English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 26/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man
John 01/47-51: "When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said
of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked
him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig
tree before Philip called you. ’Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of
God! You are the King of Israel!’Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told
you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than
these.’And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’"
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on March 25-26/2025
Jean Feghali to Voice of Lebanon: Berri, the 'King of Rabbits,'
Violates Taif Through MP Ali Hassan Khalil and the Ideal Single-Member
District/Free translation from Arabic by: Elias Bejjani)
Link to a video interview with the distinguished sovereign activist, Dr. Zina
Mansour
Key Points from Dr. Zaina Mansour’s Interview
Lebanese Central Bank Rejects Proposals to Invest Gold Reserves
Salam calls for new security plan to control Lebanon-Syria border
Israel says overnight strike killed head of Hezbollah's anti-tank missile system
Salam visits Tripoli, vows no leniency with security violators
Le Drian's mission: France urges Lebanon to implement reforms before
international conference
Politics get in the way: Lebanon nears decision on BDL governor
UN says more than 21,000 people fled Syria sectarian violence for Lebanon
Warnings ignored: Israel maintains military pressure on Syria and Lebanon
MP Neemat Frem from Maarab: Municipal elections in alliance with LF, Kataeb, and
Mansour El Bon
Government sources deny reports on appointments at Télé Liban and Ogero
The Silent Mission of the Sisters of the Cross
Investigation into Kulluna Irada Amid Allegations of Financial Manipulation
Political Gains Over Military Might/Johnny Kortbawi/This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
Ortagus in Lebanon after Eid: Weapons Withdrawal and Destruction/Ghada Halawi/Al-Modon/March
25, 2025
From Normalization Hopes to Ceasefire Reality: Israel’s Demands vs. Lebanon’s
Preconditions/Philippe Abi-Akl/This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
Who Destroyed Lebanon: Hezbollah or the Banks?/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/This Is
Beirut/March 25/2025
Is Salam Breaking the Law by Withholding Key Legislation Like Mikati?/Maurice
Matta/This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on March 25-26/2025
Israel Kills Six in Southern Syria, Syrian Ministry Says
Israel strikes Syria bases again despite EU warning
Netanyahu Believes Confrontation with Türkiye in Syria is 'Inevitable'
Damascus Arrests Drug Trafficker Linked to Maher al-Assad, Others Held Over
Tadamon Massacre
Iran’s Currency Drops to a Record Low amid Geopolitical Uncertainty
US Strikes Target Houthi Hideouts in Sanaa, Saada
Israeli Strikes Kill 23 in Gaza, Military Expands Evacuation Orders
Hundreds in Gaza rally against Hamas, demand end to war
Israeli legislators pass budget in a move that shores up Netanyahu's government
Israel Releases Oscar-Winning Palestinian Director after He Was Attacked by West
Bank Settlers
Trump’s Nominee for Ambassador to Israel Avoids Direct Answers on West Bank
Annexation
The United States Puts Unacceptable Pressure on Greenland, Denmark Says
Ukraine Says Ceasefire Accords Brokered by US Take Immediate Effect
Pope Francis’ Doctors Considered Stopping Treatment to ‘Let Him Go’ after
Serious Breathing Crisis
Egyptian Parliament Approves Formation of Saudi-Egyptian Supreme Coordination
Council
Turks Say They Will Carry on with Protests as Erdogan Says ‘Show’ Will End
Major breach as journalist added to US administration chat group discussing
Yemen war plans
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on March 25-26/2025
The Unloved Iranian Revolution/Reuel Marc Gerecht & Ray Takeyh/National
Review/March 25/2025
Syria’s New Leader Is an Autocrat; Will That Be Good or Bad for Israel and
Turkey?/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/The Algemeiner/March 25/2025
The Trump administration should bring Al Jazeera in line with US law/Natalie
Ecanow/Jewish News Syndicate/March 25/2025
A deported Brown University professor’s Hezbollah ties/Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi /
FDD's Long War Journal/March 25/2025
Gaza doctor widely quoted by major media outlets has deep Hamas ties/Ahmad
Sharawi & Joe Truzman/ FDD's Long War Journal/March 25/2025
No Difference Between Hamas 'Politicians' And Terrorists/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute./March 25, 2025
For Russia, Trump Has a Lot to Offer/Anton Troianovski/The New York Times/March
25/2025
Us… the United States… and the Future/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/March
25/2025
The Characterization of Defeat and the Defeat of Characterization!/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq
Al Awsat/March 25/2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on March 25-26/2025
Jean Feghali to Voice of Lebanon: Berri, the 'King of Rabbits,' Violates
Taif Through MP Ali Hassan Khalil and the Ideal Single-Member District
Free translation from Arabic by: Elias Bejjani)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/03/141560/
March 25/2025
Voice of Lebanon
**A New Episode of "Political Talk" with Jean Feghali, Editor-in-Chief of News
at LBC
**Jean Feghali to Voice of Lebanon: Speaker Berri, the "King of Rabbits,"
Violates the Taif Agreement Through MP Ali Hassan Khalil and the Ideal
Single-Member District
**Hezbollah is temporarily bowing to the storm, but it has not changed. It
refuses to implement the ceasefire agreement it signed and committed to through
Berri. Meanwhile, Israel remains adamant about maintaining the Metula base
opposite Beirut, which poses a significant danger.
