English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 22/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, you would not have condemned the guiltless.
Matthew 12/01-14: “At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath. ’He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’ He left that place and entered their synagogue; a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath? ’ so that they might accuse him. He said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.’Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 21-22/2025
Iranian Regime Faces an Existential Reckoning: Comply with the U.S.-European-Israeli Agenda or Face Destruction
The President of the Republic Joseph Aoun accepted Abi Al-Mona's invitation to a Ramadan iftar at the Sheikh Aql Mosque
Former central bank governor Riad Salameh’s case referred to financial prosecution
Joseph Aoun: Through unity we protect our country from any aggression
Israel says struck military sites in east, south Lebanon
Israeli official: We'll stay in Lebanon until Lebanese Army seizes full control
Report: Ortagus didn't threaten Lebanese officials over Israel talks
Qmati: US pressures can lead to civil war but Aoun, Berri and Salam don't want instability
FM blames Hezbollah for war devastation, says Lebanese want to live in peace
Bassil says FPM reorganizing and is outside govt. but not outside state
Lebanon preparing to repatriate hundreds of Syrian inmates
The Act of Ignoring the Lebanese Shiites/Dr. Ali Khalifa/Nidaa Al Watan/March 21, 2025
Improved Lebanon-Syria ties dependent on a Hezbollah deal/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/March 21, 2025
Lebanese Columnist Backs U.S. Decision To Deport Lebanese Doctor Who Supports Hizbullah
The Christian Rule Saves Lebanon (Part 1 of 3) /Elie Aoun/March 21/2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 21-22/2025
Head of Pro-Iran Armed Faction Arrested in Syria, Says Monitor
Iraq Forms Security Crisis Cell to Coordinate with Syria
Israel Says It Killed Head of Hamas Military Intelligence in Southern Gaza
UN warns of ‘massive trauma’ for Gaza’s children
Israeli troops move deeper into Gaza as its top court halts firing of security chief
Israel returns to war in Gaza with no constraints
Israel minister threatens partial annexation of Gaza
France opposes 'any form of annexation' of Gaza
Israeli supreme court freezes govt decision to sack intel chief
Georgetown scholar arrested for Gaza posts, wife's Palestinian ties
US tells UN Hamas is to blame for deaths since Israel resumed Gaza hostilities
Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza and destroy its only cancer hospital
Israeli hostage freed after 491 days asks: Where was the United Nations, the Red Cross, the world?
Germany reopens its embassy in Syria
Pope Francis advisers say he’ll recover from pneumonia and a ‘new stage’ is opening for him
Ukraine hopes to secure 'at least' partial ceasefire at Saudi talks

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on March 21-22/2025
Bangladesh's Reign of Terror: Toward the Next Islamist Hub of South Asia?/Uzay Bulut/ Gatestone Institute./March 21, 2025
Turkiye’s influence in NATO poised to increase/Dr. Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/March 21, 2025
UN condemns violence in Gaza and West Bank, urges Israel to resume aid deliveries/Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/March 22, 2025
Post Neo-Sectarianism in Iraq/Mahmoud al-Mashhadani-Speaker of the Council of Representatives of Iraq/Asharq Al Awsat/March 21, 2025
Elon Musk as Public Accountant/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/March 21, 2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 21-22/2025
Iranian Regime Faces an Existential Reckoning: Comply with the U.S.-European-Israeli Agenda or Face Destruction
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/03/141461/
A video link to a commentary by journalist Ali Hamadeh from Alnar Alarabi platform provides a detailed analysis of the firm Israeli, Western, and regional decision to dismantle Iran’s regional influence, eradicate its armed proxies, and, if necessary, forcefully compel Tehran to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile projects. The decision also includes a definitive plan to strike and eliminate Hezbollah, ensuring the full restoration of Lebanese state sovereignty over all its territory.
March 21/2025

The President of the Republic Joseph Aoun accepted Abi Al-Mona's invitation to a Ramadan iftar at the Sheikh Aql Mosque
National News / March 21, 2025
President of the Republic, General Joseph Aoun, accepted the invitation of Sheikh Aql of the Druze Unitarian Community, Sheikh Sami Abi Al-Mona, to a Ramadan iftar banquet attended by a number of Lebanese officials and dignitaries. Aoun said in a short speech, : Will we succeed in the test and choose to be worthy of building the state, or will we surrender to drowning in the mire of contradictions and quotas?

Former central bank governor Riad Salameh’s case referred to financial prosecution
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/March 21, 2025
BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced on Friday that the government was working on establishing an executive mechanism to transition Lebanon into a digital state. Lebanon is focused on using all its resources and connections to leverage external expertise in order to pursue the government’s development goals, he stated during a meeting with a delegation of business leaders. The Cabinet approved a mechanism for administrative appointments in state institutions on Thursday, which Salam described as “transparent and competitive.”
Media reports in Beirut on Friday characterized this mechanism as a “theoretical qualitative leap and a reformative advancement in the selection of public sector employees. However, the critical factor remains its successful implementation.”
The position of governor of Lebanon’s central bank, the Banque du Liban, is currently vacant as President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Salam have not yet reached an agreement on the most suitable candidate. In the meantime, the judiciary is awaiting the findings of the financial public prosecutor regarding the investigation into the bank’s former governor Riad Salameh. Salameh has been in pretrial detention for the past seven months on charges of embezzling public funds. A judicial source told Arab News that Investigative Judge Bilal Halawi had concluded the investigation into Salameh’s case after issuing two in absentia arrest warrants for Salameh’s advisers. The case has now been referred to Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim for review in preparation for issuing an indictment. There is no specific deadline for the financial prosecution to respond. Salameh — along with two lawyers, Michel Tueini and Marwan Issa Khoury, who served as advisers at the central bank — is being prosecuted for allegedly embezzling over $40 million from the bank’s funds. It is claimed that this amount was transferred to Salameh’s account with the assistance of Tueini and Issa Khoury. In the ongoing pursuit of corruption cases, Judge Jamal Hajjar, the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, has moved to ban former Economy Minister Amin Salam from traveling. The decision was made based on a report from the National Economy, Industry, Trade, and Planning Committee. It also included his advisers Karim Salam and Fadi Tamim, as well as financial auditor Elie Abboud. On Thursday, MP Farid Boustany, the committee’s chairman, lodged a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office against the former minister, his advisers, and Abboud as a signatory. The complaint alleges “bribery, influence-peddling, blackmailing insurance companies, mismanagement of public funds, and money laundering.”In response to these accusations, Salam denied the charges, claiming they were part of a “systematic campaign of personal or political targeting” against him and his team.
Salam served as the economy minister for less than four years in the Najib Mikati government. A report from the Parliamentary Observatory determined that Salam “misused his authority over the Insurance Control Commission, which oversees the insurance sector, for personal benefit at the expense of public funds.”A judicial source informed Arab News that the travel ban was a preliminary measure aimed at ensuring that the suspects are notified about their upcoming interrogations, scheduled to occur soon at the Palace of Justice in Beirut. The National Economy Committee of Parliament prepared a dossier detailing “violations” by Salam during his time in office. The committee had previously summoned him to discuss the oversight of insurance companies by the ministry.Salam did not attend three sessions, leading the committee to refer the case to the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation and the financial prosecution for further action. In 2023, sources said suspicions arose after his adviser, Tamim, was accused of blackmailing insurance companies for hundreds of thousands of dollars to prevent the revocation of the company’s license. “Tamim was arrested, and it later came to light that Minister Karim Salam, the brother of the minister, had pressured insurance companies to pay large sums for mandatory solvency studies through a firm owned by Tamim. These actions resulted in accusations of abuse of power and blackmail. “The National Economy Committee uncovered evidence that former Minister Salam misused public funds, spending over $50,000 a month on his office and engaging in questionable contracts.”

Joseph Aoun: Through unity we protect our country from any aggression
Naharnet/March 21, 2025
President Joseph Aoun has stressed the importance of unity in confronting any threat and for achieving the country’s prosperity. “Through our unity we can protect our country from any aggression or ambitions, we can regain all our rights, we can liberate all our land and we can free all our captives. Through our unity we can achieve prosperity for our people, stability for our society and our country’s independence,” Aoun added, at a Ramadan iftar banquet at the presidential palace.“Through our unity we can rebuild what was destroyed and we can guarantee that we don’t allow destruction to happen again or periodically,” the president said. Adding that unity can allow the Lebanese to “rise after any setback and triumph after any blow,” Aoun noted that unity also protects any component against being aggrieved or mistreated.

Israel says struck military sites in east, south Lebanon
Agence France Presse/March 21, 2025
Israel's military said it struck military sites in east and south Lebanon on Thursday, in its latest attack despite a November ceasefire that ended a war against Hezbollah. "A short while ago, the IDF (military) struck a military site containing an underground terrorist infrastructure site in the Bekaa area in Lebanon, as well as a military site containing rocket launchers in southern Lebanon in which Hezbollah activity has been identified," the Israeli military said in a statement. Lebanese state media on Thursday reported Israeli strikes on the country's south and east. The state-run National News Agency said "enemy aircraft" struck "the eastern slopes of the mountain range within the town of Janta in the Bekaa," as well as "the outskirts of the town of Taraya, west of Baalbek", also in the east. Four missiles were fired in the Nabatiyeh area of southern Lebanon, NNA said. No casualties were immediately reported. The November 27 truce largely halted more than a year of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of open war during which Israel sent in ground troops. Hezbollah had said it was acting in support of Gaza. Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the truce agreement took effect. Under the agreement, Israel had been expected to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems "strategic". The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israeli official: We'll stay in Lebanon until Lebanese Army seizes full control
Naharnet/March 21, 2025
An Israeli official told Al-Arabiya television on Friday that Israel “will work on preventing the re-arming of Hezbollah and will not settle for a monitor role.”“We will stay in Lebanon until confirming that the Lebanese Army is 100% in control,” the official said. “The remaining of our forces in the five points in Lebanon is in line with the monitoring mechanism,” the official added. The Israeli official also accused the Lebanese Army of “trying to seize control of some areas in the South while not working in other areas.”“Israel will not have rules of engagement with Hezbollah and military action will be the solution,” the official said. “Israel will work on preventing the funding of Hezbollah and the transfer of funds to it,” the official added.

Report: Ortagus didn't threaten Lebanese officials over Israel talks
Naharnet/March 21, 2025
The message that Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus has addressed to President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam included a call for “speeding up the formation of three working groups comprised of military personnel and civilians” in order to resolve the outstanding issues with Israel, U.S. sources said. “Some of the members might be diplomats who are retired brigadier generals,” the sources told Al-Jadeed television. “These working groups are aimed at achieving progress in the files of Israeli withdrawal, border demarcation and the return of captives,” the sources added, noting that “any delay in the formation of these working groups will lead to obstructing progress in these files.”The sources added that Ortagus “did not use the approach of pressure in her request that the working groups be formed, contrary to what some senior political sources in Lebanon have interpreted.”Al-Jadeed and other media outlets had reported that Lebanon’s leaders had received phone calls from Ortagus, who “stressed the need to form civilian committees to negotiate with Israel.”The reports claimed that Ortagus warned that the U.S. would withdraw from the ceasefire monitoring committee and grant Israel freedom of action if Lebanon fails to comply with the request. Ortagus had announced on March 11 that the U.S. will be “bringing together Lebanon and Israel for talks aimed at diplomatically resolving several outstanding issues between the two countries.”Ortagus said the issues that will be discussed are “the release of Lebanese prisoners, the remaining disputed points along the Blue Line, and the remaining 5 points where Israeli forces are still deployed.”“We look forward to quickly convening these diplomat-led working groups to resolve outstanding issues, along with our international partners,” she added. In an interview with Al-Jadeed that day, Ortagus said: "We want to get a political resolution, finally, to the border disputes.""I feel fairly confident that... we can have final resolution on the five points and ultimately on the remaining issues related to the Blue Line," she added.

