloved city,
Beirut, the capital of a country called to life. However, many in it turn a
blind eye to truth and the truth and remain silent out of fear, cowardice,
complicity, or self-interest. Likewise, our region is drowned in blood and
tears, and the world is blind; it does not see the death of children or the
suffering of the innocent because it is immersed in evil and sin and far from
God. Is it permissible to starve people, displace them from their land, or kill
them? What has blinded the eyes of the world’s rulers and silenced their
consciences so that they remain silent about what is happening in the land of
Christ? And in this entire region? Is it not their distance from God and their
immersion in their own interests? The Lord Jesus told us: “I am the light of the
world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of
life” (John 8:12). Would a sane person abandon this light that does not shine in
the evening for a momentary interest? And how will God, the Just Judge, answer
on the terrible Day of Judgment? When the blind were healed And when they saw
the light, they began to tell everyone about the glory of God, despite his
warning that they should not tell anyone. Whoever has seen the light does not
hide it, and whoever has Jesus in their heart does not remain silent about the
truth, but rejects evil, fights it, and is careful not to fall into the snares
of the evil one.
The
Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on July 27-28/2025
Israel is pausing operations in some parts of Gaza amid mounting horror
over starvation. Will it be enough?
Tim Lister/CNN/July 27, 2025
Israel has announced a daily “tactical pause in military activity” in three
areas of Gaza to enable more aid to reach people, amid growing international
outrage over starvation in the territory.
The Israeli military said the move would “refute the false claim of deliberate
starvation in the Gaza Strip.” The pause – which will also see the military open
up corridors to facilitate aid delivery by the UN and other agencies – has come
too late for dozens of Palestinians, with officials in Gaza reporting more
deaths from malnutrition and among people desperately trying to get aid from
convoys and distribution sites.
And while the “tactical pause” has been welcomed by UN agencies, there are
questions over whether it will be enough after months in which far too little
aid has reached Gaza. Here’s what we know.
How did we get here?
There’s long been a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
In nearly two years of war that followed the Hamas attacks of October 7, the
vast majority of the population of Gaza has been displaced multiple times. Tens
of thousands are living in the streets or makeshift tents. As Gaza’s
infrastructure has been destroyed, access to water and power has become more
difficult. Above all, the delivery of humanitarian food aid has been interrupted
by the fighting, by difficulties in distributing aid and by restrictions ordered
by the Israel military. Before the conflict, some 3,000 aid and commercial
trucks would enter Gaza every week. Afterwards, numbers have plummeted.
During a ceasefire at the beginning of this year, an average of several hundred
trucks crossed daily. But that didn’t last. The situation dramatically worsened
in early March, when Israel imposed a complete blockade on Gaza in an effort to
force Hamas to release the hostages it still held. Hunger was already widespread
in Gaza and in the following months only grew. Bakeries and community kitchens
closed, and prices in markets soared well beyond what most Gazans could afford.
The United Nations warned that malnutrition was on the rise while nearly 6,000
aid trucks sat at the border.
At the end of May the blockade was partially lifted, and the Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation (GHF) – a private venture backed by the US and Israel – opened food
distribution sites in southern Gaza. But the UN and others have criticized the
GHF for violating basic humanitarian principles and for not being able to meet
Gazans needs. GHF says it have distributed more than 90 million meals and blamed
the UN for not coordinating with them. More than 1,000 people have been killed
since May in desperate efforts to obtain food for their families, the UN says,
almost all of them by the Israeli military. In May, the UN reported that the
entire population was facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with 500,000
people facing starvation and more than 70,000 children set to require treatment
for acute malnutrition. To date, 133 people have died of malnutrition in Gaza
since the conflict began, Palestinian health officials say, nearly 90 of them
children. The majority of those deaths have occurred since March. Images of
children dying of acute malnutrition have provoked global outrage, with the
United Kingdom, France and Germany saying last week that the crisis was
“man-made and avoidable.”
What has Israel announced?
The tactical pauses announced by the Israeli military cover three areas along
the Mediterranean coast – Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and part of Gaza City – much
of which were already supposed to be safe areas where the population could flee.
The Israeli military published a map showing the areas where the pause would
take effect but marked the rest of the Strip in red as a “dangerous combat
zone.”The pause began Sunday and will last ten hours, from 10am to 8pm local
time. It will continue every day “until further notice,” the military said.
An important aspect of the Israeli announcement is that designated “secure
routes” will be established from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. local time, to enable UN and
humanitarian organization convoys to safely distribute food and medicine.
Hundreds of trucks have been looted in recent months, often by desperate people
but sometimes by criminal gangs, and getting aid safely to warehouses in Gaza
will be a major challenge. Israel carried out an airdrop of aid into Gaza on
Saturday night, having previously announced it would permit foreign countries to
carry out operations. Jordan and the UAE carried out one on Sunday. But airdrops
are regarded by aid agencies as expensive, inefficient and sometimes dangerous.
UNICEF spokesman Joe English told CNN Sunday: “We do airdrops in places around
the world but it works where there are remote communities in big, wide open
spaces. That’s not the case in the Gaza Strip.”The IDF said it had also
connected the power line from Israel to the desalination plant in Gaza, which
would supply about 20,000 cubic meters of water per day – 10 times the current
amount.
How quickly could things improve?
Trucks have begun to roll towards Gaza, including convoys from Egypt and Jordan.
But the volume of aid needed is huge. Thousands of trucks are ready to enter
Gaza with food and medical supplies, but the main crossing point at Kerem Shalom
is already choked with truckloads of aid waiting to be distributed. There are
only two crossing points into Gaza – Kerem Shalom and Zikim in the north. The
UNICEF spokesman told CNN that the agency “cannot work miracles” with
last-minute windows for getting aid into Gaza, because malnourished children
require sustained care.
The World Food Programme welcomed the Israeli announcement, saying it has enough
food in - or on its way to - the region to feed the entire population of 2.1
million people for almost three months. It said it had received assurances that
quicker clearances would be granted by Israel to allow for a surge in food
assistance. The decision to enable aid to flow has already sparked dissent
within the Israeli government coalition. The far-right National Security
minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he had not been consulted and the “only way to win
the war and bring back the hostages is to completely stop the ‘humanitarian’
aid, conquer the entire strip, and encourage voluntary migration.”The Hostages
Families Forum said the tactical pauses should be part of a broader agreement to
secure the return of the hostages. “This is what the failure of the partial
deals strategy looks like,” it said, demanding the government reach “a
comprehensive agreement to release all the kidnapped and end the fighting.”
Aid trucks begin entering Gaza from Egypt as Israel declares 'tactical pause'
Agence France Presse/July 27, 2025
Aid trucks had begun entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Sunday, AFPTV footage
showed, as Israel announced a "tactical pause" in parts of the devastated
territory to allow deliveries. Egyptian state-linked media had earlier confirmed
the movement of convoys, sharing footage of trucks at the border area. Trucks
crossing the Rafah border however cannot enter Gaza directly as the Palestinian
side of the crossing was seized by the Israel military last year and has been
badly damaged. Instead, they must detour a few kilometers to the nearby Kerem
Shalom (Karam Abu Salem) crossing, which is controlled by Israel. There, they
are inspected before being allowed into southern Gaza. AFP footage showed large
trucks loaded with white sacks moving through the Egyptian side of the Rafah
gate. Some trucks displayed the logo of the Egyptian Red Crescent, while others
had the Emirati flag, with signs reading: "United Arab Emirates – Humanitarian
Aid to Gaza – Water Support Projects in Gaza."The Israeli military said Sunday
the daily pause in the enclave, running from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, would apply
only to specific areas, including Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah, and parts of Gaza
City, where Israeli troops are not currently operating. It added that secure
routes had been opened across the enclave to facilitate United Nations and other
aid convoys. The move comes amid mounting international pressure over Gaza's
worsening hunger crisis. Israel began air-dropping food into the territory,
following similar announcements from the UAE and UK. However, humanitarian
officials remain skeptical. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned air drops were
"expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians".Israel insists it
is not restricting aid and claims some UN agencies are failing to distribute
supplies already inside Gaza. But relief organizations accuse the military of
limiting access and creating dangerous conditions near distribution centers. On
Saturday, Gaza's civil defense agency said over 50 Palestinians were killed in
Israeli strikes and shootings, including some waiting for aid.