**Speaker Berri, the "King of Rabbits," Violates the Taif Agreement Through MP
Ali Hassan Khalil and the Ideal Single-Member District.
In a new episode of Political Talk, the editor-in-chief of news at the Lebanese
Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), Jean Feghali, exposed Speaker Nabih Berri’s
blatant violation of the Lebanese Constitution and the Taif Agreement, which
clearly stipulates that parliamentary elections must be held based on the
"governorate" system and a review of administrative divisions. Feghali described
Berri as “the king of magic rabbits” in reference to MP Ali Hassan Khalil, who
recently proposed an electoral law transforming Lebanon into a single district—a
move that directly contradicts the core principles of Taif.
Feghali highlighted that Lebanon’s electoral laws since 1992 have been
systematically designed to disempower Christian representation, clipping their
political influence while failing to implement the “megacenter” voting
mechanism. He stressed the need to adopt a small-district system with a 'one
man, one vote' principle to ensure proper representation. Feghali also
criticized the continued disregard for historical parliamentary vacancies—such
as those left by Pierre Gemayel in Achrafieh and Camille Chamoun in Chouf
(1992)—which were exploited to install Syrian-backed MPs like Ghassan Matar and
Jean Obeid, representatives of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
On the upcoming municipal elections in Beirut, Feghali revealed the deliberate
marginalization of Christian votes, warning that this will likely lead to a
widespread boycott, particularly in Achrafieh, Rmeil, and Mar Mikhael, where
residents may refuse to pay fees and taxes in response to their
disenfranchisement.
Hezbollah’s Temporary Retreat and the Looming Danger
Turning to Hezbollah’s current predicament, Feghali stated that the group's
leadership is merely bowing to the storm but has not changed its core
objectives. He emphasized that Hezbollah has no intention of abiding by the
ceasefire agreement it previously signed through Speaker Berri, while Israel
remains adamant about securing the Metula base opposite Beirut—an issue that
poses significant danger.
Feghali condemned Hezbollah’s policies of smuggling money, arms, drugs, and
consumer goods, warning that the group's reckless behavior will push Lebanon
toward catastrophe. He pointed to Hezbollah’s latest attack on Prime Minister
Nawaf Salam, which came immediately after his private interview with Saudi
Arabia’s Al Arabiya—a clear act of intimidation.
Regarding escalating tensions with Israel, Feghali revealed that Washington has
already given Israel the green light to resume its military operations in
Lebanon, particularly following recent rocket fire from the south. He disclosed
that Beirut was nearly bombed last week, but Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun
intervened to defuse the situation. Feghali warned that if the Lebanese Army
does not take a firm stance along the Litani River, Lebanon will inevitably face
devastating consequences.
Hezbollah’s “Self-Defense” Narrative: A Dangerous Farce
Feghali dismissed Hezbollah Secretary-General Michel Aoun’s latest speech—where
he claimed that the resistance has "restored its self-defense"—as nothing more
than a dangerous and illogical farce. He asserted that such rhetoric undermines
the Lebanese state’s ability to maintain security and stability on the southern
border, ultimately giving Israel a pretext to act freely.