Qmati: US pressures can lead to civil war but Aoun, Berri and Salam don't want instability
Naharnet/March 21, 2025
Hezbollah political bureau member Mahmoud Qmati has warned that “Washington wants Lebanon to be a U.S. colony” and that “U.S. pressures might lead the country to chaos and civil war.”He however reassured that President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam “do not want to jeopardize stability in Lebanon,” in an interview on Radio Voice of Freedom. Noting that Hezbollah has given the government “an open-ended chance to end Israeli occupation and halt the violations,” Qmati said “the resistance’s military capabilities are still powerful and ready to confront any aggression when the time comes,” adding that “Israel wants to expand the buffer zone and Washington does not respect the Lebanese formula.”“The army will abide by the political decision and our relation with it was and is still good,” Qmati added.
“We and the army were comrades-in-arms,” the Hezbollah official said, adding that “the Lebanese Army cannot confront all the threats that are surrounding us from four sides, and we must stand by it as people, resistance and parties.”
He also said that he believes that there will be no military strike on Iran.

FM blames Hezbollah for war devastation, says Lebanese want to live in peace
Naharnet/March 21, 2025
Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, who was named by the Lebanese Forces, has again blamed Hezbollah for more than a year of clashes with Israel, which he said caused destruction, human loss, and Israeli occupation. "We must remember who brought about the Israeli ground invasion of south Lebanon and who caused the destruction and the human losses," Rajji said in an interview with France24. Rajji also accused Hezbollah of violating a ceasefire agreement reached in late November. "The ceasefire says the Lebanese government should be the sole bearer of arms and this has not yet been implemented," he said. Rajji had previously made the same remarks, blaming Hezbollah for the war and accusing the group of violating the ceasefire, as Israel continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the truce agreement took effect. Hezbollah MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi on Thursday blasted Rajji for "his insistence to accuse Hezbollah of disavowing the ceasefire agreement" instead of "condemning" Israel. He said his remarks give the enemy a "justification for its attacks" and a "carte blanche" for continuing its crimes. After being appointed as a foreign minister in Nawaf Salam's government, Rajji appeared in a TV talk show on MTV, where he said he was a fighter in Lebanon's civil war. The remarks drew criticism although many Lebanese parties and leaders were involved in the civil war.
Normalization -
The Lebanese Forces and Rajji have both said that normalization and direct negotiations with Israel are not an option amid reports that the U.S. is trying to drag Lebanon into direct negotiations. The U.S. said it will be "bringing together Lebanon and Israel for talks aimed at diplomatically resolving several outstanding issues between the two countries" - the release of Lebanese prisoners, the remaining disputed points along the Blue Line, and the remaining 5 points where Israeli forces are still deployed. "The Lebanese state is fulfilling all its duties and working day and night to achieve a complete and immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces," Rajji said, but added that Hezbollah must also comply to the ceasefire. The ceasefire required Israeli troops to fully withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
"The Lebanese are tired and want to live in a safe and normal country. The majority of the Lebanese want a state that has a monopoly on weapons," Rajji said.
Hezbollah popularity -
Although weakened by its last war with Israel and by the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Hezbollah still has a large popular base. Hundreds of thousands of people attended in February the funeral of Hezbollah’s former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah despite Israeli warplanes flying at extremely low altitude over their heads. In addition to being an armed group, Hezbollah is also a political party with lawmakers and ministers. It also provides extensive social services, including running schools, health clinics and financial institutions. Domestic opponents criticize Hezbollah for maintaining its arms and accuse it of dominating the government. Hezbollah's image suffered after it intervened on the side of Assad in Syria’s civil war and after supporters of the group and its ally Amal harassed protesters during the 17 October Protests. The protest triggered by planned taxes quickly expanded into condemnation of sectarian rule and corruption. Nasrallah backed the government back then and criticized the protests, saying that previous governments were to blame. The group’s reputation had also suffered when it briefly seized a section of Beirut in May 2008 after the Lebanese government took measures against its private telecommunications network.

Bassil says FPM reorganizing and is outside govt. but not outside state
Naharnet/March 21, 2025
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil whose party is now in opposition after being excluded from the Nawaf Salam government, said Friday that the FPM is "in the state and will never again be outside the state." "No one can take us out," Bassil said. "We might be excluded from the upcoming appointments but we have our large parliamentary bloc and our people in the administration, the military and security services, the judiciary, and various state departments."Bassil said the current phase is necessary and beneficial for the FPM ahead of the 2026 elections "so that it can cleanse itself and rid itself of the opportunists." "The cleansing process requires internal re-organization and it will take some time," he explained. Bassil said, that in the upcoming elections, the FPM will need allies but others will need as well to ally with the FPM, adding that the communication with Hezbollah has not been severed but remains intermittent and temporary.

Lebanon preparing to repatriate hundreds of Syrian inmates
Agence France Presse/March 21, 2025
Lebanon is ready to repatriate about one third of the more than 2,000 Syrian detainees in its overcrowded prisons, a Lebanese judicial source said on Thursday. The move comes as Lebanon and Syria seek a new start in bilateral ties after the December fall of longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. "There are more than 700 Syrian detainees and convicts whose files are finalized and who meet the conditions for extradition," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity, without specifying when the process could be completed. In January, Lebanon's then-caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati visited Damascus and met with Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa. The two leaders agreed that the Syrian prisoners should be repatriated. According to a security source, there are "more than 2,100 Syrian detainees" in Lebanon's prisons, many of whom are awaiting trial.
Syrians represent about 30 percent of Lebanon's prison population, the source added. Hundreds of them, accused of "terrorism" or related offences including attacks on Lebanese forces, have been brought before military courts. Other Syrian detainees are held for alleged membership in jihadist or armed groups that were opposed to Assad. An Islamist-led offensive toppled him last December. One prisoner, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that he, like many others, was arrested "on political grounds". The prisoner said he was part of the rebel Free Syrian Army, one of the main opposition factions during the country's 13-year civil war made up of mostly army defectors and other opponents of the Assad governments. The security source said that prisoners, Lebanese and foreigners alike, were experiencing harsh conditions. "Lebanese and foreign prisoners live in difficult conditions due to limited food rations and medical services, the economic crisis in Lebanon, and overcrowding in their cells," said the source. In February, dozens of Syrian detainees in a Lebanese prison launched a hunger strike to demand a resolution for their cases following Assad's fall. Lebanon also hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, according to the authorities, about half of whom are registered with the United Nations. They fled the neighboring country during the war that broke out after the Assad government's repression of pro-democracy protests in 2011.

The Act of Ignoring the Lebanese Shiites
Dr. Ali Khalifa / Nidaa Al Watan / March 21, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/03/141457/
Some imagine that before the duo—"Amal Movement" and "Hezbollah"—the Shiites were nothing. Some belonged to those who "taught their children to love the Prophet" or anticipated the "woe that would befall them after him"—slogans planted at the entrance to the South and Zahrani, with miniatures appearing along the way. Others foresaw the death inflicted upon them without warning by former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his supporters.
Like the Gregorian and Hijri calendars, some believe Shiite social and cultural history began with the Prophet's rise to power and continued with Nasrallah's arrival and conquest. Before that, they claim, it was an era of ignorance. The oppressive state singles out the Shiites, pushing them to the brink of deprivation, labeling them as "porters on barren land." Meanwhile, feudal Shiite families ensure their children receive full education—according to the prevailing claim—while ignorance spreads among the rest of the sect. However, historical reality tells a different story: a deliberate strategy to keep the sect in darkness to co-opt it under the guise of redressing injustice, integrating it into the corrupt, exclusionary, and deceitful duo of Amal and Hezbollah.
Before the duo, Shiite private schools flourished, supported by individual initiatives and civil society organizations, with backing from expatriates, particularly in Africa, until the 1970s. Public education had been expanding since the mandate and independence. Some Shiite clerics, such as Abdul Hussein Sharaf al-Din, even refused to welcome foreign delegations, leading to their withdrawal from the South and Bekaa. In response, the authorities imposed public education, replacing Quranic schools.
As a result, illiteracy among Shiites declined, and their enrollment in education increased. However, during the war, the duo’s schools emerged—Amal institutions, along with the associations of Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah and Hezbollah, multiplied. Iranian-funded religious seminaries flourished, fostering political subservience, ideological indoctrination, and sectarian extremism—contradicting Lebanon’s constitution, laws, and values of openness, freedom, and diversity.
Sectarian obscurantists infiltrated state institutions like educational centers, sharing the spoils and redrawing influence zones as power shifted. In the duo’s schools and associations, there is no education in citizenship—only the cultivation of sacred ignorance, the suppression of awareness, the confiscation of individual autonomy, and the humiliation of Shiite dignity, erasing an entire sect.
(Free translation from Arabic by Elias Bejjani)

Improved Lebanon-Syria ties dependent on a Hezbollah deal
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/March 21, 2025
A serious escalation took place on the Lebanese-Syrian border last week, when armed men entered Syria and kidnapped three soldiers. The soldiers were taken back to Lebanon and executed. One of them was reportedly stoned to death, with the attack captured on video. The interim Syrian government accused Hezbollah of being responsible. Hezbollah denied the accusations. The Syrian army fired on Lebanon in response to the incident. The Lebanese army fired back over the border to Syria. A ceasefire was reached on Monday after two days of exchanges of fire. However, the situation remains tense and fluid. The chances are that these clashes will be repeated unless there is a comprehensive understanding between Lebanon and Syria on the border issue and an agreement between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah on their military capabilities and activities.
The situation between Lebanon and Syria is more complex than it looks. On the surface, Lebanon should accept and deal with whatever government is in place in Damascus. Nevertheless, the Lebanese deep state had strong ties to the Assad regime, which had placed Lebanon under its tutelage since the Taif Accord and had infiltrated the security apparatus. This is why the new government in Damascus is very wary of the security apparatus in Lebanon. During the Syrian war, the Lebanese government generally had a negative view of the Syrian opposition. Members of the opposition were jailed and accused of terrorism. Defectors from Bashar Assad’s army were returned to the regime’s claws and faced a tragic fate. Hence, the mistrust is visceral. The Syrian government is very suspicious of the Lebanese army and the country’s security apparatus. On the sidelines of this month’s emergency Arab summit on Gaza, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa. Various topics were discussed, including the borders between the two countries. However, the events of last week show that the relationship has not yet been streamlined. The ties between Syria and Lebanon will not be streamlined until those between the Lebanese state and Hezbollah are in order. So far, Lebanon has committed to the ceasefire and to implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which states that all militias should be disarmed and that the Lebanese army should have a monopoly over the possession of arms. Nevertheless, the Lebanese state has not reached a comprehensive agreement with Hezbollah. It is important to note that, beyond its military capabilities, Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement are the sole representatives of the Shiite community in the Lebanese parliament. So, beyond being a militia, Hezbollah is also a political party. And it has comprehensive economic activities and offers social services to the Shiite community.
Today in Lebanon, the issues of Hezbollah’s arms and “muqawama” (resistance) are creating a point of contention among the different Lebanese factions. While some want to see Hezbollah disarmed once and for all to start the process of state-building, others say that the armed group is still relevant. The latter’s rationale is that the Israelis are still occupying part of Lebanon and are still violating Lebanese airspace and sovereignty to conduct airstrikes inside the country. So far, there has been no clear agreement with the group on what its role will be in the coming period. The government does not seem to have a clear roadmap on how to deal with the group. While Aoun’s inaugural address in January and last month’s ministerial declaration both stressed the monopoly of the state in terms of the possession and use of arms, the Hezbollah issue has not been properly tackled.
The state has not gone into detail on how it intends to achieve the disarming of Hezbollah. Will it agree a timetable with the group or will it barge into every known Hezbollah location and confiscate the arms by force? This is quite a delicate issue and if it is not conducted carefully and in an orderly manner, it could lead to internal unrest. The ties between Syria and Lebanon will not be streamlined until those between the Lebanese state and Hezbollah are in order. What guarantees can the Lebanese state give to the group that, once it disarms, Israel will not go after it? What guarantee is there that it will not face the same fate as the Lebanese Forces after the end of the civil war, when it was severely weakened and the army finished it off and went after its leadership? Also, what mechanism will be put in place to make sure that Hezbollah does not rebuild its arsenal? For now, the airport is sealed for the group, so it is still hoping to find routes via Syria. This is why the skirmishes that occurred last week are likely to be repeated unless there is a clear and comprehensive agreement between the Lebanese state and Hezbollah. On top of that, as long as Iran wants to create disturbances in Syria, it will use Hezbollah. This is why the Lebanese state should strike an agreement with the group regarding its relations with Iran. If the Lebanese state does not want to accept a foreign proxy on its territory, it should ask the group to define its connection with Iran. In a nutshell, unless the Lebanese state has an in-depth discussion with Hezbollah, the clashes seen last week are likely to recur. The relationship between Lebanon and Syria is directly linked to the Lebanese state’s relationship with Hezbollah.
*Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.