WFP urges quick approvals by Israel for trucks to move into Gaza
Michelle Nichols/Reuters/July 27,
2025
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations food aid agency needs quick
approvals by Israel for its trucks to move into Gaza if it is to take advantage
of Israel's planned humanitarian pauses in fighting, a senior World Food
Programme official said on Sunday. Facing growing global condemnation as the
World Health Organization said mass starvation had taken hold in Gaza, Israel
said on Sunday it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of
the enclave and allow new aid corridors."We need not just words, but we need
action there. We need to have really fast clearances and approvals," Ross Smith,
WFP director of emergencies, told Reuters on Sunday. "If the waiting times are
going to continue to be 10 hours, then we won't be able to take advantage of
these pauses."COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, did not
immediately respond to a request for comment. Since Israel lifted an 11-week
blockade on Gaza on May 19 and allowed the U.N.-led humanitarian operation to
resume limited deliveries, a key U.N. complaint has been lengthy delays by
Israel in allowing convoys to leave the crossing points to transport aid to
warehouses and distribution points inside Gaza. U.N. data shows that only less
than 8% of 1,718 WFP trucks made it to their destination within Gaza in the
nearly ten weeks since Israel lifted its blockade. The rest were looted by
"either peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed actors during
transit," according to the U.N. data. Israel requires the U.N. and other groups
to offload their aid at the crossing point and then send trucks from within Gaza
to collect it and transport it within the war-torn enclave, where some 2.1
million people remain. "Everybody can see them driving in, and so they know that
food is about to be loaded on them, and they start to wait and crowd," said
Smith, adding that some convoys can wait up to 20 hours before Israel gives them
the green light to enter Gaza. "If they are sitting there for 10 hours, loading
and waiting, then at that point you have 10,000 people crowding outside," he
said. Israel controls all access to Gaza and says it allows enough food aid into
the enclave, where it has been at war with Palestinian militants Hamas for
nearly 22-months. It accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the militants deny.
The U.N. says it has not seen evidence of mass aid diversion in Gaza by Hamas.
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates parachuted 25 tons of aid into the Gaza
Strip on Sunday in their first airdrop in months, a Jordanian official source
said, adding that the air drops were not a substitute for delivery by land.
Smith said air dropping aid was "purely symbolic at the very best."The war in
Gaza was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants Hamas killed
1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli
tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 60,000
Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Syria says meeting with Israeli officials sought to 'contain escalation'
Agence France Presse/July 27, 2025
A Syrian diplomatic source said Saturday that a U.S.-mediated meeting with
Israeli officials in Paris this week sought to "contain the escalation" after
recent sectarian violence in southern Syria prompted Israeli intervention.
Israel launched strikes this month on Damascus and Druze-majority Sweida
province, saying it was acting both in support of the religious minority and to
enforce its demands for a demilitarized southern Syria. The Syrian diplomatic
source told state television on Saturday that the recent Paris meeting "brought
together a delegation from the foreign ministry and the general intelligence
service with the Israeli side", and addressed "recent security developments and
attempts to contain the escalation in southern Syria". On Thursday, U.S. special
envoy for Syria Tom Barrack had said he held talks with unspecified Syrian and
Israeli officials in Paris. A senior diplomat had previously told AFP that
Barrack would be facilitating talks between Damascus's Foreign Minister Asaad
al-Shaibani and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. According to the
source cited by state TV, the meeting "addressed the possibility of reactivating
the disengagement agreement with international guarantees, while demanding the
immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from points where they recently
advanced." After the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in
December, Israel sent troops into a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone that used to
separate the countries' forces in the strategic Golan Heights. It has since
conducted incursions deeper into southern Syria, demanding the area's total
demilitarization.
Death toll tops 1,400 -
Damascus had previously confirmed holding indirect contacts with Israel seeking
a return to the 1974 disengagement agreement that created the buffer zone. The
Paris meeting "did not result in any final agreements but rather represented
initial consultations that aimed to reduce tensions and reopen communication
channels in light of the ongoing escalation since early December", the
diplomatic source said. More meetings were planned, the source said, adding that
the Syrian side had emphasized that the country's unity and sovereignty were
non-negotiable. The week of clashes in Sweida, which began on July 13, initially
involved Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes, but government forces
intervened on the side of the latter, according to witnesses, experts and the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. The Observatory said on Saturday
that the violence had killed more than 1,400 people, most of them Druze, and the
vast majority in the week between July 13 and a ceasefire last weekend.
'Calm dialogue'
On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that he spoke with
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and called the ceasefire in Sweida "a positive
sign"."The recent violence in Syria is a reminder of the extreme fragility" of
the country's transition, Macron wrote, adding that "civilian populations must
be protected". Sharaa, in a statement released by the Syrian presidency, blamed
the violence in Sweida on "armed outlaw groups opposing the state and competing
for influence". The state "will assume its full responsibility in imposing
security and holding those who committed crimes to account", he said according
to the statement, also rejecting "any external attempts, particularly by Israel,
to exploit these conditions.""Sweida is an integral part of the Syrian state and
its people are partners in building the nation," he said. Syrian and Israeli
officials had previously met in Baku on July 12, according to a diplomatic
source in Damascus, coinciding with a visit to Azerbaijan by Sharaa. The two
countries have technically been at war since 1948, and Israel has occupied the
Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria, since 1967. After Assad's ouster,
Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria to prevent key military
assets from falling into the hands of the new Islamist-led administration.
Syria to hold first parliamentary elections since Assad's fall in September
Associated Press/July 27, 2025
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria will hold parliamentary elections in September, the
head of a body tasked with organizing the election process told state media
Sunday. Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad, chairman of the Higher Committee for People’s
Assembly Elections, told state news agency SANA that elections will take place
between Sept. 15 and 20. They will be the first to take place under the
country’s new authorities after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a
lightning rebel offensive in December. One third of the 210 seats will the
appointed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, with the rest to be elected. In
a recent interview with the Erem News site, another member of the elections
committee, Hassan al-Daghim, said an electoral college will be set up in each of
Syria’s provinces to vote for the elected seats. A temporary constitution signed
by al-Sharaa in March called for a People’s Committee to be set up to serve as
an interim parliament until a permanent constitution is adopted and general
elections held, a process that could take years. The announcement of impending
elections comes at a time when the country is increasingly divided in its views
of the new authorities in Damascus after sectarian violence broke out in the
southern province of Sweida earlier this month. The fighting killed hundreds of
people and threatened to unravel Syria’s fragile postwar transition. The violent
clashes, which broke out two weeks ago, were sparked by tit-for-tat kidnappings
between armed Bedouin clans and fighters from the Druze religious minority.
Syrian government forces intervened, ostensibly to end the fighting, but
effectively sided with the clans. Some government fighters reportedly executed
Druze civilians and burned and looted houses. Israel intervened, launching
airstrikes on government forces and on the Defense Ministry headquarters. Israel
said it was acting to defend the Druze minority.'
Pope Leo XIV: The humanitarian situation is deteriorating in
Gaza, and hunger is crushing civilians
NNA News/July 27, 2025
Pope Leo XIV expressed his deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian
situation in the Gaza Strip, stressing that "hunger is crushing civilians in the
Strip." This came during his traditional prayer on Sunday from the window of his
office overlooking St. Peter's Square. The Pope spoke about the situation in
Gaza, according to Agence France-Presse. The Pope said, "I am following with
deep concern the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, where hunger is
crushing the civilian population, which continues to be subjected to violence
and death." He renewed his call for "a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and
full respect for humanitarian law."
Islamic State-backed rebels kill 38 in church attack in
eastern Congo
Reuters/July 27, 2025
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rebels backed by Islamic State
killed 38 people on Sunday in an attack on a church in the northeastern
Democratic Republic of Congo city of Komanda, officials said. Officials told
Reuters that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, who used firearms and
machetes, were believed to have carried out the attack in the city. Jean Kato, a
city administrator, said worshippers were attending an evening service when the
rebels stormed the church in the early hours of Sunday morning. Officials said
38 people were killed, 15 were wounded, and several others are missing.