Feghali concluded by demanding that Lebanon’s new government publicly disclose
the results of its investigation into the recent rocket launch incidents, which
could have triggered a full-scale conflict.
The battle over Lebanon’s electoral future, the rising tensions in the south,
and Hezbollah’s deepening crisis—these remain the defining issues that will
shape the country’s next chapter.
Link to a video
interview with the distinguished sovereign activist, Dr. Zina Mansour, on
“Al-Badil” platform/A bold, courageous & patriotic analytical examination of the
Druze community’s historical and present realities in Lebanon, Syria,
and Israel, the decline of Walid Jumblatt’s leadership—rooted in his
Kurdish Ottoman ancestry—and the community’s rallying around the leadership of
Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif.
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/03/141573/
March 25/2025
NB: Free quotation, headlines, and translation by Elias Bejjani
Key
Points from Dr. Zaina Mansour’s Interview
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/03/141573/
*Walid Jumblatt’s Kurdish Ottoman Sunni origins and the loss of
his leadership: Jumblatt has lost his leadership position because of his
alliances with both Shiite and Sunni political Islam. His primary concern has
always been his personal interests, wealth, and influence rather than the
well-being of the Druze community. Meanwhile, his parliamentary bloc members are
mere instruments serving Nabih Berri’s agenda.
*The role of Israeli Druze in protecting Walid Jumblatt and Druze areas during
the Lebanese war: It must be reiterated that Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif and the
Israeli Druze were the ones who protected Walid Jumblatt and the Druze areas
during the Lebanese war—not the other way around.
*The Syrian issue: It is unacceptable to replace one tyrant with another
dictator. The only viable solution is the establishment of a modern state that
respects all its components.
*Sheikh Al-Hijri in Syria advocates for a federal system, a non-sectarian
constitution, laws that uphold ethnic and religious freedoms, and equal rights
for all Syrians.
*The Druze are sons of the land, and their loyalty lies with it and its
governing system wherever they reside. *The Druze are not Muslims; their history
dates back to pre-Pharaonic times, and they are a people of intellect and
reason.
*The 1920 system marked the beginning of the Druze marginalization in Lebanon
and Syria, and their role has been continuously shrinking due to imposed
policies.
*Lebanon needs a new governance system that reflects its pluralism and protects
all its components.
*The proportional electoral law was designed to cement the dominance of the
Shiite duo. There are over 100,000 state employees loyal to Nabih Berri &
Hezbollah, who placed them in their positions. Additionally, Hezbollah finances
(Payroll) more than 100,000 families, ensuring electoral control through
preferential voting.
*Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif actively defends the Druze on the international stage and
has traveled the world for this cause. His leadership is pioneering and widely
supported within the Druze community.
*The Druze are the protectors of land, honor, and identity, standing in stark
contrast to Walid Jumblatt’s agenda, which seeks to dissolve them, erase their
role, and strip them of their identity and beliefs. The *Jumblatt triad of
“Palestine, Arabism, and Islam” is entirely rejected in the free Druze ideology.
Lebanese Central Bank Rejects Proposals to Invest Gold
Reserves
Beirut: Ali Zeineddine/Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
The sharp rise in the market value of Lebanon’s gold reserves has sparked
renewed debate over their potential use to support the country’s financial
recovery. However, the central bank remains firm in its stance against any move
to liquidate or invest the reserves, citing strict legal restrictions and the
risks of mismanagement. A senior financial official, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat,
acknowledged the significance of these discussions, particularly as the central
bank’s updated figures estimate Lebanon’s gold holdings at around $28 billion.