Lebanese Columnist Backs U.S. Decision To Deport Lebanese Doctor Who Supports Hizbullah
MEMRI/March 21, 2025
In a March 20, 2025 column in the Lebanese daily Nida Al-Watan, Imad Mousa, known as an opponent of Hizbullah, expressed support for the American authorities' decision to deport Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a Shi'ite Lebanese kidney-transplant specialist who had been working at Brown University in Rhode Island. Alawieh was detained at the airport upon her return from a visit to Lebanon after photos and videos of slain Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah and of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were found on her phone and after it became known that she had attended the funeral of Nasrallah and his successor, Hashem Safi Al-Din. When questioned about this Alawieh said that, as a Shi'ite Muslim, she respected Nasrallah and Khamenei as religious figures but did not support them politically.
In his column Moussa notes that Hizbullah is classified as a terror organization in the U.S. and in many other countries, and that Nasrallah was "the bitterest enemy of the U.S., responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree." Criticizing the campaign of support for Alawieh across the world, which accuses the U.S. of violating human rights, Moussa asks why, if this is the case, so many people are eager to emigrate to the U.S.
The following are translated excerpts from Moussa's column.[1]
"As a child, Rasha Alawieh probably heard quite frequently about the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, and perhaps this young 34-year-old Lebanese doctor read some of the responses of the families of the American victims. [Perhaps she] read the remarks made by Ryan Crocker, one of the [bombing] survivors,[2] after Israel assassinated [Hizbullah official] Ibrahim Aqil, one of the people who were responsible for it, early in the morning [of September 20, 2024].[3] Perhaps she is aware that the U.S. designates Hizbullah as a global terrorist organization, and that Canada, Britain, Austria and dozens of other countries classify this party [Hizbullah] in a similar way. Dr. Alawieh surely knows that the U.S. sanctions on institutions affiliated with this party and its leaders also apply to Nasrallah's son Jawad, who cried out 'death to America' at the funeral of Hizbullah's two secretary generals, along with tens of thousands of other [mourners].
"This was therefore the funeral of America's bitterest enemy, 'responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree,' as the White House statement put it. So Dr. Alawieh's self-confessed veneration or deification of this great slain [leader], her support for him 'from a religious perspective' and her description of him as 'a big figure in our community,'[4] are statements that cannot be accepted at Logan International Airport [in Boston] or by the investigators.
"As for the pictures of [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei that were erased from her phone but retrieved by technological means, they are [apparently] part of this doctor's veneration of the Mahdi[5] as a charismatic figure that influenced the development of humanity and is not much different from Martin Luther King.
"This is enough evidence to [justify] deporting Rasha despite the federal judge's decision to delay her deportation. She eventually returned to her homeland [Lebanon], the land of freedom and accepting others like Luqman Salim.[6] In a [post] captioned 'Bye-Bye, Rasha' on Elon Musk's platform [i.e., on X], the White House shared the Homeland Security Department's statement explaining the reason for her deportation. Even before the plane landed [back in Lebanon], social media erupted with responses expressing glee [over her deportation], alongside campaigns of solidarity with this lady from Maroun Al-Ras [in South Lebanon] which condemned America's oppressive ways, its double standards, its false democracy, its immorality and its lack of respect for human rights. This gives rise to the obvious question: of the world's 206 countries, why is the evil U.S. considered such an attractive destination by the people of the world and by anyone seeking education, freedom and asylum? Why do the people of the world pass up the Chinese passport, for example?
"Will the brilliant nephrologist find a place that befits her talents, a country that respects freedoms and understands the tenets of her faith, which have nothing to do with politics? Will Tehran be an alternative for Rhode Island?"
[1] Nida Al-Watan (Lebanon), March 20, 2025.
[2] Crocker was a political attache at the embassy at the time of the blast. Seven years later, in 1990, he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Lebanon.
[3] Crocker welcomed Aqil's assassination. See e.g. Washingtonpost.com, September 21, 2024.
[4] Alawieh actually said this about Khamenei, not about Nasrallah.
[5] In Twelver Shi'ism, the Mahdi, or Hidden Imam, is believed to be a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad who lives in a state of occultation but will emerge at the End of Days to deliver the world from injustice. The Iranian regime cultivates the belief that the Supreme Leader mediates between the Mahdi and the people and serves as the Mahdi's deputy until his appearance.
[6]Luqman Salim was a Shi'ite Lebanese journalist known as an opponent of Hizbullah. On February 4, 2021 he was shot to death in South Lebanon, a Hizbullah stronghold. Voices in Lebanon accused Hizbullah of assassinating him as part of its efforts to intimidate its opponents, including Shi'ite ones.

The Christian Rule Saves Lebanon (Part 1 of 3)
Elie Aoun/March 21/2025
If we summarize the history of all nations, it is apparent that many empires, republics, or regimes rise and fall primarily because of the character of its ruler and the ruler’s agenda for the country. If a ruler (whether an emperor, dictator, or president) is patriotic, just, trustworthy, and have a correct vision, then the nation flourishes. On the other hand, if a ruler is unjust, corrupt, or a traitor, then the nation disintegrates.
In selecting a form of government, the chosen system must allow a just ruler to do all that is needed, without any impediments, in order to improve the well-being of the people. At the same time, the system must incorporate an adequate procedure for “checks and balances” to prevent the ruin of the nation in the event of a corrupt ruler.
Lebanon’s downfall was the result of the character of some of its rulers and their agenda (Christians and Muslims) and not the result of the confessional system instituted at the country’s independence from France in 1943 (which gave authority to a Christian President).
For various reasons, the present system of government (established since the Taef Accord) is ungovernable and must be corrected. It offers corrupt Christian and Muslim politicians the opportunity to rule unhindered, while a good politician may find it very difficult to make constructive improvements.
The remedy is the establishment of a Presidential Republic led by a Christian who would have all the constitutional executive powers. This solution is supported by history, geography, religion, and the principles of the Abraham Accords.
Historically, during the 1950s – 1960s, the Christian-led Lebanese Republic was one of the top prosperous countries in the world. All Lebanese (Christians, Muslim and Druze) were better off than what they are today.
From a geographic perspective, the Near East is the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. That is not a choice made by anyone of us, but it is a fact with which we have to coexist in the most respectful way possible. Currently, the Jews rule the state of Israel, the Muslims rule more than twenty nations (with the Shia ruling Iran), and it would be logical for the Christians to rule at least one nation – such as Lebanon, but to do so effectively and not symbolically.
Furthermore, the “Abraham Accords Declaration” calls for a “culture of peace among the three Abrahamic religions.” It calls for “cooperation”, “tolerance and respect”, and to “end radicalization.”
Such a peace (among the three religions) must be based on respect. There is about fifteen to twenty million Christians in the Near East region (such as in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Israel, etc.). The Christians only exercise political influence in Lebanon.
It is not respectful when a Christian has to rule Lebanon symbolically (without sufficient authority) while the religious groups in each neighboring nation rule their own country unilaterally – Jews ruling Israel, the Shia ruling Iran, and the Sunnis rule over twenty Arab nations without sharing power with anyone.
In addition, there are those who call for “abolishing confessionalism under the Taef Accord.”
Will abolishing confessionalism ensure that the pro-Syrian or pro-Iranian Lebanese increase their allegiance to Lebanon? As we have seen before, whatever happens, they will treat it as a “victory” and pursue more drastic measures.
Will abolishing confessionalism ensure that individuals with the right character and agenda rise to the helm of power? It does not.
It seems that all regional nations can be ruled in a confessional manner, with the exception of Lebanon where the Christians have some influence. That seems to be radicalization disguised as “policy.”
If regional powers seek “tolerance and respect”, bolstering Christian influence in Lebanon is the means to show “tolerance and respect” in order to correspond with the Muslim and Jewish political influence in the region. This is a demand that should be made not only by Lebanese Christians – but also by Lebanese Muslims and all Arab leaders.
There are millions of Christians who contribute in a patriotic manner to any Arab country, regardless where they live, without any attempt by any of them to revolt against the ruler or align themselves with a foreign country against the ruler of that Arab nation. Similarly, there are many patriotic Muslims doing the same.
However, there is a certain percentage of Muslims (in Lebanon and elsewhere) who have consistently aligned themselves militarily (and not only diplomatically) with regional causes or Iran to the detriment of their countrymen. Not only that, some Lebanese Muslim politicians consistently attempt to control or sideline whatever political authority the Christian president or community continues to have (either by preventing/delaying a presidential election, controlling the outcome of a parliamentary election, or imposing their own candidates).
Those who seek to “control” the electoral process and to force their own candidates in the presence of confessionalism are not going to be more “fair and just” after abolishing political confessionalism.
Even if we put religious affiliations aside, having a system of three presidents (President of the Republic, Head of Cabinet, and Speaker of Parliament), all of whom sharing and interfering in the executive powers, is not a functional system and was never proven to work anywhere in the world.
One person must have the authority and be the head of the executive branch, and no more. The Christian president should have all authority – and he alone decides whom to appoint for prime minister and ministers from the various religious communities in his Cabinet. It is logical that we as a Lebanese community share the workload, but one person has to lead, protect, and guide the country.
The one leader should be a Christian simply because all the other leaders in the “Abrahamic region” are not Christian. Only with a meaningful Christian political influence can Lebanon prosper, and a genuine peace can be established between the people of the three religions in the region.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 21-22/2025
Head of Pro-Iran Armed Faction Arrested in Syria, Says Monitor
Asharq Al Awsat/March 21, 2025
Security forces in Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor have arrested the head of an Iran-affiliated faction that fought alongside ousted President Bashar al-Assad's forces, a war monitor said Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces detained Moayad Abdul Samad al-Douaihy in Deir Ezzor on Thursday. The Britain-based Observatory said Douaihy founded and led a faction known as the Sayyida Zeinab Brigade, affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards. That faction was active in the city of Al-Mayadeen, fighting alongside Assad's forces, said the Observatory which has a network of sources in Syria. It added that Douaihy received Iranian citizenship after converting to the Shiite branch of Islam. Douaihy was "involved in a long list of crimes including financial blackmail, drug smuggling, theft of civilians' properties and selling displaced people's land to naturalized Iranian and Afghan mercenaries", the Observatory said. Security forces also arrested Major General Abdul Karim al-Muhaimid, the former political security chief in Deir Ezzor province under Assad, the monitor said. Iran had mobilized about 20,000 fighters, mostly Syrians, in different factions to fight alongside Assad's forces. Before Assad was toppled, much of Deir Ezzor province near the border with Iraq was a key stronghold of Iran-backed forces. Some handed in their weapons after Assad's ouster in December, but others remain in hiding, according to the Observatory. Since seizing power, Syria's new authorities have regularly announced the arrest of Assad-era security officials.