Christophe Munyandiro, a human rights activist who was at the scene in Komanda,
said gunfire was heard overnight, but people initially thought it was carried
out by looters. "The rebels mainly attacked Christians who were spending the
night in the Catholic church," Munyandiru added. "Unfortunately, these people
were killed with machetes or bullets." The United Nations Organization
Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO)
condemned the recent resurgence of violence in the province where the attack
occurred.
Houthi: Launches Fourth Phase of 'Naval Blockade' on Israel
Asharq Al-Awsat/July 27, 2025
The Yemeni Houthi group has threatened to target any ships belonging to
companies dealing with Israeli ports, regardless of their nationality, as part
of what they have dubbed the fourth phase of their military operations against
Israel. In a statement on the X platform, the group said it has decided to
escalate its military operations against Israel and begin implementing the
fourth phase of the naval blockade, which includes targeting all ships belonging
to any company dealing with Israeli ports, regardless of the company's
nationality, and anywhere within the group's reach. The group called on all
companies to halt their dealings with Israeli ports starting immediately after
the announcement, stating that such ships would be targeted regardless of their
destination "and anywhere they can be reached or are within range of our
missiles and drones."
At least 35 killed in church attack in DR Congo
NNA/July 27, 2025
An attack on a church blamed on Islamist rebels killed at least 35 people in
northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials told AFP on Sunday,
after months of calm in the region. Residents told AFP by telephone from Bunia,
the capital of Ituri province, that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), founded
by former Ugandan rebels who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in
2019, attacked the Catholic church in the town of Komanda while Christians were
gathering for prayer. "Last night, around 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), we heard gunfire
near the local church," Dieudonne Katanbo, a community leader in the Umoja
neighborhood, told AFP. "We have seen 35 bodies so far." "We have 31 dead
members of the Eucharistic Campaign movement, along with six seriously injured,"
Father Aime Lukana Digo of the Anuarit Holy Church in Komanda told AFP. "A
number of young people were kidnapped, and we have no information about them."
He added that seven other bodies were found in the town. Christophe Munyandero,
coordinator for the NGO Convention for the Respect of Human Rights, reported 38
deaths, also blaming the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels for the attack.
Ituri army spokesman Lieutenant Jules Ngongo did not comment on the death toll
but confirmed the attack to AFP, noting that "it is believed that the enemy has
been identified as ADF."
Two Jordanian and one Emirati aircraft dropped 25 tons of
humanitarian aid over Gaza
NNA/July 27, 2025
The Jordanian army said in a statement on Sunday that two Royal Jordanian Air
Force aircraft and an Emirati aircraft dropped 25 tons of humanitarian aid over
the Gaza Strip, according to Agence France-Presse. The statement read, "The
Jordanian Armed Forces carried out three airdrops on Sunday to the Gaza Strip
carrying humanitarian and food aid, one of which was carried out jointly by the
sisterly United Arab Emirates." It noted that C-130 aircraft, one Emirati and
two Jordanian, were used in the airdrops, "carrying 25 tons of food aid and
humanitarian supplies." According to the statement, "these airdrops included
several locations in the Strip."
Trump: US tariffs on EU will not be less than 15%
NNA/ July 27, 2025
US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that tariffs on European Union
exports to the United States will not be less than 15%, as crucial talks began
in Scotland with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Asked by
reporters about this possibility before his meeting with von der Leyen, Trump
said, "No." While expressing hope that "some issues" would be resolved, he
confirmed that pharmaceutical products "will not be part" of the agreement,
according to Agence France-Presse.
US Senator: Israel Will Do in Gaza What We Did in Tokyo
Sky News/July 27, 2025
US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that there is no safe way
for Israel to negotiate with Hamas to end the war, emphasizing that Israel will
do in the Gaza Strip what the United States did in Tokyo and Berlin at the end
of World War II. In an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Graham
indicated that he believes Israel has concluded "that it cannot achieve the goal
of ending the war with Hamas in a way that guarantees Israel's security." He
added, "I think Trump (US President Donald Trump) has come to this conclusion as
well, and I certainly have: There is no way to end this war by negotiating with
Hamas." He explained, "They will do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin:
They will take the place by force and start over, offering a better future for
the Palestinians, with the hope that the Arabs will take control of the West
Bank and Gaza."
Healy: Threats are increasing in the Indo-Pacific region
NNA/July 27, 2025
British Defense Secretary John Healy affirmed today that his country is prepared
to fight side by side with Australia if any conflict erupts in the Pacific over
Taiwan. Asked about the possibility of China escalating its actions against
Taiwan and Britain's position, Healy said: "If we have to fight, as we have in
the past, Australia and the United Kingdom are two nations that will fight
together." He continued: "We conduct joint exercises, and through these
exercises and our combat readiness, we improve our joint deterrence capability."
Healy clarified that he was speaking "in general terms," emphasizing that "the
United Kingdom prefers that conflicts in the Indo-Pacific region be resolved
peacefully and diplomatically." He added: "We believe in peace through strength,
and our strength comes from our alliances." He noted that "threats are
increasing in the Indo-Pacific region." He pointed out that "with increasing
threats, partnerships like those between the United Kingdom and Australia become
more important than ever."
Britain: Ready to fight if conflict erupts over Taiwan
Sky News/July 27, 2025
British Defense Secretary John Healey said on Sunday that his country is ready
to fight side by side with Australia if any conflict erupts in the Pacific Ocean
over Taiwan. Healey was accompanied by Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard
Marles on board a British aircraft carrier participating in military exercises
with several countries, including the United States, taking place off the coast
of Australia, according to The Telegraph. When asked about the possibility of
China escalating its actions against Taiwan and Britain's position, Healey said:
"If we have to fight, as we have in the past, Australia and the United Kingdom
are two nations that will fight together." Healey continued: "We conduct joint
exercises, and through these exercises and our combat readiness, we improve our
ability to provide joint deterrence." The minister clarified that he was
speaking "in general terms," stressing that the UK prefers that disputes in the
Indo-Pacific region be resolved "peacefully" and "diplomatically." He added, "We
believe in peace through strength, and our strength comes from our alliances."
He noted that "as threats increase, partnerships like those between the UK and
Australia become more important than ever." Chinese President Xi Jinping did not
rule out the use of force to "reunify the motherland," referring to Taiwan, amid
fears that the dispute over the island could spark a conflict involving
countries from around the world. China warns the United States not to "play with
fire"
The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources
on July 27-28/2025
Genocide in Gaza and the Struggle over the Holocaust
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/July 27, 2025
Recently, some Israelis and Jews opposed to Netanyahu’s government have noticed
that the images coming out of Gaza resemble, to some extent, images that
conveyed faces from the Jewish Holocaust. The densely populated civilian areas
punished indiscriminately - killed by weapons as well as starvation - being
pushed from one area to another like objects stripped of their humanity, devoid
of any ties to land, desire, or choice; the children who have turned into
skeletons; the places erased and reverted to a state before their formation; the
poisoned or polluted environment whose viability for life is now in doubt... all
of this and more brings to mind forms of apocalyptic catastrophes, of which the
Holocaust stands as the most prominent. Moreover, the
cry of “Never Again”, born out of the horrors of the Holocaust, is being
challenged by the genocide in Gaza - perpetrated in part by descendants of
Holocaust victims - as well as by other genocides that have taken place or are
taking place in various countries. This cry is now exposed to expiration and a
weakening credibility. Such a realization implies that much of what humanity
thought it had achieved - or imagined it had - remains unresolved and still on
the agenda, albeit with diminished urgency and waning determination.Just as in
the 1940s, when the Holocaust unfolded, the influential world yawns or turns its
gaze away from what is happening, since the events occur in a distant “over
there.” And just as European Jews were burned for no reason beyond being Jews,
the people of Gaza are being killed and starved merely for the act of killing
and starving them, after the Israeli war - as a form of self-defense - has
exhausted its stated purposes. Many Israelis now, including some military
leaders, describe what’s happening as “Netanyahu’s war.”
What is happening in Gaza is not a Holocaust, but it contains an unmistakable
Holocaust-like element that those who deny it are willfully ignoring. Thus, the
battle over Gaza’s imagery, its connection to images from the Holocaust, the
meanings those images carry, and the universal and human dimensions embedded
within them, is a battle that deserves to be fought politically, and must be
fought morally.