However, he emphasized that before considering any new policies, a full
qualitative audit of the reserves is necessary to determine their exact value,
weight, and historical origins. Lebanon officially holds approximately 286.8
tons of gold, or 9.25 million ounces. This reserve was accumulated under the
1963 Monetary and Credit Law to back the Lebanese lira. Currently, two-thirds of
the gold is stored securely at the central bank in Beirut, while the remaining
third is held at Fort Knox in the United States. Despite the growing interest in
leveraging this asset, Lebanese law strictly prohibits any direct or indirect
transaction involving the gold. Law No. 42 of 1986 mandates that any sale,
leasing, or investment of the reserves must receive explicit approval from
Parliament. Acting Central Bank Governor Dr. Wassim Mansouri has reaffirmed this
restriction, stating unequivocally: “No matter what happens, I will not sign off
on moving even a gram of gold.”Mansouri also highlighted the dangers of using
reserves irresponsibly. Before Lebanon’s financial collapse in late 2019, the
central bank held around $33 billion in foreign currency reserves, while gold
reserves were valued at $16 billion. The cash reserves were largely depleted
through unsustainable subsidy programs, leaving only $8.5 billion today. “We
lost one and a half times the value of our gold, and it didn’t solve anything.
The idea of using gold is simply not an option,” he said. While some
policymakers argue that investing the gold could generate much-needed revenue,
financial experts warn that without proper governance, such a move could lead to
further mismanagement. Instead, they stress the need for deeper economic and
institutional reforms. A key priority is securing an agreement with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ensure financial discipline, transparency,
and oversight. Any decision regarding the gold reserves would require
parliamentary approval and a clear, well-justified plan. However, financial
experts argue that Lebanon already possesses vast state-owned assets that, if
managed properly, could help close the country’s estimated $72 billion financial
gap. These assets include coastal and riverfront properties, 850 million square
meters of state-owned land, high-value real estate in Beirut and other cities,
as well as key infrastructure such as electricity, water, telecommunications,
ports, and transport networks. Many of these resources remain underutilized due
to corruption and inefficiency.
Salam calls for new
security plan to control Lebanon-Syria border
Najia Houssari/Arab News/March 25, 2025
BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam emphasized the need to control “the
border with Syria … combating smuggling through a new security plan that must be
swiftly implemented.”
Salam’s statement from the northern city of Tripoli comes on the eve of the
first official visit by a minister from his government to Syria to meet
officials there. On Wednesday, the minister of defense is scheduled to visit
Damascus to discuss “ways to control the border and prevent violations and
transgressions,” Salam said.
Defense Minister Michel Menassa will be accompanied by General Security
Director-General Maj. Gen. Hassan Choucair, and the director of Lebanese Army
Intelligence, Brig. Gen. Tony Kahwaji. The discussions are expected to focus on
enhancing security cooperation between Beirut and Damascus, with the delegation
carrying security files related to “combating smuggling, controlling illegal
crossings, and reducing border tensions.”
FASTFACTS
• Salam inspected President Rene Mouawad Airport in Qlayaat, which is not used
for civilian flights.
• He announced the conclusion of an agreement with Dar Al-Handasah to conduct a
free study for operating Qlayaat Airport.
• Within three months, an initial proposal for a guiding plan to initiate
operations at this facility will be presented.
Earlier this month, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and his Syrian counterpart
Ahmed Al-Sharaa agreed, on the sidelines of a meeting in Cairo, to organize
border management between the two countries. However, clashes erupted in the
border town of Hawsh Al-Sayyid Ali over a dispute between smugglers using
illegal crossings. The situation escalated into violent confrontations between
armed Lebanese tribesmen and Syrian forces, which were eventually contained
through communications and an agreement reached between the Lebanese and Syrian
defense ministers.
During his first visit to Tripoli since the formation of his government, Salam,
accompanied by several ministers, held meetings with local officials in Tripoli
and Akkar. They discussed the conditions and needs of the regions, as well as
the security situation in Tripoli, particularly in light of the recent security
disturbances and the influx of Syrian refugees from the coastal area of Syria.
Salam emphasized that “the government is committed to ensuring security,
especially following the challenging period that Tripoli experienced due to the
recent security instability, and to protecting the lives of citizens and
ensuring their stability.”