Iraq Forms Security Crisis Cell to Coordinate with Syria
Baghdad: Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al Awsat/March 21, 2025
Iraq has established a “security crisis cell” to coordinate with Syria’s new administration, a government source revealed. While the Iraqi military denied reports of clashes along the border, a local official in the Anbar province confirmed the killing of militants in a preemptive operation. Amid concerns over potential ISIS infiltrations, Iraq’s Joint Operations Command stressed that the situation remains “completely stable.”In a statement, it said: “There have been no infiltrations or clashes along the Iraqi-Syrian border. Our security forces, across various units and specializations, maintain full control, reinforced with advanced surveillance and monitoring capabilities.”Iraqi authorities continue efforts to secure the 600-kilometer border with Syria as part of their broader counterterrorism strategy. The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) recently announced the deployment of units at seven key positions near the border, equipped with weapons and thermal surveillance technology. To enhance security coordination, Iraq has formed a national crisis cell tasked with monitoring developments in Syria and managing border security measures. The cell includes Defense Minister Thabet Mohammed Al-Abbasi, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, Intelligence Chief Hamid Al-Shatri, Sovereignty Alliance leader Khamis Al-Khanjar, and Iraq’s acting ambassador to Damascus Yassin Al-Hujaimi. According to the source, the crisis cell operates under direct supervision of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, with no actions or decisions taken without his approval. The inclusion of Sunni politician Khamis Al-Khanjar is reportedly aimed at facilitating communication with Syria’s new leadership, headed by interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa. Iraqi political sources suggest that Al-Khanjar, who maintains strong ties with Türkiye’s government, has direct contact with Syria’s new administration and has visited Damascus multiple times following the collapse of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in December. The source added that Iraq and Syria’s strategic position—bordering Türkiye, Iran, Jordan, and Lebanon—creates shared security and political challenges. The complex security situation in both countries makes the region highly susceptible to regional and international interventions. Saad Al-Mohammadi, head of Anbar’s security committee, assured that “the security situation along the Syrian border is completely stable, with strong defensive fortifications in place.”He stated that Iraqi border forces are operating “with high efficiency to prevent smuggling and infiltration attempts.” He also confirmed that two militants were recently killed in a preemptive operation, highlighting the ongoing counterterrorism efforts. The Iraq-Syria border remains a critical security concern due to its open desert terrain, which militant groups have historically exploited for smuggling and cross-border movements. In response, Iraqi authorities have intensified military fortifications, particularly in Anbar, which spans 605 kilometers along the Syrian border.

Israel Says It Killed Head of Hamas Military Intelligence in Southern Gaza
Asharq Al Awsat/March 21, 2025
The Israeli military said on Friday it killed the head of Hamas' military intelligence in southern Gaza on Thursday. In a statement, the military named the Hamas leader as Osama Tabash. It said he was also the head of the group's surveillance and targeting unit. There was no immediate comment from Hamas. Earlier, a strike in Gaza killed several members of a family as Israel ordered ground forces to advance deeper into the territory and vowed to hold more land until Hamas releases its remaining hostages. The explosion east of Gaza City killed a couple and their two children, plus two additional children who weren't related to them but were in the same building, according to witnesses and a local hospital. The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the explosion. After retaking part of a corridor that divides Gaza’s north from south, Israeli troops moved Thursday toward the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the southern border city of Rafah. The military said it had resumed enforcing a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday that Israel would carry out operations in Gaza "with increasing intensity until the hostages are released by Hamas." "The more Hamas continues its refusal to release the kidnapped, the more territory it will lose to Israel," Katz said. Court delays Netanyahu’s firing of Israeli security official In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was delivered a setback in his attempt to fire the country's domestic security chief. Hours after Netanyahu's Cabinet unanimously approved the firing of Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, the Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt to his dismissal until an appeal can be heard no later than April 8. Netanyahu’s office had said Bar’s dismissal was effective April 10, but that it could come earlier if a replacement was found. Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss Bar. A Shin Bet report into Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that prompted the war in Gaza acknowledged failures by the security agency. But it also said policies by Netanyahu’s government created the conditions for the attack. The decision to sack Bar deepens a power struggle focused largely over who bears responsibility for the 2023 Hamas attack. It also could set the stage for a crisis over the country’s division of powers. Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss Bar. Critics say the move is a power grab by the prime minister against an independent-minded civil servant, and tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated in support of Bar, including outside Netanyahu's residence on Friday.
Hundreds dead in Gaza
Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel on Tuesday shattered a truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January. In the southern city of Rafah, officials said Israeli bombardments had forced residents into the open, deepening their suffering. Officials said they halted the building of shelter camps to protect employees. Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians. It says military operations will escalate until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive — and gives up control of the territory. The ceasefire agreed to in mid-January was a three-phase plan meant to lead to a long-term cessation of hostilities, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the return of all hostages taken by Hamas. In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas returned 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces also withdrew to buffer zones inside Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to northern Gaza. The ceasefire was supposed to last as long as talks on the second phase continued but Netanyahu balked at entering substantive negotiations. Instead, he tried to force Hamas to accept a new ceasefire plan put forth by US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. That plan would have required Hamas to release half its remaining hostages — the group’s main bargaining chip — in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners — a key component of the first phase. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the original ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. The group has said it is willing to hand over power to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority or a committee of political independents but will not lay down its arms until Israel ends its decades-long occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state. Sirens sounded Friday afternoon in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, south of Tel Aviv. The military said it intercepted two rockets fired from northern Gaza.
Hamas accuses Netanyahu of stalling negotiations Hamas said in a statement Friday that the firing of Shin Bet's head shows a "deepening crisis of distrust" within Israel’s leadership. It also said Netanyahu used the ceasefire negotiations "to stall and buy time without any genuine intention of reaching tangible outcomes." Netanyahu said he had ordered the resumed strikes on Gaza this week because of Hamas' rejection of the new proposal. The war began when Hamas-led gunmen stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were gunmen, but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence. The war at its height displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population and has caused vast destruction across the territory.

UN warns of ‘massive trauma’ for Gaza’s children
AFP/March 21, 2025
GENEVA: The UN warned Friday that all Gaza’s approximately 1 million children were facing “massive trauma” as fighting in the war-ravaged territory resumed and amid dire aid shortages. Humanitarians described an alarming situation in Gaza amid a growing civilian death toll since Israel resumed aerial bombardment and ground operations this week after a six-week ceasefire. Sam Rose, the senior deputy field director in Gaza for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, highlighted the psychological shock for already traumatized children to once again find themselves beneath the bombs. This is a “massive, massive trauma for the 1 million children” living in the Palestinian territory, he told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Gaza. The breakdown of the ceasefire that took effect on Jan. 19 comes as the population is already dramatically weakened from 15 months of brutal war sparked by Hamas’s deadly Oct, 7, 2023 attack on Israel. “It’s worse this time,” Rose warned, “because people are already exhausted, they’re already degraded, their immune systems, their mental health, (and) population’s on the verge of famine.
“Children who had returned to school after 18 months out of school, now back in tents, ... hearing the bombardment around them constantly. “It’s fear on top of fear, cruelty on top of cruelty, and tragedy on top of tragedy.”
James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, said traumatized children usually only start to process their trauma when they begin returning to normalcy. “Psychologists would say our absolute nightmare is that they return home and then it starts again,” he told reporters. “That’s the terrain that we’ve now entered,” he said, warning that Gaza was the only “example in modern history in terms of an entire child population needing mental health support.”“That’s no exaggeration.”Gaza’s civil defense agency said 504 people had been killed since Tuesday, including more than 190 under the age of 18. The toll is among the highest since the war started more than 17 months ago with Hamas’s attack on Israel. It has also been a deadly period for humanitarians, with seven UNRWA staff killed just since the ceasefire broke down, bringing the total number killed from that agency alone to 284 since the Gaza war began. A Bulgarian worker with another UN agency was also killed this week, as was a local staff member of Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity said Friday. Humanitarians warned the situation on the ground has been made worse by Israel’s decision earlier this month to cut off aid and electricity to Gaza over the deadlock in negotiations to prolong the ceasefire.“We were able to bring in more supplies during the six weeks of the ceasefire than ... in the previous six months,” Rose said, warning though that that progress was “being reversed. ”He said there was only enough flour in Gaza for another six days.
Asked about Israel’s charge that Hamas has diverted more than sufficient aid inside Gaza, Rose said he had “not seen any evidence” of that. “There is no aid being distributed right now, so there is nothing to steal.”He warned, though, that if aid is not restored, “we will see a gradual slide back into what we saw in the worst days of the conflict in terms of looting ... and desperate conditions among the population. ”Meanwhile, Elder described the vital aid items that aid agencies could not bring into Gaza. “We’ve got 180,000 doses of vaccines a few kilometers away that are life-saving and are blocked,” he said. He also pointed to a “massive shortage” of incubators in Gaza even as pre-term births were surging. “We have dozens of them, again sitting across the border,” he said. “Blocked ventilators for babies.”

Israeli troops move deeper into Gaza as its top court halts firing of security chief
AP/March 21, 2025
JERUSALEM: A strike in Gaza killed several members of a family Friday as Israel ordered ground forces to advance deeper into the territory and vowed to hold more land until Hamas releases its remaining hostages. The explosion east of Gaza City killed a couple and their two children, plus two additional children who weren’t related to them but were in the same building, according to witnesses and a local hospital. The Israeli army said it struck a militant in a Gaza City building and took steps to minimize civilian harm. It was not immediately clear if the army was referring to the same strike.
The Israeli military said on social media it was planning to conduct raids in three neighborhoods west of Gaza City, and it warned Palestinians to evacuate the area in advance. The warning came shortly after the Israeli military said it intercepted two rockets fired from northern Gaza that set off sirens in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. After retaking part of a corridor that divides Gaza’s north from south, Israeli troops moved Thursday toward the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the southern border city of Rafah. The military said it had resumed enforcing a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday that Israel would carry out operations in Gaza “with increasing intensity until the hostages are released by Hamas.”“The more Hamas continues its refusal to release the kidnapped, the more territory it will lose to Israel,” Katz said.
Court delays Netanyahu’s firing of Israeli security official
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was delivered a setback in his attempt to fire the country’s domestic security chief. Hours after Netanyahu’s Cabinet unanimously approved the firing Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, the Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt to his dismissal until an appeal can be heard no later than April 8. Netanyahu’s office had said Bar’s dismissal was effective April 10, but that it could come earlier if a replacement was found. Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss Bar. A Shin Bet report into Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that prompted the war in Gaza acknowledged failures by the security agency. But it also said policies by Netanyahu’s government created the conditions for the attack. Netanyahu has resisted calls for an official state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack and has tried to blame the failures on the army and security agencies. A number of senior security officials, including a defense minister and army chief, have been fired or forced to step down. Bar had been one of the few senior security officials since the Oct. 7 attack to remain in office. The decision to sack Bar deepens a power struggle focused largely over who bears responsibility for the 2023 Hamas attack. It also could set the stage for a crisis over the country’s division of powers. Critics say the move is a power grab by the prime minister against an independent-minded civil servant, and tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated in support of Bar, including outside Netanyahu’s residence on Friday. Netanyahu sounded defiant in a social media post Friday evening, saying: “The State of Israel is a state of law and according to the law, the Israeli government decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet.”
Hundreds dead in Gaza since ceasefire collapsed
Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel on Tuesday shattered a truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January. In the southern city of Rafah, officials said Israeli bombardments had forced residents into the open, deepening their suffering. Officials said they halted the building of shelter camps to protect employees. Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians. It says military operations will escalate until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive — and gives up control of the territory. The ceasefire agreed to in mid-January was a three-phase plan meant to lead to a long-term cessation of hostilities, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the return of all hostages taken by Hamas. In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas returned 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces also withdrew to buffer zones inside Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to northern Gaza. The ceasefire was supposed to last as long as talks on the second phase continued but Netanyahu balked at entering substantive negotiations. Instead, he tried to force Hamas to accept a new ceasefire plan put forth by US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. That plan would have required Hamas to release half its remaining hostages — the militant group’s main bargaining chip — in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners — a key component of the first phase.Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the original ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. The militant group has said it is willing to hand over power to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority or a committee of political independents but will not lay down its arms until Israel ends its decades-long occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.
Hamas accuses Netanyahu of stalling negotiations
Hamas said in a statement Friday that the firing of Shin Bet’s head shows a “deepening crisis of distrust” within Israel’s leadership. It also said Netanyahu used the ceasefire negotiations “to stall and buy time without any genuine intention of reaching tangible outcomes.”Netanyahu said he had ordered the resumed strikes on Gaza this week because of Hamas’ rejection of the new proposal. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants, but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war at its height displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s population and has caused vast destruction across the territory.