This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an easy battle to win. But winning it is not
out of the question, especially if accompanied by a persistent, long-term
Palestinian effort targeting Western youth environments and betting on the
transformation of their views into political and parliamentary outcomes, even if
delayed.
In such a complex and multi-layered project, the issue of the Holocaust occupies
a prominent place. There is a direct connection with both parties to the
conflict. Netanyahu comes from a Zionist tradition - represented by figures like
Menachem Begin and the historian Benzion Netanyahu, Benjamin’s father - that
exaggerates the political exploitation of the Holocaust, using it as a scarecrow
for critics, a tool of political blackmail, and an iron wall separating Jews -
past, present, and future - from others. According to this tradition, the
uniqueness of the Holocaust allows it to be a purely Jewish monopoly, not to be
exported or shared with non-Jews.
Beyond Netanyahu and the political instrumentalization, there is also an
intellectual position expressed by Israeli historians who rejected the
representation of non-Jewish victims in the Holocaust Memorial Museum in
Washington, arguing that such inclusion would undermine the specificity and
uniqueness of Jewish fate. Some also rejected presenting Nazi crimes against
Jews as “universal crimes against humanity,” because that would prioritize the
“abstract” over the “particular,” and the idea of the “universal” over the
reality of the “Jewish.” After all, those who perished in the Holocaust did so,
they argue, solely because they were Jews. Arguments
like these often relied on the fact that many of Israel’s critics, both Arab and
non-Arab, refused to acknowledge or internalize the Holocaust experience. Some
even denied it happened at all. Today, it is critically important to prevent
Netanyahu and his allies from monopolizing the Holocaust. It is also important
to point to a connection, however complex, between the Holocaust and the
genocide in Gaza, as well as other genocides. This is not a simple or guaranteed
battle, but it is a battle worth fighting.
There are many obstacles, among them is the question of how willing Jews
themselves are to accept that Israel is not the exclusive representative of the
Holocaust, and that there are partners in the human tragedy that followed, with
Palestinians foremost among them.
Yet, there is also a Palestinian - and to some extent, Arab - challenge, and the
way this challenge is met can improve the chances of fighting this broader
battle.
In this regard, there must be a development of clear condemnation of the
disastrous October 7 operation, an operation with unquestionably genocidal
intent. That day must be criticized and repudiated, and there must be a
disavowal of the anti-Semitic and exterminationist ideas carried out by the
October 7 forces and their extensions. The slogan “Death to the Jews”, a central
slogan of the Houthis, did not contribute even slightly to the credibility of
their so-called defense of Gaza. Certainly, it is of utmost importance to close
the chapter of a war that has effectively ended, as Hamas is now fighting Hamas’
war in Gaza, in the same way Netanyahu is fighting Netanyahu’s war. The faster
that chapter is closed, the faster a new page can be opened, one focused on
leaving violence behind, not diving into or glorifying it. This, in turn, would
help disable Israel’s extermination machine, which continues unabated in killing
and starving the people of Gaza.
'Bring the Head of Trump': Iran Must Be Stopped
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute./July 27, 2025
Shortly after the fatwa was announced, Mansour Emami, the state-appointed head
of Iran's official Islamic Propagation Organization... announced that a reward
of 100 billion tomans (approximately $1.14 million) would be paid to anyone who
"brings the head of Trump."
On top of that, reports from inside Iran reveal that the regime and its
supporters have reportedly raised more than $40 million in a crowdfunding
campaign to murder Trump. What has the response been from the international
community? Silence. Where are the liberal voices, the pro-Iran "diplomacy-first"
crowd, the think tank elites who have spent years telling us that we should
appease Tehran and give them billions of dollars for "peace"? Where are the
so-called champions of human rights in the West, who constantly criticize Israel
and the U.S. but cannot seem to say a word about an Islamic regime putting a
bounty on the head of an American president? In the minds of Iran's clerics, a
fatwa is binding, a direct command from a "representative of God" on earth. When
a fatwa calls for killing a person, it is a divine order for murder, complete
with the promise of heavenly reward for the murderer.
When Shirazi issued his fatwa, he did not just target Trump. He declared Trump a
mohareb — an enemy of God. In the ideology of Iran's theocratic regime, this
label also carries the death penalty. The person who kills Trump, in their eyes,
is not just a hitman; he is a holy warrior. A martyr. A man destined for
paradise, where virgins and heavenly blessings await him. It is this worldview
that is now driving Iran's strategy; the danger is not just to Trump, but to
every nation in the free world and to everyone who practices any religion other
than Shia Islam.
It is time for Americans to stop pretending that diplomacy will solve
everything. It will not. Every American should support policies that will
eventually lead to the fall of Iran's murderous government: it does not hesitate
to kill its neighbors or even its own people... and continuing to use military
force when necessary to protect American lives and interests. Under no
circumstances should the US reward Iran with concessions. In Iran, that is seen
only as weakness. It sends a message to every terrorist and tyrant in the world
that the United States can be pushed to offer bribes, which are then used to
build their war machines.
If we allow such aggression go unanswered—if we allow a sitting president to be
hunted with no consequences — we are only begging for more attacks. Grand
Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, one of the most powerful clerics in Iran's
theocratic system, has issued an official fatwa — a religious decree — calling
for the murder of President Donald J. Trump. What makes the fatwa even more
outrageous is that the regime is not just issuing threats—it has been raising
money, publicly -- to pay for Trump's murder.
Iran's regime has crossed a line that no sovereign state has ever crossed
before: it openly called for the assassination of a sitting president of the
United States.
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, one of the most powerful clerics in
Iran's theocratic system, has issued an official fatwa — a religious decree —
calling for the murder of President Donald J. Trump. It did not come from some
fringe radical hiding in a cave. It came directly from the top of Iran's
religious and political hierarchy. This is equivalent to a declaration of war.
What makes the fatwa even more outrageous is that the regime is not just issuing
threats—it has been raising money, publicly -- to pay for Trump's murder. It is
not a joke. It is a direct, state-sanctioned call to eliminate America's leader.
Shortly after the fatwa was announced, Mansour Emami, the state-appointed head
of Iran's official Islamic Propagation Organization in West Azerbaijan Province,
announced that a reward of 100 billion tomans (approximately $1.14 million)
would be paid to anyone who "brings the head of Trump." A religious cleric with
an official government position, not a rogue agent, was offering a
million-dollar bounty to behead the U.S. president. On top of that, reports from
inside Iran reveal that the regime and its supporters have reportedly raised
more than $40 million in a crowdfunding campaign to murder Trump. This is the
kind of behavior you would expect from ISIS or al-Qaeda, not from a government
that has embassies, diplomats, and sits at the negotiating table with the United
Nations and other world powers. What has the response been from the
international community? Silence. Where are the liberal voices, the pro-Iran
"diplomacy-first" crowd, the think tank elites who have spent years telling us
that we should appease Tehran and give them billions of dollars for "peace"?
Where are the so-called champions of human rights in the West, who constantly
criticize Israel and the U.S. but cannot seem to say a word about an Islamic
regime putting a bounty on the head of an American president? If any Western
nation, let alone the United States, had done something even remotely similar,
the global media and the complicit United Nations would have gone into meltdown.
Because the call comes from Iran — the pet regime of the academic left, the
darling of anti-American ideologues — it gets a pass? A fatwa is not just a
statement or opinion. A fatwa is a religious edict issued by an Islamic
authority that carries "spiritual" and legal obligation within Islamic law. In
the minds of Iran's clerics, a fatwa is binding, a direct command from a
"representative of God" on earth. When a fatwa calls for killing a person, it is
a divine order for murder, complete with the promise of heavenly reward for the
murderer.
That is exactly what happened in 1989, when Iran's then Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa for the murder of author Salman Rushdie, for
allegedly blaspheming Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses -- a work of
fiction. Western commentators at the time scoffed at the order, called it
"symbolic." Then what happened? After decades, the fatwa was acted upon. In
2022, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times on a stage in New York by a young
Muslim man who was radicalized online and motivated by the decree to kill.