During a meeting with the city’s security officials, Salam said that “there will
be no protection for anyone undermining security” and called for “strict
measures to combat violations, drug trafficking, and its promotion.”He also
urged the development of “a national plan to confiscate weapons from civilians
and to address encroachments on both public and private properties.” He firmly
rejected any pressure “to release those who disrupt security.”Interior Minister
Ahmad Al-Hajjar, who accompanied Salam, said that “the security agencies possess
comprehensive information regarding the crimes occurring in Tripoli.” He urged
these agencies to adopt “a strict stance against those disrupting public order
and to resist any political protection that may be extended to these
offenders.”Salam inspected President Rene Mouawad Airport in the northern town
of Qlayaat, which is not used for civilian flights. He announced “the conclusion
of an agreement with Dar Al-Handasah to conduct a free study for operating
Qlayaat Airport. Within three months, an initial proposal for a guiding plan to
initiate operations at this facility will be presented.”Minister of Public Works
and Transport Fayez Rasamani explained that “we can benefit from the strategic
geographical location of Qlayaat Airport to attract more investors. We can also
think of transforming it into a cargo service airport, leveraging its proximity
to the Port of Tripoli, in addition to creating a free zone and an aircraft
maintenance facility at the airport.”In southern Lebanon, the Israeli army
confirmed on Tuesday morning that it had killed “the commander of Hezbollah’s
southern front anti-tank missile unit.” On Monday night, an Israeli drone struck
a car in Qaaqaaiyet El-Jisr, killing Hassan Kamal Halawi. The party did not
disclose Halawi’s military rank. The Israeli army claimed that Halawi “was
responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against the State of Israel. He
facilitated the movement of operatives and weapons into southern Lebanon.”In
recent days, Israel assassinated two other Hezbollah members, Hassan Al-Zein and
Radwan Awada. Since Saturday, the Israeli army has conducted dozens of raids on
southern Lebanon and the Bekaa, resulting in seven deaths and 40 injuries,
according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. These raids followed the launch of
six rockets of unknown origin from southern Lebanon toward the Israeli town of
Metula. Hezbollah denied any involvement in the rocket attack.
Israel says overnight
strike killed head of Hezbollah's anti-tank missile system
Agence France PresseMarch 25/2025
One person was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon late Monday,
after a wave of intensive air attacks in the region over the weekend, state
media reported. "A raid by an enemy Israeli drone on a vehicle in the area of
Qaqaiyat al-Jisr left one dead," the National News Agency (ANI) said,
attributing the toll to the Lebanese health ministry. The Israeli army said
Tuesday that the person killed was "Hassan Kamal Halawi, the commander of
Hezbollah's anti-tank missile system on the southern front." "During the war,
Halawi promoted numerous terrorist plots against the State of Israel and was
responsible for transporting terrorist operatives and arming them with combat
equipment in southern Lebanon. Over the past few months, Halawi has continued to
work on implementing terrorist plans against the Israeli home front," the
Israeli army added. Israel launched air strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday,
killing eight people, in response to rocket fire that hit its territory for the
first time since a ceasefire took effect on November 27.No party has claimed
responsibility for the rocket fire, which a military source said was launched
from an area north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and
Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire agreement. The agreement
stipulates that only the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers may be deployed
south of the Litani River, with Hezbollah required to dismantle its
infrastructure and withdraw north of the river. But the war has severely
weakened Hezbollah, which remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite the
ceasefire.Over the weekend Lebanese officials held discussions with Washington
and Paris to prevent Israel from bombing Beirut, a source told AFP on Monday on
condition of anonymity. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday
that following rocket fire on Metula, a town in northern Israel, "Metula's fate
is the same as Beirut's".
Salam visits Tripoli, vows no leniency with security
violators
Naharnet/March 25/2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam arrived Tuesday aboard a military helicopter in the
northern city of Tripoli, where he said that his visit is to “stress the
government’s keenness on sustainable security in Tripoli and on protecting its
sons.”“The basis of security is the developmental aspect, which Tripoli lacks,
and the issue of the proliferation of arms must be addressed,” Salam added. “We
are committed to sustainable security stability in the city and we will not be
lenient with anyone who violates security and they will be referred to the
relevant security agencies,” the premier went on to say.