Israel returns to war in Gaza with no constraints
Associated Press/March 21, 2025
Israel's renewed military offensive in the Gaza Strip threatens to be even deadlier and more destructive than the last, as it pursues wider aims with far fewer constraints. Israel resumed the war with a surprise bombardment early Tuesday that killed hundreds of Palestinians, ending the ceasefire and vowing even more devastation if Hamas doesn't release its remaining hostages and leave the territory. President Donald Trump has expressed full support for the renewed offensive and suggested last month that Gaza's 2 million Palestinians be resettled in other countries. Iran-backed militant groups allied with Hamas are in disarray. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition is stronger than ever, and there are fewer hostages inside Gaza than at any point since Hamas ignited the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which gives Israel's military more freedom to act. It all suggests that the war's next phase could be more brutal than the last, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed, the vast majority of the population was displaced and much of Gaza was bombed to rubble. "If all the Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not expelled from Gaza. Israel will act with an intensity that you have not seen," Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday. "Return the hostages and expel Hamas, and other options will open up for you, including going to other places in the world for those who wish. The alternative is complete destruction and devastation."
Even less US pressure to spare civilians
The Biden administration provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel throughout the first 15 months of the war. But it also tried to limit civilian casualties. In the early days of the war, Biden persuaded Israel to lift a complete siege on Gaza and repeatedly urged it to allow in more humanitarian aid, with mixed results. He opposed Israel's offensive in southern Gaza last May and suspended a weapons shipment in protest, only to see Israel proceed anyway. Biden also worked with Egypt and Qatar to broker the ceasefire through more than a year of negotiations, with Trump's team pushing it over the finish line. The Trump administration appears to have set no restrictions. It hasn't criticized Israel's decision to once again seal off Gaza, to unilaterally withdrawal from the ceasefire agreement that Trump took credit for, or to carry out strikes that have killed hundreds of men, women and children.
Israel says it only targets fighters and must dismantle Hamas to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attack, when Palestinian militants killed roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. The Biden administration voiced doubt about those aims, saying months ago that Hamas was no longer able to carry out such an attack. The offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians before the January ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead were women and children.
Trump has suggested Gaza be depopulated
Trump appeared to lose interest in the ceasefire weeks ago, when he said it should be canceled if Hamas didn't immediately release all the hostages. A short-lived White House attempt to negotiate directly with Hamas was abandoned after it angered Israel. Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, then blamed Hamas for the demise of the truce because it didn't accept proposals to immediately release hostages. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages — its only bargaining chip — in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the ceasefire agreement. Trump, meanwhile, has suggested that Gaza's entire population be transferred to other countries so that the U.S. can take ownership of the territory and rebuild it for others. Palestinians say they don't want to leave their homeland, and Arab countries roundly rejected the proposal. Human rights experts said it would likely violate international law. Israel has embraced the proposal and said it is drawing up plans to implement it.
Netanyahu's government is stronger than ever
Netanyahu came under heavy pressure from families and supporters of the hostages to stick with the truce in order to bring their loved ones home. For months, thousands of protesters have regularly gathered in downtown Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, blocked major highways and scuffled with police. In restarting the war, though, Netanyahu brushed them aside and strengthened his hard-line coalition. Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned to protest the ceasefire, returned to the government shortly after Tuesday's strikes. He and Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right ally of Netanyahu, want to continue the war, depopulate Gaza through what they refer to as voluntary migration, and rebuild Jewish settlements there that Israel removed two decades ago. Netanyahu has also fired or forced out several top officials who had appeared more open to a hostage deal.
Hamas and its allies are in disarray
Hamas still rules Gaza, but most of its top leaders have been killed and its military capabilities have been vastly depleted. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 militants — without providing evidence. In its first attack since Israel ended the ceasefire, Hamas fired three rockets on Thursday that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv, without causing casualties. Lebanon's Hezbollah, which traded fire with Israel throughout much of the war, was forced to accept a truce last fall after Israel's air and ground war killed most of its top leadership and left much of southern Lebanon in ruins. The overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad removed a key ally and further diminished the militant group. Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, and which directly traded fire with Israel twice last year, appears unlikely to intervene. Israel said it inflicted heavy damage on Iran's air defenses in a wave of retaliatory strikes last fall, and Trump has threatened U.S. military action if Iran doesn't negotiate a new agreement on its nuclear program. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have resumed long-range missile fire against Israel, which has rarely caused casualties or serious damage. The U.S., meanwhile, launched a new wave of strikes on the Houthis, which could further limit their capabilities.
International criticism could be more muted
The first phase of the war sparked worldwide protests, some criticism from European leaders and action at the United Nations. Israel was accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanayahu.
This time could be different. The Trump administration has detained foreign-born pro-Palestinian student activists and others, and threatened to pull billions of dollars in federal funding from universities accused of tolerating antisemitism, making a repeat of last year's U.S. campus protests unlikely. Europe is already locked in high-stakes disputes with Trump over aid to Ukraine and American tariffs, and appears unlikely to push back on the Middle East.
The U.S. and Israel have adamantly rejected the actions by both international courts, accusing them of bias. Trump signed an executive order in early February imposing sanctions on the ICC, of which neither the United States nor Israel are members.

Israel minister threatens partial annexation of Gaza
Agence France Presse/March 21, 2025
Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said Friday he ordered the military to "seize more ground" in Gaza and warned of partial annexation if Hamas does not release hostages held in the Palestinian territory. "I ordered (the army) to seize more territory in Gaza... The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel," he said in a statement in which he threatened "permanent occupation" of "buffer zones" inside the Gaza Strip.

France opposes 'any form of annexation' of Gaza
Agence France Presse/March 21, 2025
France opposes any kind of annexation by Israel of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, its foreign minister said Friday, after Israel's defense minister threatened to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas released Israeli hostages. "France is opposed to any form of annexation whether it concerns the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. We have a very clear vision of the future of the region -- a solution of two (Israeli and Palestinian) states living side-by-side in peace," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters in the eastern city of Dijon.

Israeli supreme court freezes govt decision to sack intel chief
Agence France Presse/March 21, 2025
Israel's supreme court on Friday froze the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to sack the domestic intelligence agency chief, in order to review appeals filed against the dismissal. "It is hereby ordered that a provisional measure be taken to stay the effect of the decision subject to the appeals until another decision is made," the court said in a document obtained by AFP. It added that the freeze will remain in place until the appeals are presented to the court before April 8.

Georgetown scholar arrested for Gaza posts, wife's Palestinian ties
Associated Press/March 21, 2025
A federal judge on Thursday ordered immigration officials not to deport a Georgetown scholar who was detained by the Trump Administration and accused of spreading Hamas propaganda in the latest battle over speech on U.S. college campuses.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered that Indian national Badar Khan Suri "shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order."Suri's attorney wrote in an earlier court filing that Suri was targeted because of his social media posts and his wife's "identity as a Palestinian and her constitutionally protected speech." "Dr. Suri is an academic, not an activist," his attorney Hassan Ahmad wrote in a court filing on Thursday. "But he spoke out on social media about his views on the Israel-Gaza war. Even more so, his wife is an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and the violence it has perpetrated against Palestinians." Suri's attorney argued that federal authorities have provided no evidence that he's committed any crimes and that his detention violates his free speech and due process rights. Suri, who has no criminal record, holds a visa authorizing him to be in the U.S. as a visiting scholar, and his wife is a U.S. citizen, according to the motion. "The Trump Administration has openly expressed its intention to weaponize immigration law to punish noncitizens whose views are deemed critical of U.S. policy as it relates to Israel," Suri's attorney wrote.
Suri was accused of "spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media" and determined to be deportable by the Secretary of State's office, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late Wednesday on the social platform X. Suri's case was first reported by Politico. Suri was arrested Monday night outside of his Virginia home, where he lives with his wife and three children, who are between the ages of 5 and 9, according to the filing by his lawyer.
Masked agents "refused to tell him the basis for the arrest, handcuffed him, and forced him into an unmarked black SUV," Suri's lawyer wrote. "Dr. Suri's wife quickly arrived on the scene and begged for answers; the agents only disclosed that they were from Homeland Security, the government was revoking Dr. Suri's visa, and he would be detained in Chantilly." Suri and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, "have long been doxxed and smeared," Suri's lawyer wrote, while she said in a separate statement to the court that a website had "claimed falsely that my husband and I have 'ties to Hamas.'"
"I feel completely unsafe and can't stop looking out the door, terrified that someone else will come and take me and the children away as well," she said in her statement.
Saleh was born in Missouri but spent much of her life in Gaza after age five, according to court filings. She and Suri married in New Delhi, India, in 2013 and lived there before moving to the U.S.; he came in 2022 and she and their children joined him the following year. Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown, told The Associated Press that Suri was intensely focused on teaching and research that centered on religion and peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia. Suri felt strong solidarity and sympathy for Palestinians, but was not outwardly political on campus, the professor said. "We've organized dozens of events since Oc. 7th, when the Israel-Gaza war began, and I don't recall seeing him in any of those events," said Hashemi, who directs the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, where Suri is a post-doctoral fellow. "That's not who he was." Before his arrest, Suri and his wife had been targets of right-wing campus groups, in part because Saleh's father is Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Hamas, Hashemi said. Yousef confirmed to The New York Times that Suri is his son-in-law, adding that Suri wasn't involved in any "political activism," including on behalf of Hamas. Yousef, who has publicly criticized the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, told the newspaper that he left his position in the Hamas-run government in Gaza more than a decade ago and does not hold a senior position with the militant group. Georgetown's Alwaleed Center said in a statement that Suri's arrest was part of a "campaign by the Trump Administration to destroy higher education in the United States and punish their political opponents."Suri was later taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, according to a government website. His lawyers are seeking his immediate release and to halt deportation proceedings through their habeas motion filed Tuesday against the Trump administration.
Suri's detention more than 1,000 miles (about 1,600 kilometers) away from his family and attorney is "plainly intended as retaliation and punishment for Mr. Suri's protected speech," his attorney added. Separately, Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record, was detained earlier this month over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and is fighting deportation efforts in federal court. And Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was deported over the weekend despite having a U.S. visa. Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, whose district includes the county where Suri was detained, said in a Thursday statement that the scholar's detention was illegal, urging the court to consider Suri's case.
"The 'justification' given for these violations of Mr. Suri's right to due process is another violation of the Constitution: a blatant attack on the First Amendment," Beyer said in a statement. "Mr. Suri and his family are unfortunately the latest victim of President Trump's assault on the freedom of speech." Suri's lawyers say he hopes to become a university professor. A Georgetown webpage said that he earned a doctorate in India while studying efforts to introduce democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq, and he has traveled extensively in conflict zones in several countries.
The university said in a statement Thursday that Suri was "duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan." "We support our community members' rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly," the school said. The U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainee locator website lists Suri as being in the custody of immigration officials at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.

US tells UN Hamas is to blame for deaths since Israel resumed Gaza hostilities
Reuters/March 21, 2025
UNITED NATIONS: The United States told the UN Security Council on Friday that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was to blame for the deaths in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed hostilities there. “Hamas bears full responsibility for the ongoing war in Gaza and for the resumption of hostilities. Every death would have been avoided had Hamas accepted the bridge proposal that the United States offered last Wednesday,” acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the 15-member council. Israel effectively abandoned a two-month-old truce three days ago, and has resumed its aerial bombardment and ground campaign, saying it wanted to press the militants to free remaining hostages. Hamas said on Friday it was reviewing the US proposal to restore the ceasefire.Of the more than 250 hostages originally seized in Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel — which triggered the war in Gaza — 59 remain in the enclave, 24 of whom are thought to be alive. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon told the council that, in recent days, Israel had “eliminated several top Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists.”Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday alone killed more than 400 Palestinians, with scant let-up since then.“Hamas has a choice,” Danon said. “They can come back to the table and negotiate, or they can wait and watch their leadership fall, one by one. We will not stop until our people come home, all of them.” French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont urged Israel to “unconditionally resume humanitarian aid, to stop the bombing, to stick to the logic of negotiations, however slow they may be, and to stop responding to cruelty with the unleashing of violence.”

Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza and destroy its only cancer hospital
AP/March 21, 2025
JERUSALEM: Israeli forces advanced deeper into the Gaza Strip on Friday and blew up the only specialized cancer hospital in the war-torn territory, as Israeli leaders vowed to capture more land until Hamas releases its remaining hostages. The hospital was located in the Netzarim Corridor, a band that splits Gaza in two and was controlled by Israeli troops for most of the 17-month-long war. Israel moved to retake the corridor this week shortly after breaking the ceasefire with Hamas. The truce had delivered relative calm to Gaza since late January and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages.
The Israeli military said it struck the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which was inaccessible to doctors and patients during the war, because Hamas militants were operating in the site. Türkiye, which helped build and fund the hospital, said Israeli troops at one point used it as a base. Dr. Zaki Al-Zaqzouq, head of the hospital’s oncology department, said a medical team visited the facility during the ceasefire and found that, while it had suffered damage, some facilities remained in good condition. “I cannot fathom what could be gained from bombing a hospital that served as a lifeline for so many patients,” he said in a statement issued by the aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians. The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the hospital’s destruction and accused Israel of deliberately “rendering Gaza uninhabitable and forcibly displacing the Palestinian people.”Hospitals can lose their protected status under international law if they are used for military purposes, but any operations against them must be proportional. Human rights groups and UN-backed experts have accused accused Israel of systematically destroying Gaza’s health care system.

Israeli hostage freed after 491 days asks: Where was the United Nations, the Red Cross, the world?
AP/March 21, 2025
UNITED NATIONS: Freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi, who was beaten, chained and starved while held for 491 days by Hamas, expressed his anger during an appearance at the UN Security Council on Thursday for having to suffer for so long and worry every day about being killed.
“Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world?” Sharabi asked. He challenged the UN’s most powerful body: “If you stand for humanity prove it” by bringing home the 59 hostages still in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead.
The fate of the remaining hostages became more uncertain after Israel on Tuesday ended a six-week break in the fighting that had allowed for the return of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Sharabi said the council talked about the need to get humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, but he saw Hamas militants eating stolen food from dozens of boxes marked with UN emblems while the hostages starved. They were given maybe a piece of pita and a sip of tea a day, and an occasional dry date, he said. When he was released on Feb. 8, Sharabi said he weighed 44 kilos (about 97 pounds) — less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed along with his wife and older daughter in Hamas’ surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, along with about 1,200 others. He was among 251 people taken hostage. The United States in November vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza because it was not linked to an immediate release of the hostages. The Palestinians and their supporters then went to the 193-member General Assembly, which adopted a resolution in December demanding a ceasefire and reiterating its demand for the release of the hostages. Unlike Security Council resolutions, though, those passed by the General Assembly are nonbinding. The ceasefire that went into effect in January was shattered on Tuesday with surprise airstrikes on Gaza that killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the highest death tolls in the nearly 18-month war. Gaza’s Health Ministry said most victims were women and children. Sharabi’s appearance before the council, the second by a freed hostage, followed an Israeli request last week for a meeting on the plight of the hostages.
Britain’s deputy ambassador James Kariuki called Sharabi’s suffering “beyond the imagination” and said “Hamas must be held accountable for their despicable actions.”But Kariuki also said the UK condemns Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s “warning of the total destruction of Gaza.” Britain calls for the rapid resurgence of aid to Gaza, an investigation into allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces, and an urgent return to the ceasefire deal, he said. France’s new UN ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont, expressed his country’s deepest condolences to Sharabi but also condemned the resumption of Israel’s bombing, saying it will not ensure the release of hostages, and demanded an end to Israel’s humanitarian blockade of Gaza. Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told the council, “Our hearts were filled with sorrow as we listened to the tragic story of Mr. Eli Sharabi,” adding “such brutality can have no justification.”Polyansky criticized Israel’s leaders for not moving to phase 2 of the ceasefire deal, which calls for the release of all hostages and a permanent end to the fighting. He said it’s difficult to discuss the future when Israel’s military and political leaders appear to have made the choice in favor of war. Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama, representing the Arab world on the council, called Sharabi a “representative of civil society,” and said “no civilian, irrespective of their background, should endure suffering.”
He then accused Israel of “cherry-picking” international law. He pointed to Israel’s ban on humanitarian aid, fuel and electricity entering Gaza since March 2, its killing of civilians, and the cutoff of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ access to over 9,500 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons since Oct. 7. After all council members spoke, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, sent “our condolences” to Sharabi over the killing of his loved ones and his prolonged captivity. He said Palestinians “understand this pain because we live it.”Sharabi made no mention of Israeli actions, except to say that on the morning of Oct. 7, when he heard that militants were inside Kibbutz Be’eri where he lived, he reassured his wife not to worry: “The army will come, they always come.” That morning, they never came. He told the council he came to speak for 24-year-old Alon Ohel, a fellow hostage whom he left behind in the tunnel, and all others, including his older brother, Yossi, who was killed but whose body remains in Gaza.
“Bring them all home. Now!” Sharabi said.

Germany reopens its embassy in Syria
Associated Press/March 21, 2025
Germany's foreign minister reopened its embassy in Damascus on Thursday, 13 years after it was shut in the early days of Syria's civil war, saying that Europe needs "eyes and ears" on the ground as it follows the Syrian political transition. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reopened the embassy before meeting interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and others during a visit to Damascus, her second since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December. Among the European Union's 27 members, Italy reopened its embassy last year before the fall of Assad, and Spain reopened its embassy after his ouster. "With this embassy opening, we are saying very clearly that Germany is back in Damascus, Germany has a paramount interest in a stable Syria," Baerbock told reporters. For the time being the embassy will have a very small team, supported by colleagues based in neighboring Lebanon, and offer no consular or visa services, she said. It is led by a charge d'affaires for now. "Whether there will in the future be an ambassador again depends on further political and, of course, security developments here," she added. "We want the political process in Syria to move forward and to support it as well as is possible," Baerbock said. "For that, we as Europeans and as the Federal Republic of Germany need our colleagues as eyes and ears on the ground." Her visit followed clashes earlier this month between fighters loyal to Assad and forces of the country's new rulers that sparked the worst violence since the civil war, leaving about 1,000 dead, most of them members of Assad's Alawite minority community. Baerbock said that in her talks with the transitional government, she "emphasized that it's now up to them to hold those responsible to account."
The interim government earlier this month signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country's northeast. Baerbock praised that agreement and said there needs to be inclusion for other groups as well so that they can feel they're "part of a new Syria."Germany, one of the leading powers in the EU, has been a major destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade. If all the millions of Syrians who left the country returned at once, "Syria would collapse," Baerbock said.
She said the return of those who want to go back would "have to be a step-by-step approach, especially starting with the direct neighboring countries."

Pope Francis advisers say he’ll recover from pneumonia and a ‘new stage’ is opening for him
AP/March 21, 2025
ROME: Pope Francis is recovering well from pneumonia and that a “new stage” in his pontificate would open, two of his closest advisers said Friday, offering notes of optimism as the 88-year-old pontiff hit the five-week mark in his hospitalization. Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra told AP that he had found Francis in good humor and serene during the three times he has visited the pope at the Gemelli hospital in Rome. Peña Parra, who is the Vatican chief of staff, visited Francis on Feb. 24, March 2 and March 9 along with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the lone Vatican officials who have called on him aside from his personal secretaries. “The pope will recover,” Peña Parra said on the sidelines of a book launch. “The pope is recovering well. The doctors say that he needs some time, but it’s going well progressively.”“I found him well, serene, in good humor, and — just like him — tough with the desire to go forward,” he said. The Vatican press office reported Friday that Francis’ overall condition remained stable, with slight improvements as he continues respiratory and physical physiotherapy. He was continuing to reduce his reliance on high-flow supplemental oxygen he has needed to breathe during the day and no longer needs the mechanical ventilation mask at night. In other comments Friday, another top friend and ally of the pope, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, said that “a new stage” was opening in Francis’ 12-year pontificate and that he expects some surprises from the pontiff when he’s released.
Fernández, the Argentine theologian whom Francis brought in as the Vatican’s doctrine chief, said that he had been in touch with Francis since his Feb. 14 hospitalization and was heartened that he had stabilized. He provided no time frame on when Francis might be released, but ruled out any thought that he might resign. He said that he understood that Francis was responding well to treatment, but that doctors were keeping him at the hospital “to be 100 percent.” He said that Francis needed rehabilitation therapy to help him regain strength to speak after so many weeks on noninvasive mechanical ventilation and supplemental oxygen. Fernández revealed that Francis had resisted going to the hospital when his bronchitis worsened, and only agreed to go after people close to him threatened to quit if he didn’t. “I don’t know what swear words they used (to tell him) you have to go there, otherwise we go home and end our relationship here,” he said. As a result, he said he knew that the hospitalization had been hard on Francis and had surely made him reflect. “I think a new stage is opening for him. He is a man of surprises, who will surely have learned so many things in this month and he’ll pull who knows what out of the hat,” he said. “So even knowing that this has been a very heavy effort for him, a difficult time, I know it will be fruitful for the church and for the world.”Francis hit the five-week mark in his hospitalization Friday. He was admitted Feb. 14 with a bad case of bronchitis that developed into a complex lung infection and double pneumonia. He has long battled respiratory illnesses and had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He has admitted to being a bad patient and is a known workaholic.“He wants to spend what little time he has left and says ‘I want to use it and not to take care of myself,’” Fernández said. “And then what happens? He comes back here and it’s not easy for him to follow the advice” of doctors. That might change after this experience, he said.“He has to certainly change, but I can’t say what those details might be,” he said.