The same dynamic is now unfolding against Trump. When Shirazi issued his fatwa,
he did not just target Trump. He declared Trump a mohareb — an enemy of God. In
the ideology of Iran's theocratic regime, this label also carries the death
penalty. The person who kills Trump, in their eyes, is not just a hitman; he is
a holy warrior. A martyr. A man destined for paradise, where virgins and
heavenly blessings await him. It is this worldview that is now driving Iran's
strategy; the danger is not just to Trump, but to every nation in the free world
and to everyone who practices any religion other than Shia Islam.
What makes this situation even more grotesque is that Trump actually spared the
life of Iran's top leader. Just before Shirazi's fatwa, Trump publicly revealed
that, during Israeli and American airstrikes in Iran, he had precise
intelligence on the exact location of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Trump could
have authorized a strike that would have killed Iran's ruler and decapitated the
regime. But he did not. He later said, "I saved him [Khamenei] from a very ugly
and ignominious death." That was not the action of a warmonger, but of a strong,
careful leader who knows the power of mercy. How did Iran respond? By offering
$40 million for Trump's head.
This should alarm every American. Make no mistake—this fatwa extends beyond
Trump himself. The same regime has plotted to assassinate former Trump officials
has been killing Americans for decades, including the 1983 bombings in Beirut
and the attacks on 9/11. The Department of Justice and U.S. intelligence
agencies have already foiled Iranian plots on U.S. soil. Nevertheless, we are
dealing with a regime that has the will, the money, and the operational
capability to carry out these threats.
It is time for Americans to stop pretending that diplomacy will solve
everything. It will not. We are not dealing with a "normal" government here.
This is a theocratic death cult with oil money and ballistic missiles. Yet, some
in Washington still want to negotiate with this regime, sign new nuclear deals,
release frozen Iranian funds, and ease sanctions. Are we insane? How do you
negotiate with a regime that since its inception has vowed "Death to America" –
as an outspoken official "policy" -- and that is openly raising money to kill
your president?
The time for adolescent wishes for a one-sided "peace" is over. If Iran's regime
has declared war on the United States, then we had better treat it as such.
Every American should support policies that will eventually lead to the fall of
Iran's murderous government: it does not hesitate to kill its neighbors or even
its own people. Such policies might include maintaining and expanding primary
and especially secondary sanctions; isolating Iran diplomatically, building a
coalition with allies such as Israel and Gulf states – and continuing to use
military force when necessary to protect American lives and interests.
We must also support the Iranian people who risk everything to rise up against
this tyranny. The young men and women who chant "Death to the dictator!" in the
streets of Tehran are our natural allies. We should be funding them,
broadcasting their voices, and helping them organize against the regime.
Under no circumstances should the US reward Iran with concessions. In Iran, that
is seen only as weakness. It sends a message to every terrorist and tyrant in
the world that the United States can be pushed to offer bribes, which are then
used to build their war machines.
Iran's regime is not a victim of Western aggression. It is not "misunderstood."
It is a violent, expansionist, apocalyptic regime that openly wants to destroy
America and dominate the Middle East, then the rest of the world:
"We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'There is no
god but Allah' resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle," Khomeini,
the founder of the 1979 Islamic revolution, declared.
The regime funds terrorists, murders dissidents, persecutes religious
minorities, and now, is calling for the murder of the American president. It is
important to respond with strength.
This confrontation is not just about Trump. It is about the future of America's
security and the survival of Western civilization. The Iranian regime has made
its intentions clear: it wants to eliminate the symbol of American strength,
leadership and freedom – on its way to eliminating America. Why else has it
infiltrated South America and Cuba? If we allow such aggression go unanswered—if
we allow a sitting president to be hunted with no consequences — we are only
begging for more attacks.
https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/inbox/id/AAkALgAAAAAAHYQDEapmEc2byACqAC%2FEWg0AQD3AMaXtfEW1haoJocBU4gAIaoV4iQAA
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and
board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on
the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
**Follow Majid Rafizadeh 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.
ريموند إبراهيم من
موقع كايتستون: وقائع أحداث اضطهاد المسيحيين في العالم
خلال شهر آيار لسنة 2025/الله أمرنا أن نقتلكم
(ترجمة من الإنكليزية بتصرف وحرية بواسطة الياس بجاني بالإستعانة بالعديد من مواقع
الترجمة الألكترونية)
‘We Were Commanded [by Allah] to Kill You’: The Persecution of Christians, June
2025
by Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/July 27, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/07/145716/
NB: Picture Encloses/On June 22, a gun and suicide bomb attack in Mar Elyas
Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus murdered 25 Christians and wounded nearly 70.
At least two armed Muslim men attacked inside the church during Sunday mass,
when it was packed with 350 worshippers. Pictured: Some of the destruction
wreaked by the attackers in Mar Elyas. (Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)
*The attackers, chanting “Allahu Akbar,” attempted to storm St. Joseph’s Church,
where 700 mostly Christian Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were sleeping. —
Nigeria.
*Persecution of Christians across Africa continues with brutal intensity,
especially in regions plagued by Muslim militancy… In the Democratic Republic of
Congo, where roughly 95% of the population is Christian, Muslim groups are
responsible for horrific violence. The European Parliament has labeled ISCAP, an
ISIS affiliate, “the deadliest armed group in the DRC.”
*”The horrific killing of Kashif Masih is not just a tragedy—it is a damning
indictment of the justice system in Pakistan. That a man could be tortured to
death under false allegations, and that the police failed to act promptly or
conduct a proper investigation, shows the systemic discrimination Christians
face daily. The failure to collect crucial evidence and the reluctance to pursue
justice….” — britishasianchristians.org, June 2, 2025.
*When the Christian couple reported the rape to Saddar Police Station, officer
Muhammad Sikander tried to bribe them with Rs. 150,000 (about $500 USD) to drop
the case and leave the area. When they refused, Intekhab was beaten. — Pakistan.
*”The case is a tragic but familiar reminder of the dangerous intersection of
gender-based violence and religious persecution. Sexual violence against
minority women is not rare – it’s a systemic human rights emergency that is
often met with silence and inaction…. These [Christian and non-Muslim] women are
isolated, marginalized and viewed as disposable.” — morningstarnws.org, June 24,
2024, Pakistan.
*”There’s no law in Pakistan that criminalizes forced faith conversion.” While
the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, that freedom “is routinely
violated when minors are coerced into Islam through abduction and sham
marriages… [E]very delay in justice sends the message that Christian girls are
disposable.” — Albert Patras, rights advocate, morningstarnews.org, June 23,
2025.
*Islamic law makes it very difficult for all victims of rape, not only Christian
women, to prove rape because it demands proof by four reliable male witnesses. —
Sonja Dahlmans, author of “Hidden Crimes, Public Deception: The Epidemic of the
Disappearance of Coptic Girls and Women in Egypt.”
*On June 18, the European Parliament approved a €4 billion financial aid package
to Egypt — despite that country’s mounting persecution of Christians, including
a recent court ruling to evict monks and seize one of Christianity’s holiest
sites: the 1,500-year-old Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai.
*Human Rights Watch released a damning report exposing the systematic misuse of
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws to target religious minorities—especially Christians
and Ahmadis—as well as the poor. Titled “A Conspiracy to Grab the Land,” it
details how false blasphemy accusations are weaponized to incite mob violence,
displace vulnerable communities, and seize their property with near-total
impunity.
*On June 6, International Christian Concern exposed the widespread, systemic
persecution of Christians living under Islamic law (sharia) across countries
like Brunei, Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, and the Maldives.
The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by
Muslims throughout the month of June 2025.
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Syria: On Sunday, June 22, a gun and suicide bomb attack inside a church in
Damascus murdered 25 Christians and wounded nearly 70. At least two armed Muslim
men entered the Mar Elyas Greek Orthodox Church during mass, when it was packed
with some 350 worshippers, and indiscriminately opened fire before one of them
detonated an explosive belt inside the sanctuary. : “He started shooting wildly,
then blew himself up,” Eyewitnesses described the scene. “The blast threw bodies
everywhere — blood, broken glass, screams. I thought it was the end of the
world,” one survivor said. Another worshipper, barely escaping with her life,
recalled, “We tried to run but the smoke and dust made it impossible. People
were crying and praying for mercy. The killer shouted, ‘You all deserve death!’