Le Drian's mission: France urges Lebanon to implement
reforms before international conference
LBCIMarch 25/2025
French diplomatic efforts toward Lebanon are gaining momentum this week,
beginning with a visit from French President Emmanuel Macron's envoy, Jean-Yves
Le Drian. The envoy is set to arrive in Beirut on Wednesday for a two-day round
of meetings with Lebanese officials. Le Drian's visit will focus on several key
issues, including the implementation of financial and banking sector reforms, as
well as the situation in South Lebanon, particularly the status of the ceasefire
amid continued Israeli violations and the ongoing Israeli occupation of five
strategic hills.
His mission comes just ahead of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's visit to Paris
on Friday for a working trip. According to sources, the Lebanese-French
discussions will cover regional and international issues, emphasizing securing
the ceasefire, the role of the ceasefire monitoring committee, and continued
French support for the Lebanese Armed Forces. Talks will also address the
long-awaited economic reforms required of Lebanon, along with preparations for
the international conference to support Lebanon, which President Macron
announced during his visit to Beirut last January. However, the conference,
initially expected to occur between spring and summer, may be postponed for
several reasons, including France's desire to secure broad international support
before moving forward. Additionally, Paris insists that Lebanon implement the
necessary reforms before any aid is pledged, while some regional countries
remain hesitant to participate, linking their involvement to tangible progress
on reforms. While committed to the conference's success, France seems in no rush
to set a specific date or location, believing that ensuring its effectiveness is
more important than holding it within a fixed timeframe.
Politics get in the way: Lebanon nears decision on BDL
governor
LBCI/March 25/2025
Lebanon's Cabinet, under the insistence of President Joseph Aoun, is set to
appoint a new Banque du Liban (BDL) governor during its upcoming session on
Thursday. According to sources, Finance Minister Yassin Jaber has submitted an
official request to the Cabinet for the appointment, including a shortlist of
three candidates: Karim Souaid, a financial and banking expert and Harvard
graduate; Jamil Baz, another Harvard-educated financial expert; and Eddy Gemayel,
a financial specialist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). While the
Cabinet's agenda, prepared by the General Secretariat, has not yet listed the
appointment of a new BDL governor, a broader item titled "Various Appointments"
has been included. This suggests that the issue remains open for discussion,
particularly as ongoing consultations between the Presidential Palace and the
Grand Serail continue. If a consensus is reached between President Aoun and
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam before Thursday's session, the appointment is
expected to move forward. Ministerial sources told LBCI that Karim Souaid is the
leading candidate, as he has the president's backing, ministers aligned with
him, the Lebanese Forces, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
However, the two ministers affiliated with the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP)
have yet to finalize their stance. Should the session proceed without an
agreement, two possible scenarios could unfold. The first would involve a vote,
requiring a two-thirds majority—16 out of 24 ministers—to confirm a candidate.
This route risks exposing political tensions between the presidency and the
premiership for the first time since the formation of the government. The
second scenario would see the appointment postponed to a future session for
further deliberations.
UN says more than 21,000 people fled Syria sectarian
violence for Lebanon
LBCI/AFP/March 25/2025
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said Tuesday that more than 21,000
people had fled sectarian violence in Syria this month for safety in neighboring
Lebanon. "The hostilities... in early March continue to displace people on a
steady daily basis" into northern Lebanon, the UNHCR statement said, reporting
"21,637 new arrivals from Syria" citing figures provided by Lebanese authorities
and the Lebanese Red Cross.
Warnings ignored: Israel maintains military pressure on
Syria and Lebanon
LBCI/March 25/2025
Israel has ignored warnings from European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas
regarding its military actions in Syria, continuing its intensive strikes,
particularly in the country's south. At the same time, Lebanon remains a
focal point of Israeli military operations, keeping the northern
border—stretching from Mount Hermon to Naqoura—in a state of heightened tension.
Kallas voiced European concerns over the risks of keeping both Syria and Lebanon
under constant Israeli military pressure, warning that such actions could
reignite conflict in the region. However, Israel claims that Iranian,
Palestinian, and Hezbollah-affiliated elements, along with individuals who have
escaped Syrian prisons, are attempting to reach southern Syria to regain control
over areas that have become independent pockets of resistance, including those
that Israel refuses to withdraw from. In response, Israel has devised a strategy
to counter what it calls "strategic weapons" that could pose a threat to its air
force in both Syria and Lebanon. Israeli air and ground forces have been
carrying out strikes to disrupt the transfer of weaponry within Syria, as seen
in recent attacks on Palmyra Airport and the T-4 airbase. An Israeli
report revealed that the army has detained dozens of Syrians, some of whom have
been released after interrogation, while the fate of others remains unknown.