Ukraine hopes to secure 'at least' partial ceasefire at Saudi talks
Agence France Presse/March 21, 2025
Ukraine is hoping to secure a partial ceasefire at upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia during which U.S. officials will meet separately with Russian and Ukrainian representatives, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Friday. "We still want to agree on a ceasefire, at least on what we have proposed," the source said, referring to a Russian and Ukrainian halt on strikes on energy sites, civilian infrastructure and attacks in the Black Sea, adding that the Ukrainian delegation on Monday would be led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on March 21-22/2025
Bangladesh's Reign of Terror: Toward the Next Islamist Hub of South Asia?
Uzay Bulut/ Gatestone Institute./March 21, 2025
"Politics steadily worsens in Bangladesh. The economy is in free fall, law and order is in a cul-de-sac. The rule of law is under organised assault, with detained politicians, cultural activists and journalists unable to come by bail in court.... Bangladesh's crisis is existential. All the values instrumen­tal to its emergence 50-plus years ago are systematically being jettisoned by a regime that lacks constitutional legitimacy." — Syed Badrul Ahsan, veteran Bangladeshi journalist and commentator, December 6, 2024.
Some of the major groups, which were previously banned but, under Bangladesh's new leadership of Muhammad Yunus, now encouraged, include: Hizb ut-Tahrir, Tawhidi Janata, Hefazat-e-Islam, at-e-Islami, and the Ansarullah Bangla Team.
Since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ouster in August 2024, the government under Yunus has freed convicted Islamic terrorists, downplayed mass violence against minorities (mainly Hindus), and let jihadist mobs take over the streets.
More than 2,200 cases of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh were reported for 2024 alone.
These radical Islamic organizations share the same main goal: a global Islamic Caliphate. If this Islamic takeover succeeds in Bangladesh, the country will become another Islamic terror state — like Afghanistan under the Taliban and Syria under its new terrorist leader, Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.
On March 7, thousands of members of Bangladesh's banned Islamist militant group, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, defying police barricades, marched through the streets of Dhaka to demand that the country's secular democracy be replaced by an Islamic caliphate. The mob at the march turned violent — complete with stone-throwers who clashed with police.
On March 7, thousands of members of Bangladesh's banned Islamist militant group, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, defying police barricades, marched through the streets of Dhaka to demand that the country's secular democracy be replaced by an Islamic caliphate. Demonstrators chanting "Khilafat, Khilafat" - a direct call for Islamic rule -- gathered for the "March for Khilafat" procession outside the Baitul Mukarram Mosque after Friday prayers. The mob at the march turned violent — complete with stone-throwers who clashed with police. The police, in turn, fired back with tear gas and stun grenades.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has been banned in Bangladesh since 2009 for posing a threat to national security, organized this rally in defiance of a government ban on public gatherings.
Notes veteran Bangladeshi journalist and commentator Syed Badrul Ahsan:
"Politics steadily worsens in Bangladesh. The economy is in free fall, law and order is in a cul-de-sac. The rule of law is under organised assault, with detained politicians, cultural activists and journalists unable to come by bail in court....
The [Muhammad] Yunus regime, which has no constitutional basis, has nevertheless embarked on what it touts as a reform agenda.....
Yunus' interim government has demonstrated, unabashed­ly, its intent to erase Bangladesh's history.
The refrain of the August 5 change, for those who hold power at present, continues to be one of a student-led revolution. It was anything but. Muhammad Yunus, on a visit to the US in September, publicly made it known in the presence of his friend Bill Clinton that the agitation against the Sheikh Hasina government had been me­ticulously planned.
Bangladesh's crisis is existential. All the values instrumen­tal to its emergence 50-plus years ago are systematically being jettisoned by a regime that lacks constitutional legitimacy.
And there is another reality that cannot be ignored. In terms of the constitution, Sheikh Hasina remains prime minister. When the military had her leave the country in August, she was not given the opportunity to meet the president and submit her resignation. Her followers have thus continued to refer to her as the legitimate leader."
Some of the major groups, which were previously banned but, under Bangladesh's new leadership of Muhammad Yunus, now encouraged, include: Hizb ut-Tahrir, Tawhidi Janata, Hefazat-e-Islam, at-e-Islami, and the Ansarullah Bangla Team.
According to the Counter Extremism Project:
"Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Islamist movement seeking to unite Muslims under one Islamic caliphate. Hizb ut-Tahrir members have been linked to violent acts in multiple countries. The group itself has been banned in at least 13 countries, including many Muslim-majority countries.
"Founded by Palestinian Taqiuddin al-Nabhani al-Filastyni in 1953, HT considers itself a non-violent political party. HT states that its goal is to peacefully convert Muslim nations to Islamist political systems. HT praises the concept of jihad but insists that it does not use 'material power to defend itself or as a weapon....' The group publicly disavows efforts to achieve its goals of a caliphate through violent means.
"However, individuals affiliated with the group have been linked to violent acts in multiple countries. Some have been involved in coup attempts in the Middle East, the murder of a pro-secularist blogger in Bangladesh, and spreading anti-Western and Muslim-separatist propaganda in the West. HT maintains that its members are political dissidents."
Hizb ut-Tahrir chapters operate in more than 40 countries, and, despite being banned in Bangladesh, are continuing to grow and mobilize elsewhere.
Since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh after anti-government protests August 5, 2024, radical Islamist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir have been operating freely in the country under the government of Bangladesh's new "Chief Adviser," Muhammad Yunus.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is joined by other Islamic factions under the protection of Yunus's interim government. One of them, Tawhidi Janata, is also unleashing terror across Bangladesh.
On January 28, Tawhidi Janata laid siege to the Tilakpur High School. The extremists, made up of madrassa students, vandalized the school to protest a friendly football match between two women's teams. The match had been scheduled to take place on January 29, 2025. Prior to carrying out the attack, Tawhidi Janata followers gathered outside the Tilakpur railway station and delivered incendiary speeches.
Islamist mobs have torched Hindu homes, vandalized Hindu temples, and massacred non-Muslims. The new regime has regrettably tried to downplay attacks on the Hindu minority as "fake", "exaggerated" or "politically motivated".
Yunus's regime has also released Islamist hardliners and convicted terrorists from prison. On August 31, 2024, Yunus released from prison, and met in person, Mamunul Haque, the leader of Hefazat-e-Islam, another group that aims to establish an Islamic sharia state in Bangladesh.
During the rule of Sheikh Hasina, Haque had already been arrested under various allegations, including instigating violence.
According to one report:
"Hefazat-e-Islam, the largest Islamic organisation in Bangladesh was founded in 2010 in Chittagong by Shah Ahmad Shafi to protect Islam against purported anti-Islamic laws and end secularism. It soon became the centre of religious politics and radicalisation in Bangladesh. It is reportedly financed by doctrinaire Islamists in Saudi Arabia. The 2009 Women Development Policy draft, which suggested granting women equal inheritance rights, served as the impetus for the group's formation which consists of Sunni zealots and their large network of madrasa supporters. The leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam have actively called for political and legal reforms despite the organization not being a political party. It demanded a revolution and the establishment of an Islamic state governed by Sharia Law in Bangladesh, openly opposing the country's secular legal system.
"Hefazat-e-Islam laid siege in Dhaka and proposed a 13-point plan in 2013, which included capital punishment for comments against Allah, Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, gender segregation, the release of Islamic scholars who were imprisoned and compulsory Islamic education from primary to higher secondary levels, among others. The government was compelled to surrender because of the group's immense popularity."
The group is currently operating in Bangladesh even more freely under Yunus's rule. Muhyiddin Rabbani, Hefazat-e-Islam's vice president in Bangladesh, argued that the country should adopt Islamic law as opposed to its current secular legal and constitutional structure. Rabbani made it explicit that his group intended to create an Islamic state in Bangladesh.
Rabbani clarified that under Islamic rule, there would be no place for music or art in the country:
"If Islamic law is implemented, everyone will have rights in the form of justice. We shall base our decisions about music on what is permissible in Islam. We don't like art or music. We will oppose it. I'll strongly speak against it."
Yunus's government also lifted the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamist party. It had participated in Pakistan's genocide against Hindus and Bengalis in 1971 and is responsible for many of the countless acts of violence against Bangladesh's religious minorities.
The previous government under Hasina in August 2024 briefly banned Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Chhatra Shibir, under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Jamaat-e-Islami was previously barred from participating in 2013 national elections, based on the claim that the group's constitution violated Bangladesh's constitution by opposing secularism.
Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in 1941 in British-ruled India by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi, a figure associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The organization's ideology promotes Islamic conquest, aiming to bring the world under Islamic rule. In Pakistan, it remains a major political force with connections to various militant groups around the world, such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as the global Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Yunus's government also freed Jashimuddin Rahmani, chief of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), an al-Qaeda-affiliated terror outfit. Rahmani, imprisoned for murdering blogger Rajib Haider, was released on parole. ABT has been trying, with the help of sleeper cells, to establish a jihadist network in Bangladesh.
ABT, banned in Bangladesh in 2015 by the Hasina government, later rebranded itself as Ansar al-Islam, and that was banned in 2017. India Today reported that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba had partnered with the ABT to carry out terrorist attacks in India's northeastern states.
Since Hasina's ouster in August 2024, the government under Yunus has freed convicted Islamic terrorists, downplayed mass violence against minorities (mainly Hindus), and let jihadist mobs take over the streets.
More than 2,200 cases of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh were reported for 2024 alone.
These radical Islamic organizations share the same main goal: a global Islamic Caliphate. If this Islamic takeover succeeds in Bangladesh, the country will become another Islamic terror state — like Afghanistan under the Taliban and Syria under its new terrorist leader, Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.
**Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21486/bangladesh-islamist-terror-hub

Turkiye’s influence in NATO poised to increase
Dr. Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/March 21, 2025
For the first time in its history, Turkiye will on July 1 assume command of the NATO Allied Reaction Force Amphibious Task Force Command and the Landing Force Command, marking a significant milestone for the country within the alliance. Its year-long command will oversee several critical operations aimed at bolstering NATO’s collective defense capabilities. The Turkish Defense Ministry emphasized that this leadership position is a testament to the country’s increasing role in NATO operations and its contribution to the alliance’s defense structure.
From the beginning, Turkiye’s relationship with NATO was transactional. Ankara initially sought membership in 1948 but was only offered “associate status” in 1950. It did not secure strong support for its NATO membership until it sent thousands of soldiers to fight alongside the US during the Korean War. In May 1951, Washington proposed Turkiye’s membership and, soon after, NATO backed the move and Turkiye was admitted to the alliance in 1952.
Being part of NATO is seen as a rational foreign policy move in Turkiye. During the Cold War, NATO was key to Turkiye’s defense against the Soviet threat. Being a NATO member gave Turkiye a national security identity and a voice in European defense matters, while also creating opportunities for its economic growth as a Western ally. In return, Turkiye took on the responsibility of protecting the alliance’s southern flank, serving as a strategic buffer against Soviet expansion in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Turkiye’s cooperation was essential in NATO’s strategy to counter Soviet influence.
The symbolic fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Soviet Union raised concerns that NATO might become irrelevant and that Turkiye’s importance to its Western allies would decrease. However, that did not happen. Today, Russia remains a significant player and Turkiye’s growing ties with Moscow enhance Ankara’s strategic value to its Western allies — despite their unease over Turkish-Russian relations.
Turkiye’s policies do not always align with those of its NATO and EU partners, particularly regarding the Middle East.
Despite being one of the longest-lasting military alliances in history, NATO is going through tough times in adapting to changes in global security. There are challenges to its unity, such as the weakening military strength of many members and the shift in the US’ focus from Europe to the Pacific. There are also differences among members in how they perceive threats, their varying interests and how to cope with the issues.
Turkiye, which has the second-largest military in the alliance after the US, also hosts NATO facilities. These facilities are significant in terms of giving NATO a timely response capability in the region. Turkiye is also one of the top-five contributors to NATO missions, participating in operations such as those in Afghanistan and Kosovo. It continues to play an important role in securing NATO’s southern flank, especially in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and broader Middle East.
However, Turkiye’s policies do not always align with those of its NATO and EU partners, particularly regarding the Middle East. While NATO and the EU prioritize expanding their influence, advancing economic interests and securing Israel, Turkiye places greater emphasis on regional peace and stability. For Ankara, fostering a stable region and having good ties with its neighbors is a higher priority than fully adhering to its Western allies’ policies. As a result, Turkiye pursues an autonomous foreign and security policy in its neighborhood, while carefully balancing its relations with both Russia and Iran, avoiding the confrontational stance that its NATO and EU partners often adopt.
Turkiye has learned lessons from being dependent on the US and NATO and it realized the limits of this dependence during its fight against terrorism in Syria, when NATO allies imposed arms embargoes on it, irking Ankara.
Moreover, within NATO, Turkiye was not always on equal terms with its Western allies. Ankara often felt that its national interests and security concerns were secondary to those of the US and other allies. One example was when Washington continued to cooperate with the Syrian Kurds at the expense of Turkiye’s security concerns. A closer look at European policies against Turkiye in the pre-Ukraine war period would also be relevant.
As the US appears to be distancing itself from NATO, Turkiye wants to fill this void to bolster its influence.
Given the immense challenges facing NATO, the roadmap is clear: NATO’s European allies must collaborate with Turkiye to ensure the future of European security, while acknowledging Turkiye’s desire for autonomy in its foreign and security policy.
In the region, Turkiye is using its influence in NATO to block any new cooperation with Israel. Ankara reportedly stated that it will continue this policy until a permanent ceasefire is reached in Gaza. It has previously blocked Israel from obtaining observer status at NATO — a stance it lifted during a reconciliation process between the two countries in 2023.
As the US appears to be distancing itself from NATO, Turkiye wants to fill this void to bolster its influence. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that Ankara is willing to engage in a new security accord in Europe and proposed protecting Ukraine in the event of a future ceasefire or peace agreement. In the post-Ukraine war period, NATO should focus on establishing a partnership with Ankara in the Black Sea, where Russia is the dominant actor.
Nevertheless, NATO today remains as important to Turkiye as it was in the past, while Ankara remains a crucial member of the alliance whose role no other country could replicate because of its unique geopolitical position. Turkiye is both a European and a Middle Eastern country in several aspects. This dual role presents both opportunities and challenges, particularly in balancing tensions between the West and Russia. However, Turkiye’s commitment to NATO is strong and, as such, it will host the 2026 NATO Summit.
*Dr. Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkiye’s relations with the Middle East. X: @SinemCngz