It was a message of hate aimed straight at us.” Video footage shows the church
interior destroyed — pews splintered, walls shattered, and the floor slick with
blood. Photos showed charred and blood-splattered floors, with shrapnel
peppering the church walls. “I have never seen such devastation in a place of
worship,” a volunteer rescuer related. “When we got to the church, we found the
doorway filled with body parts,” another relief helper said.
The regime of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa — formerly the head of the
jihadist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — initially attributed the assault to ISIS
(the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Yet two days later, a lesser-known group,
Saraya Ansar al-Sunna — an offshoot of al-Sharaa’s very own organization —
claimed responsibility. Some Muslims in Syria celebrated the carnage.
One ISIS supporter, Al-Wa’eli, shared an image of a jihadist with the caption,
“If you do not rejoice over this action… you do not have any [faith].” Quoting
Islamic justifications, he insisted, “We were commanded [by Allah] to kill you,”
referring to Christians. The Bariqah (“Blessing”) News Agency further announced
that ISIS will strike Christians “whenever and wherever we want” They added: “We
act based on clear proof from our Lord.”
“We come here to pray for peace,” one elderly churchgoer responded to so much
hate, “but now we live in fear. How can we worship when death stalks us even
inside the church?” Other survivors said: “They came to kill us because we
believe.”
Nigeria: In early June, Muslim Fulani herdsmen massacred at least 86 Christians
in Benue state, in a surge of violence that included mass slaughters during and
after Sunday worship, the burning of homes, and abductions. Victims were gunned
down or butchered with machetes, often within sight of inactive military
checkpoints—prompting clergymen to accuse the military of complicity and lament
the closure of over 15 parishes. A prominent Nigerian attorney called on
President Tinubu to declare a state of military emergency, citing the
government’s inaction and the growing threat. Radicalized Fulani militants,
according to the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of
Religion or Belief, “adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP [ISIS
offshoot] and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols
of Christian identity.”
Over in Plateau State, in the first days of June, at least 18 Christians were
slaughtered by the Islamic herdsmen. Christian survivors reported
“indiscriminate shootings, killings, and large-scale arson.”
In Benue State, between June 13–14, the Fulanis massacred at least 100
Christians—possibly as many as 200—in the predominantly Christian village of
Yelwata. The attackers, chanting “Allahu Akbar,” attempted to storm St. Joseph’s
Church, where 700 mostly Christian Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were
sleeping. The Fulanis burned sleeping Christian families alive and slaughtered
those who fled. The raid, described by the local tribal ruler as “a full-scale
genocidal invasion and land grabbing campaign by herder terrorists,” targeted
Christian displaced persons and food supplies.
Democratic Republic of Congo: On June 7, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a
violent Islamic group, massacred hundreds of Christian civilians. Many others
drowned while trying to escape the assault by fleeing in the river.
Sudan: Between June 9 and 11, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out
coordinated airstrikes on three churches—the Sudanese Episcopal Church, the
African Inland Church, and the Roman Catholic Church—in El Fasher, North Darfur.
The attacks killed at least five Christians, including Fr. Luka Jumu, and
injured dozens more. “The bombing of these churches is not only an attack on
buildings but a brutal assault on the right to freedom of religion or belief,”
said a spokesman for Christian Solidarity Worldwide, adding that the RSF targets
churches “to conduct ethnically motivated violence against non‑Arab Christians.”
Sub-Saharan Africa: Persecution of Christians across Africa continues with
brutal intensity, especially in regions plagued by Muslim militancy, according
to a June 20 report. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, where roughly 95% of
the population is Christian, Muslim groups are responsible for horrific
violence. The European Parliament has labeled ISCAP, an ISIS affiliate, “the
deadliest armed group in the DRC.” The European Parliament noted that between
January and June 2024, Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing nearly
700 African Christians, with ISCAP alone claiming 639 deaths. In Mozambique,
where Christians make up about 62% of the population, Islamic terrorists
relentlessly target believers, abducting clergy and slaughtering congregants.
Similarly, Nigeria’s Christians—roughly half the population—face “near-genocide
levels” of violence, including “shockingly brutal” attacks by jihadists, where
men are killed and women “kidnapped and targeted for sexual violence.”
Pakistan: According to a June 2 report, on Mother’s Day, May 12, Christian farm
worker Kashif Masih, 35, was brutally tortured and murdered after being accused,
falsely, by Muslim landlords of stealing a mobile phone. Kashif was subjected to
sickening sadistic abuse: nails were forcibly pierced into his private parts.
His beaten and bloodied body was then discarded on the road. His body showed
extensive bruising and deep wounds, evidence of the torture he endured (graphic
images here). Despite urgent calls for help from family members, police response
was sluggish. A First Information Report (FIR No. 754/25) was eventually filed
against Muhammad Areeb, Muhammad Ijaz, Malik Irfan, and others for murder and
rioting. Discussing this incident, the British Asian Christian Association said,
“The horrific killing of Kashif Masih is not just a tragedy—it is a damning
indictment of the justice system in Pakistan. That a man could be tortured to
death under false allegations, and that the police failed to act promptly or
conduct a proper investigation, shows the systemic discrimination Christians
face daily. The failure to collect crucial evidence and the reluctance to pursue
justice sends a chilling message to other vulnerable minorities.”
The Abduction, Rape, and Forced Conversion of Christian Girls and Women in
Pakistan
On June 11, three Muslim men — Muhammad Mohsin, Zahid Gujjar, and Muhammad
Arslan — gang-raped a 20-year-old Christian woman in front of her 3-year-old
daughter who watched in terror. The men first sent Sheeza Bibi’s husband,
Intekhab, away from their cattle farm on a fake errand, leaving Sheeza and her
child defenseless. When Intekhab returned hours later, he found his wife and
daughter in tears. Sheeza, after initial hesitation, confessed that she had been
assaulted.
The trauma did not end there. When the Christian couple reported the rape to
Saddar Police Station, officer Muhammad Sikander tried to bribe them with Rs.
150,000 (about $500 USD) to drop the case and leave the area. When they refused,
Intekhab was beaten and Sheeza was slapped by a female officer, before being
thrown out of the police station. Juliet Chowdhry of the British Asian Christian
Association condemned the attack and the corrupt police response, stating:
“This vicious and cowardly assault on a young Christian woman, carried out in
front of her child, reflects the terrifying vulnerability of religious
minorities in Pakistan. That Sheeza and her husband were then beaten and bribed
by the very people meant to protect them is unconscionable.”
Also on June 11, a Muslim man raped a married Christian mother of five at
gunpoint. For more than a year, Rashid Anwaar had stalked and harassed the woman
— who remains unnamed for her protection — demanding she “accept Islam and marry
him.” Her family repeatedly complained to his family, but no one intervened. On
the day of the attack, Rashid found the woman alone and unwell. He entered
through an open door, locked himself inside the room, pulled a gun, and raped
her while threatening to kill her if she screamed. Her husband, Indrias Paulus,
and her brother arrived mid-assault, heard her cries, and confronted the rapist,
who escaped by climbing a wall while brandishing his pistol, dropping his phone
and abandoning his motorcycle. Police initially tried to help him evade justice,
but, due to much pressure and mounting evidence, they eventually arrested him.
Last reported, the victim continues to “cry all night and cannot sleep.”
“I’m afraid to step outside. For over a year, Rashid harassed me – trying to
force me to convert and marry him. He threatened me constantly, but no one
intervened because of his influence.”
The impoverished woman said the assault has also distressed her children and
that it is hard to avoid their questioning eyes:
“I have five children – three sons and two daughters. My eldest son is 16 years
old, and he keeps asking me what happened. How do I tell him that his mother has
been violated by a man who believed that he had the power to fulfill his evil
desires?”
Janssen, a field officer of international advocacy group Jubilee Campaign, said,
“The case is a tragic but familiar reminder of the dangerous intersection of
gender-based violence and religious persecution. Sexual violence against
minority women is not rare – it’s a systemic human rights emergency that is
often met with silence and inaction…. These [Christian and non-Muslim] women are
isolated, marginalized and viewed as disposable. In a society dominated by
patriarchal and religious majoritarian structures, their safety is secondary.
This is not just rape – it’s armed assault and a hate crime.”