According to Israeli military officials, these operations are part of an effort
to track down individuals allegedly cooperating with hostile forces. As part of
its broader military strategy, Israel is planning to maintain a presence deep
inside Syria for an indefinite period to prevent any scenario that could lead to
a repeat of the October 7 attack, as tensions on this front continue to
escalate.
MP Neemat Frem from Maarab: Municipal elections in alliance
with LF, Kataeb, and Mansour El Bon
LBCI/March 25/2025
Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces (LF), met with MP Neemat Frem,
the head of Project Watan, at the LF's headquarters in Maarab. Frem described
the meeting as "special" and announced an electoral alliance with the LF for the
upcoming municipal elections in Jounieh. Frem shared "happy news" for the people
of Kesrouane, announcing that the electoral agreement has been completed, with
both parties set to run the elections together, starting from Jounieh and
expanding throughout Kesrouane. He emphasized that this municipal electoral
agreement would benefit the residents of Jounieh, with the LF, the Kataeb Party,
Sheikh Mansour El Bon, and his own movement forming a unified alliance. He also
underscored the importance of proving that they can manage local and municipal
affairs, enabling them to handle national issues effectively.
On a different note, Frem expressed firm opposition to the proposed amendments
to the parliamentary electoral law. "We completely reject these proposed
amendments," he stated. He stressed the need for a discussion on modifying
the current law and, if no consensus is reached, maintaining the existing law as
is. He pointed out that the major risk lies in delays in holding the
parliamentary elections, which, he said, was unacceptable. Frem further
highlighted two necessary amendments to the current electoral law. The first
concerns the six seats allocated to the Lebanese diaspora, which he rejected,
arguing that the world is now a global village and the Lebanese abroad should
not be treated as such. The second proposed amendment relates to creating "mega
centers" for voting. Moreover, Frem expressed his opposition to a proposed
amendment allowing voters to cast two preferential votes and to turn Lebanon
into a single electoral district. He concluded by revealing that he and several
fellow MPs are working on a draft law enabling Lebanese citizens to elect the
Parliament and the Senate directly. This proposal would adjust the current law
allowing expatriates to vote in Lebanon. At the same time, the Senate would be
elected based on the Orthodox Law, where candidates are chosen strictly
according to their sectarian registration.
Government sources deny reports on appointments at Télé Liban and Ogero
LBCI/March 25/2025
Government sources have dismissed circulating reports regarding appointing a new
board of directors for Télé Liban or replacing Ogero's director general. The
sources clarified that all appointments must follow the established procedures,
emphasizing that any future changes will be made strictly through the official
mechanism.
The Silent Mission of the Sisters of the Cross
Moncef Ait-Kaci/This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
In Jal al-Dib, the Sisters of the Cross welcomed us to their psychiatric
hospital, “Deir al-Salib,” on the Feast of the Annunciation. A rare visit to
meet those who, in the shadows, heal the unspoken, support the deepest
suffering, and tirelessly carry a message of faith, hope and solidarity.
A telethon in support of their mission will air on April 24 during the Sar al-Waet
program on MTV.
Investigation into Kulluna Irada Amid Allegations of
Financial Manipulation
This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
Thirteen days after a number of lawyers filed a complaint against Kulluna Irada
on charges of committing criminal offenses related to manipulating the national
economy and destabilizing financial markets, Judge Jamal al-Hajjar, the Court of
Cassation General Prosecutor, referred the complaint to the Beirut Appeals Court
to conduct the necessary investigations. The controversy began with a group of
lawyers who submitted a detailed report, supported by documents and evidence,
claiming that Kulluna Irada had overstepped its initial mandate. According to
them, the organization, originally founded to promote democratic and economic
reforms, had evolved into a politically influential entity, directly impacting
the country’s financial decisions. The complaint accused the association of
training social media and media groups to incite the public against the banking
system and promote claims of bank failures, which led to panic among depositors
and accelerated the collapse of the Lebanese pound. The report also indicated
that the organization pressured the Lebanese government to stop paying
Eurobonds, a decision that was considered disastrous for the Lebanese economy.