UN condemns violence in Gaza and West Bank, urges Israel to resume aid deliveries
Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/March 22, 2025
NEW YORK CITY: A top UN official on Friday condemned ongoing violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, urged all parties to respect international humanitarian and human rights laws, and called for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of aid deliveries to Gaza. During a meeting of the Security Council, the third this week on events in the region, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Sigrid Kaag, also condemned the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and warned that continuing violations of Security Council Resolution 2334 are damaging the prospects for a two-state solution.
Adopted in 2016, Resolution 2334 calls for “immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction,” along with the reversal of “negative trends on the ground that are imperiling the two-state solution.”
In a report presented to the council, Kaag said Israeli authorities have approved about 10,600 new housing units in settlements, including 4,920 in East Jerusalem, despite the resolution’s demand for a halt to such activities. Her report also highlighted a sharp increase in seizures and demolitions of Palestinian-owned properties. It said that during the reporting period, from Dec. 7, 2024, to March 13, 2025, at least 460 structures were destroyed, displacing 576 Palestinians, including nearly 300 children.
Such actions have been strongly criticized by the UN as a violation of international law, and Kaag reiterated that they undermine hopes for a viable Palestinian state. “Unfortunately, the high number of fatal incidents across the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel precludes me from detailing all,” she continued.
The situation in Gaza continues to be dire, Kaag said, with the UN confirming that at least 3,860 Palestinians were killed during the reporting period, and about 6,000 injured. The humanitarian crisis in the war-battered enclave remains “catastrophic,” as Israeli authorities have halted the entry of essential goods and supplies. Access to clean water is restricted for more than half a million people there, and the already fragile health infrastructure has been severely affected.
Kaag reiterated that the provision of humanitarian aid “is not negotiable” and deliveries must be allowed to reach those in need. She strongly condemned the blocking of aid to Gaza by Israeli authorities, as well as “the widespread killing” and wounding of civilians, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” she said. Kaag also condemned “indiscriminate attacks and the use of human shields” by Hamas, and stressed that all parties involved must “respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
She called for the immediate release of the 59 remaining Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and other Palestinian groups during the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, 24 of whom are alive and 35 dead. “Palestinian armed groups continued to hold hostages in horrific conditions, and fired rockets indiscriminately towards Israel,” said Kaag. “Hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally.
“I strongly condemn the reported ill-treatment of hostages. I remain appalled that there are reasonable grounds to believe that hostages may be subjected to sexual violence and abuse. I also reiterate my condemnation of Hamas’s abhorrent public displays accompanying the release of living and deceased hostages.”Kaag also condemned the reported ill-treatment, including sexual abuse, of Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities and said that when detainees are released, this must also be carried out in a dignified way. Violence in the West Bank continues to escalate, with Israeli military operations and settler-related violence contributing to rising casualty figures. At least 123 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed. Meanwhile, 10 Israelis, including children, have lost their lives in attacks by Palestinians. Rising tensions within Palestinian refugee camps, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarem, have resulted in the widespread displacement of occupants and the demolition of homes.
“The escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank is deeply troubling,” Kaag said. “Alongside the rising death toll, Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank are being emptied and sustaining massive infrastructure damage during Israeli operations.”
Kaag rejected any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from the occupied territories, warning that such action amounts to “a grave violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.”She condemned violence on both sides of the conflict and called for a policy of “maximum restraint” from the security forces. Lethal force must only be used when “strictly unavoidable to protect life,” she added. Kaag also expressed alarm over ongoing attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers, some of which have occurred with the support of Israeli security forces.
In addition, she voiced concern about the ongoing Israeli efforts to undermine the UN Relief and Works Agency, which provides vital aid and services to Palestinian refugees.In her closing remarks, she emphasized the need for a political process within which to resolve the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.“We must work collectively to establish a political framework that outlines tangible, irreversible and time-bound steps,” she said. “A viable two-state solution — Israel and Palestine, of which Gaza is an integral part, living side-by-side in peace and security — is long overdue.”

Post Neo-Sectarianism in Iraq
Mahmoud al-Mashhadani-Speaker of the Council of Representatives of Iraq/Asharq Al Awsat/March 21, 2025
Sectarianism is the blind championing of one faction at the expense of the others, whether they are in agreement or dispute. Only those who share the same proclivities and interests see the faction’s triumph, which brings them comfort and reassurance.
Like several other countries, Iraq has suffered from sectarianism that had begun with theorization that promotes favoring one faction over others and eventually led to something like a sectarian war. In Iraq, some called the conflict a "civil war," and it consumed everyone in a country whose people had not been accustomed to sectarian labels, let alone their primacy over religion, land, or wealth.
What happened, happened; and the past has passed. The murder, kidnappings, and marginalization went so far as to compel some in Iraq, either out of ignorance or malice, to call for dividing the country. The pretext was to build a mountain of fire between different sects, ethnicities, and religions. However, these efforts failed miserably, and the strife that I have always called a "stench," was buried.
The sectarianism that brought us suffering is years away now, as is terrorism, and corruption will pass too. However, remnants have remained, and they are reemerging in the discourse of the traditional media and promoted by organized trolls online. They exploit past grievances and call for redress through a new regime or exploit a new sense of victimhood to be redressed through a return to an old regime. Behind it all, we hear loud insistence that sectarian identity is equivalent to land, ethnicity, and history. The threat of incitement has aggravated, with some going as far as aligning with old projects calling for a division of the country. Indeed, certain actors are now seeking to achieve that dream former US President Joe Biden had a decade ago: an Iraq of federations, each threatening the other.
The constitutional foundations of governance in Iraq are being shaken by politicians, businessmen, self-proclaimed tribal leaders, advocates who seek to topple the Iraqi political system, and groups seeking to undermine it. To them, sectarianism is paramount, and if they succeed, Iraq will sink into the abyss.
Thus, as we approach the elections scheduled for later this year, these machinations amount to dangerous escalation, especially in light of the turmoil and chaos wreaking havoc on the region. We have spent years trying to consolidate stability, and the last thing we need is a resurgence of sectarianism.
The foundational political institutions of Iraq’s system (the parliament, government, and judiciary) must address this new wave of sectarianism. The wellspring of this rhetoric must be dried up, and its agenda must be rooted out. Silencing these voices is our only option. From our political experience and work, we believe that criminalizing what I call "neo-sectarianism" is necessary. We could pass legislation and develop oversight mechanisms that do not infringe on freedom of expression by taking the following steps. First: Legislation that criminalizes sectarianism must be passed by parliament and then implemented by the Prime Minister, with judicial oversight.
Second: Making a formal request to social media platforms, demanding that they block, remove, and restrict pages, posts, videos, and audio that incite sectarian tension. Many countries have made similar requisitions, invoking their sovereign right to avert disaster and threats to national security. Third: Engaging with religious authorities of all sects and working with them to draft religious edits that prohibit sectarianism and forbid incitement.
Fourth: Encouraging party leaders and parliamentary whips to build awareness among their partisans, teaching them that sectarian incitement is not a democratic right. It is outside the bounds of free speech because it sparks flames that could morph into wildfires- whether that is the intention of the person behind the rhetoric or not- with potentially devastating consequences. Fifth: Addressing injustices faced by members of any sect in Iraq. These injustices must be dealt with whether they are the result of historical imbalance or terrorism and corruption. Doing so would reinforce the notion that no sect can be a safeguard and that only the law and the state can offer real protection. Sixth: Launching a nationwide government-led campaign under the hashtag #Sectarianism_is_Foul-Leave_It_Behind.
Taking the steps we are advocating would not be difficult. They could also be refined further through a collective effort, thereby shielding Iraqis from the peril of sedition and division while affirming that Iraq belongs to all of its sects, as it has since the dawn of history. My Lord, make this a peaceful land, and provide its people with fruits.

Elon Musk as Public Accountant
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/March 21, 2025
As Elon Musk pursues his “draining the marshland” in Washington D.C., his plan to reduce the size of the US federal government may have a number of unintended consequences. To be sure, few people might disagree with ending monthly payment to sole 20 million former civil servants who continue drawing their pensions years after having died and been buried. Even fewer might approve of channeling millions of dollars in aid to NGOs in such emerging economic giants like India and Indonesia not to mention sinkholes such as Afghanistan or active anti-American states like South Africa.
In some cases, a notable one being UNRWA that has kept Palestinian militant groups alive for decades, US aid may be one reason why people face endless wars. Let me explain. In South Sudan, not to mention Gaza, the gunmen in control of what poses as a government, need not worry about such basic needs as food, health care, basic schooling and even art and entertainment because NGOs or UN agencies funded by the US and other Western democracies foot the bill. That leaves the gunmen in control free to spend whatever resources they can mobilize on buying arms, recruiting fighters and continuing their war.
In Yemen, which now says it is at war against the US, more than 60 percent of the food needed to keep the population under Houthi control alive and able to fire missiles at US ships comes from foreign aid largely funded by Washington.
In other words, foreign aid is one key cause of more than a dozen endless wars across the globe. Musk is also right to question the wisdom of financing almost 40 percent of such bodies as The Organization of American States (OAS) which has just chosen a noted anti-American as its new Secretary-General.
As for the United Nations Organization itself, under Secretary General Antonio Guterres, it has become a forum for virtue-signaling anti-American propaganda.
At 37 percent of the gross domestic product, the US overall spending on government, both federal and states-is still lower than the average for OECD nations: France. 56.99, Japan. 41.16, United Kingdom. 44.17, Sweden. 47.44, Italy 53.8 percent.
Yet, compared to the 1980s it is 10 percent higher, indicating a trend towards bigger and more expensive governance that President Donald J Trump is hoping to curtail.
The Trump-Musk cost-cutting campaign may provide an opportunity for a thorough review of the usefulness of numerous international organizations that may have gone past their sell-by date or even become threats to peace and stability.
One casualty of the 88 percent cut in the USAID budget may be part of the Iranian opposition to the Islamic regime in Tehran. It started as a cottage industry in 1979 when the Carter administration saw its hopes of backing an Islamist regime in Tehran as part of a “green belt” against the USSR evaporate while the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran and the holding of its diplomats as hostages led to a direct confrontation with Washington’s erstwhile allies in Iran.
Within less than a year, the US had persuaded some of its allies who had fought the Shah’s government for decades to break their ties to Ruhollah Khomeini and re-enter the stage as opponents of the new Islamist regime.
However, the Khomeinist regime was successful in marginalizing or even crushing such groups as the National Front, the Iran Liberty Movement, the People’s Holy Warriors (Mujahedin), the Iran Radical Party and more than a dozen personality-based outfits.
With oppositional work made too risky inside Iran, most groups took the road to exile first to Western Europe and then to the United States.
By the end of 2024, Iranians in exile numbered almost eight million or 10 percent of the total population.
Under President Ronald Reagan, the US tried to organize Iranian opposition groups by directly funding some or providing them with a media outlet through Voice of America and Radio Liberty.
With putting pressure on Tehran mullahs but avoiding direct military clash with them a top priority, the US set ideological considerations aside by supporting even Marxist groups including two Kurdish outfits based in Iraq.
Under President Barrack Obama, the US emerged as the principal supporter of the “Reformist” faction in Tehran to the point that it won the nickname “The Democrat Party’s Iran branch.” Voice of America and Radio Liberty in Persian were filled with activists who remained loyal to the anti-Shah revolution but dreamt of a republic free of the mullahs and controlled by leftist groups.
Using the cost-benefit yardstick, Musk might see no reason to continue pouring millions of US taxpayers’ money into the pockets of individuals and groups that lack a real constituency in Iran or in the exiled Iranian community.
By some accounts the exiles run over 400 media outlets in some 30 countries, mostly the US and Western Europe. Musk could keep Voice of America and Radio Liberty though not as a propaganda tool for this or that faction in Tehran. They could offer Iranians inside Iran window to the US along with professional nonpartisan journalism with what is left of high American standards.