On June 3, a Christian girl escaped the Muslim man who kidnapped, tortured,
raped, and forcibly converted her to Islam two years earlier. Muskan Liaqat was
only 14 when Muhammad Adnan and his father Muhammad kidnapped her at gunpoint
from her home on the night of May 24, 2023:
“They took me to their home, where they tortured me and forcibly took my thumb
impressions on some papers – I was later told that I had become a Muslim and
[Muhammad] Adnan was my husband… I was raped and beaten by Adnan with an iron
rod on almost a daily basis. He used to call me ‘Chuhri’ [a pejorative term used
for Christians] and other curse words. As a result of repeated sexual abuse, I
got pregnant in 2024.”
Due to the ongoing torture and beatings, she miscarried four months into her
pregnancy:
“I used to cry all night and prayed to God to rescue me from this hell, but it
looked like my prayers were not reaching Him… I wanted to kill myself as it
seemed the only way out of the agony that I was suffering every day. I would
also question myself, ‘Would my family accept me even if I somehow manage to
escape and return home? Would they believe me that I had not gone with Adnan
willingly?’ These thoughts haunted me all the time, forcing me to think that
ending my life was the only option.”
Muskan’s prayers were finally answered on June 3, 2025, when Muhammad Adnan had
to leave her unguarded at his house, and she managed to escape back to her
family:
“I’m truly grateful to God for rescuing me from captivity and to my family for
trusting me that I had not gone with Adnan willingly.”
On June 11, another Muslim man abducted a 14-year-old Christian girl, Elishba
Adnan. Since then, the police have taken no action—neither registering a First
Information Report (FIR) nor intervening in any meaningful way—despite the
family’s desperate pleas to recover their daughter from her kidnapper, Babar
Mukhtar, 26, who is already married. Rights advocate Albert Patras said the
police are stonewalling the case, claiming the girl “converted to Islam and
married of her own free will,” without showing any documentation to support this
claim. As Patras points out, “There’s no law in Pakistan that criminalizes
forced faith conversion.” While the constitution guarantees freedom of religion,
that freedom “is routinely violated when minors are coerced into Islam through
abduction and sham marriages.” Elishba’s father, Adnan Masih, a sanitation
worker, has made repeated visits to the local police station: “Elishba’s
disappearance has devastated our lives,” he said. “If the police had acted
promptly, we might have rescued her. But now much time has lapsed, and God knows
what has become of her.”
Even Pakistan’s new child marriage law—which sets the minimum age at 18—only
applies to the Islamabad Capital Territory and excludes Muslims in other
provinces due to Islamic law. As Patras noted, “If they convert to Islam, the
law ceases to protect them.” He further pointed to how Pakistan’s Council of
Islamic Ideology has openly opposed treating underage marriage as rape. It “does
not conform with sharia,” he declared. In this climate, Christian girls—some as
young as 10—are routinely kidnapped, raped, and forced into Islam under the
guise of religious marriage, only to be returned to their captors by courts as
“legal wives.” “These incidents breed terror among minority communities,” said
Patras. “And every delay in justice sends the message that Christian girls are
disposable.”
Finally, a Christian family fled for their lives after enduring months of abuse
and sexual harassment from their Muslim landlord, Muhammad Maqbool. Trapped in
bonded labor over a debt of Rs. 850,000 (less than $3,000 USD), the Masih family
lived on Muhammad’s farm—where they faced physical assaults, forced servitude,
and threats of forced conversion and prostitution. “He violently beat my son,”
said Pervaiz Masih, the family patriarch. “He kissed my daughter-in-law’s face,
hugged her, and demanded she sit with him drunk.” Soon the 22-year-old newlywed,
Somika, became Muhammad’s main target: “He’d touch me, make indecent comments,
and send my husband away just to be alone with me,” she said. After Muhammad
threatened to convert and marry off Somika if the debt was not paid, the family
escaped in the night, leaving everything behind.
Egypt: In a June 30 video interview, Sonja Dahlmans, author of a 52-page report
titled, “Hidden Crimes, Public Deception: The Epidemic of the Disappearance of
Coptic Girls and Women in Egypt,” said,
“Nobody speaks about the situation of the Copts and this is precisely why I
titled the report “Hidden Crimes, Public Deception.” Other reports and analyses
hardly ever mention gender-based crimes committed against Coptic women and
girls, which makes them particularly vulnerable. The result of this is that the
abduction, rape and forced conversion of Copts stays under the radar; they are
the only victim group in Egypt that almost everybody neglects. This raises the
question why journalists and analysts consider all other stories of sexual
violence in Egypt to be true, except for what the Coptic community tells us.”
Dahlmans also stated that the demand for truth from Western politicians and
policy makers is problematic, putting pressure on the victims of these
abductions and rape, rather than demanding the Egyptian government to prosecute
the perpetrators. Islamic law, she added, makes it very difficult for all
victims of rape, not only Christian women, to prove rape because it demands
proof by four reliable male witnesses. This is a major problem for Muslim
women—but even more so for non-Muslim (“infidel”) women living under Islam, such
as Christian women and girls in Egypt. She said,
“[O]ne of the women we interviewed for our report was actually undressed at the
police station and the police were trying to make her confess that she had been
sleeping around with multiple men. In that way, they were trying to make her
ruin her own reputation as part of an intimidating tactic to prevent victims to
go to the police and report their case.”
Muslim Attacks on Churches and Other Christian Symbols and Institutions
Syria: On June 8, shots were fired at the large cross of the historic Syriac
Orthodox Cathedral of St. Mary of the Holy Belt in Homs, which dates to the 5th
century. In a statement, the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Homs, Hama, and
Tartous condemned “the heinous shooting incident that targeted the Holy Cross …
at dawn on Sunday … by an unknown party, in a reprehensible act targeting the
sanctity of places of worship and the security of citizens.”
Egypt: On June 18, the European Parliament approved a €4 billion financial aid
package to Egypt—despite that country’s mounting persecution of Christians,
including a recent court ruling to evict monks and seize one of Christianity’s
holiest sites: the 1,500-year-old Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount
Sinai. The monastery—built in the 6th century on the site where Moses is
believed to have encountered the burning bush—is the oldest continuously active
Christian monastery and home to the world’s oldest functioning library. But an
Egyptian appeals court declared its inhabitants “squatters,” paving the way for
their removal and for state tourism control. “We have lived in Sinai since the
sixth century,” lamented Archbishop Damianos, abbot of the monastery: “Now they
tell us: ‘You have no right to be here; you are newcomers.’… I am 91 years old
today and I have lived in the Monastery since the age of 27—you can imagine the
pain in my heart.”
Separately, on June 7, a fire broke out inside the Virgin Mary Church in Esna,
Luxor governorate. Civil defense forces quickly responded and contained the
flames, preventing any injuries. It was the latest of many churches to,
according to the authorities, “accidentally catch fire” in Egypt (see Egypt
entry here for several examples).
Uganda: On June 3, Ugandan security forces intercepted and killed two Muslim
terrorists—one a female—who were preparing to launch a deadly attack on the
Uganda Martyrs’ Shrine during Martyrs’ Day (which honors 45 Christian converts
executed for their faith in the 19th century). The terrorists, wearing explosive
vests, were stopped about 500 meters from the basilica by a counterterrorism
unit. An exchange of gunfire triggered an explosion that killed both attackers
and destroyed their motorcycle. The death toll could have been immense, as the
site was expected to be packed with Christian visitors on that day of
celebration.
Kenya: According to a June 2 report, Benedictine Missionary Sisters of the
Sacred Heart have shut down all their operations in Kenya’s Kerio Valley due to
relentless daily violence from surrounding Muslims. The closure follows the
brutal murder of Father Alloy Bett, a local Catholic priest, and ongoing
instability threatening both personnel and locals. Sister Rosa Pascal, prioress
of the mission, cited severe psychological trauma among the sisters and a
critical staff shortage forcing an indefinite suspension of essential
services—including the closure of the Chesongoch mission hospital. This retreat
marks yet another blow to Christian communities facing Muslim violence in East
Africa, highlighting the stark reality: faith-based missions are under siege,
forced to abandon their work as Islamic terror spreads.
Indonesia: On June 27, a 200-strong Muslim mob violently disrupted a Christian
youth retreat—tearing down crosses, smashing property, and chasing terrified
children, while police and soldiers stood by. The mob, incited after mosque
prayers, surrounded a private home in Tangkil village used for Christian
gatherings. Chanting “Destroy that house!” they vandalized the building, threw a
motorbike into a river, and tore down a wooden cross, which one man used to
smash a window. Videos show screaming youths fleeing into cars as the crowd
jeered. Claiming it was about permits, one Muslim resident said, “It’s not that
we are intolerant, but worshiping secretly in a 100% Muslim area invites
unrest.” Officials later insisted the attacks were “spontaneous,” and the site
was “a house, not a church.” However, “this is not about permits,” said human
rights activist Permadi Arya: “This is pure intolerance allowed by the state.”
France: On June 17, a Muslim man known to police for 86 prior offenses—including
theft, violence, and death threats—stormed a church during an evening service.
He insulted worshippers, accused the Church of supporting “the Israelis,” and
labeled clergy as “pedophiles.” He threatened the congregation: “If you move,
you’re dead!” and concluded with an explicit prediction, “We’ll kill you all one
day!” Police quickly located and arrested the man, identified as Hasein O., born
in 1968. Despite his violent history, he was not flagged for radicalization.
Portugal: A June 30 video shows what is described as a Pakistani migrant who
broke into a cemetery and started destroying crosses while crying “Allahu
Akbar,” and partially declaring the shahada (“there is no god but Allah”).
United Kingdom: According to a June 10 report, Graham Wanstall, a retired author
and patient at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, was pushed out of the hospital’s
Christian chapel by “a group of Muslim men” who said they had a prayer meeting
and demanded that he move. Graham initially complied, but they insisted he keep
moving further away until he found himself in a corner facing the wall away from
the altar—a deeply disrespectful act in a Christian setting, said Graham, who
felt “belittled and humiliated.”
Italy: On June 7, a local Islamic community was allowed to celebrate the Eid
al-Adha feast on a parish-owned field near the Sanctuary of Marcellina—a gesture
of goodwill by the local Church. Yet during prayers, someone deliberately
covered a nearby statue of Jesus with a large black cloth. According to
journalist Roberto Arditti, the author of the Italian report, it was a brazen,
symbolic erasure of Christianity in its own homeland. The act was not random—it
was visible, well-prepared, and provocative. And Christian community leaders
stood by silently, possibly complicit: “Respect,” he added, “means knowing where
you live, whose house you are in.”
Generic Muslim Abuse of Christians
Somalia: According to a June 18 report, this March, a Muslim mother of three
shared a Jesus film with her Muslim parents. Watching the scenes of Christ’s
passion, she wept aloud, saying, “Oh, an innocent Son of God suffering for the
sins of humanity.” Visibly shocked, her father jumped up and cried, “Christ is
not the Son of God but only one of the prophets sent by Allah!” He then gave her
an ultimatum: “I have no room for you in my house anymore. Just go away with
your children.” Her husband joined in condemning her faith, pronouncing Islamic
divorce when she refused to recant. Until now, she continues to receive death
threats from relatives. She explained their logic in an interview: “It is better
that they kill me than me be a Christian, since I have become an apostate and
should be killed.”
Pakistan: On June 9, Human Rights Watch released a damning report exposing the
systematic misuse of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws to target religious
minorities—especially Christians and Ahmadis—as well as the poor. Titled “A
Conspiracy to Grab the Land,” it details how false blasphemy accusations are
weaponized to incite mob violence, displace vulnerable communities, and seize
their property with near-total impunity. The report shares harrowing stories,
such as a Christian beautician in Lahore whose salon was vandalized by a mob
falsely accusing her of Koran desecration. Another Christian school owner was
blackmailed for thousands of rupees after threats from local Islamic groups,
despite the blasphemy claims being totally baseless. Blasphemy remains a capital
offense in Pakistan, often sparking deadly mob violence, long pretrial
detentions, and unfair trials.
Separately, On June 6, an “anti-terrorism” court acquitted 10 Muslim men accused
of leading the violent August 16, 2023, riots in Jaranwala, where thousands of
Muslims ransacked and/or torched over 25 churches and 85 Christian homes
following false blasphemy accusations against two Christian brothers. Despite
strong evidence from 23 witnesses, including eyewitnesses who identified the
attackers, Judge Javed Iqbal Sheikh ruled the suspects innocent, sparking much
outrage among Christian leaders who condemned the verdict as a grave miscarriage
of justice. In the words of the Reverend Shehzad Gill, senior chaplain to the
Moderator Bishop of the Church of Pakistan, the court ruling “turn[s] a blind
eye to blatant acts of violence and hatred” for Christians in Pakistan.
Similarly, politician Shamaun Qaiser called the acquittal “a betrayal of
justice.” The Church Management Committee accused the police and investigators
of manipulating evidence to protect Muslim suspects, deliberately ignoring
“solid evidence” and the testimony of victims who identified the attackers.
Muslim World: On June 6, International Christian Concern exposed the widespread,
systemic persecution of Christians living under Islamic law (sharia) across
countries such as Brunei, Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, and the Maldives. These nations
enforce strict interpretations of Sharia that criminalize apostasy and blasphemy
with brutal punishments including corporal penalties, imprisonment, forced
labor, and even death—effectively banning Christians from openly practicing
their faith.
In Yemen, Islam is the state religion; renouncing it is a crime punishable by
law. Most Christians are secret converts who live in constant fear, facing
discrimination such as denial of medical care, sexual violence, forced marriages
to Muslim men, and social ostracism. Iran routinely imprisons Christians simply
for their beliefs, while Pakistan enforces harsh social and economic
discrimination, relegating Christians to degrading jobs like sewer cleaning and
street sweeping. The Maldives outright bans any religion other than Islam,
making Christian worship illegal and nearly impossible.
The report describes this persecution as an “open secret” often carried out with
government endorsement or complicity. In some instances, authorities take pride
in suppressing Christians by using slurs, false accusations, and violence as
tools of repression. The normalization of such systemic abuse under Islamic
extremism renders Christians second-class citizens with little recourse for
justice or protection.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified
Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at
the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East
Forum.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by
extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but
rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or
location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any
given month.
Follow Raymond Ibrahim on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook
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part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21779/persecution-of-christians-june
Selected Tweets for
27 July/2025
Ambassador Tom Barrack
@USAMBTurkiye
The credibility of Lebanon’s government rests on its ability to match principle
with practice. As its leaders have said repeatedly, it is critical that “the
state has a monopoly on arms.” As long as Hizballah retains arms, words will not
suffice. The government and Hizballah need to fully commit and act now in order
to not consign the Lebanese people to the stumbling status quo.
Secretary Marco Rubio
Maduro is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate
government. Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror
organization which has taken possession of a country. And he is under indictment
for pushing drugs into the United States.
wassim Godfrey
It has been funded 11 billion $ by USA for 8 years equipment, how will thr
non-functional system of mafiocrat Pharaoh and boys steal the resources and the
people , how will the system protect the militias all for one one for all body
Walid Abu Haya
Very sad to hear about the deaths of Captain Amir Saad and Sergeant Inon Nuriel
Vana , who fell during an operational activity in the southern Gaza Strip.
May their memory be a blessing
Islam Invasion
https://x.com/i/status/1949257425690718352
“I reject the term ‘radical Islam’. There are no moderates!”
Admiral James Lyons doesn’t hold back:
“Islam is a totalitarian ideology masquerading as a religion!”
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"We will not abandon our Druze brothers in Syria. We cannot stand idly by in the
face of the horrific scenes emerging from Sweida. We will demilitarize the area
south of Damascus and will do everything necessary to help and protect the
Druze."
Marc Zell
In the 1990s after the Oslo Accords I represented what was then called Overseas
Private Investment Corporation, a US government agency, in connection with
business partnerships between US companies and Palestinian Arab enterprises in
Gaza. The US, Israel and the international community all truly believed that
Gaza could become the Singapore or Switzerland of the Middle East. All they had
to do was update their legislation to make it compatible with current
international business standards. The Palestinian leadership refused to do s so
and eventually the Gazan public opted to install Hamas and turn Gaza into a
terror state. We are now all paying the price. It never has been a question of
Palestinian independence. It’s always been about destroying the world’s only
Jewish State by whatever means possible come Hell or high water. #october7th