From a legal standpoint, the authorities will need to determine whether the
accusations are valid and whether formal charges should be filed. The
investigation could rely on several articles of the Lebanese Penal Code,
including Articles 296, 297, 316 and 319, which punish the spread of false
information that undermines economic trust, conspiracy against financial markets
and manipulation of the national currency.
Kulluna Irada's Evasive Response
In response to these accusations, Kulluna Irada's reaction has been evasive.
Albert Kostanian, the former executive president of the organization, avoided
commenting on the suspicions of violating the association’s license, simply
stating that he had not reviewed the official receipt text of the association.
In an official statement, Kulluna Irada responded to the allegations by adopting
an ambiguous position, avoiding direct rebuttals and instead criticizing the
media attacks against it.
Political Gains Over Military Might
Johnny Kortbawi/This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
Lebanon has long been accustomed to generating contentious — and at times
existential — debates. At any given time, discussions can emerge over a
particular issue, starting as a legislative matter but quickly evolving into a
national, constitutional, or even structural controversy. The latest example is
the proposal to adopt a single electoral district based on proportional
representation. MP Ali Hassan Khalil has forcefully revived the proposal he
first introduced six years ago, at the height of debates over electoral laws and
amid growing awareness of the flaws in the 2017 legislation. However, the timing
of its revival today is far from coincidental. At best, it signals questionable
motives — at worst, calculated and potentially malicious intent. The Shiite
community—long dominated by Hezbollah—finds itself facing a deepening crisis
following its defeat in the group’s most recent conflict. It grapples with
numerous hardships and existential challenges, both politically and
economically. Inevitably, it will be forced to surrender its weapons to the
Lebanese army and relinquish its military gains as the wave of normalization
sweeps across the region. Recognizing this shifting reality, the Shiite
political establishment—distinct from the broader Shiite community, which
includes various opposition factions with diverse perspectives—has begun
shifting its focus from military strength to political influence to offset the
impact of this new crisis. This is where the flawed electoral law proposal comes
into play. It would plunge Lebanon further into the ever-changing complexities
of sectarian demographics. Currently, the Shiite community stands as the largest
organized voting bloc, capable of forming the biggest unified parliamentary
group. Under the existing law, Shiites hold 27 seats, with an additional two or
three seats allocated to other religious communities. However, the “single
district, proportional representation” proposal would significantly increase
their political leverage, potentially securing at least 45 parliamentary seats
from various religious communities and regions. This is the true driving force
behind the proposal - similar to the insistence on retaining control of the
Ministry of Finance, even if through a figure deemed acceptable to the
international community, particularly the United States. Keeping the Finance
Ministry under Shiite leadership, along with securing the decisive “third
signature” in government decision-making, serves as another avenue for
consolidating power under the guise of political tradition. This pattern extends
to maintaining control over the General Directorate of General Security, as well
as upholding the purported sectarian balance within both Parliament and the
Cabinet. All these moves are calculated steps aimed at expanding political
influence, ensuring greater weight in decision-making, and securing dominance
over others.
Ortagus in Lebanon after
Eid: Weapons Withdrawal and Destruction
Ghada Halawi/Al-Modon/March 25, 2025
US envoy Morgan Ortagus is expected to arrive in Lebanon in the first week after
Eid al-Fitr to monitor the implementation of Resolution 1701 and its milestones
to date. Based on her first visit, which resulted in the rapid formation of a
government by force, the agenda for the upcoming visit will concern the
situation in the south and Hezbollah's weapons. Information obtained from
sources involved in organizing the visit reveals that discussions with the three
presidents will focus on the surrender of Hezbollah's weapons, even by force, or
their return to their sources, i.e., to Syria, for destruction. The discussions
will also focus on the implementation of Resolution 1680, which affirms the
implementation of Resolution 1559, calls on the Lebanese government to exercise
its full authority without foreign interference, and calls on Syria to demarcate
the border with Lebanon starting from the Shebaa Farms. Ortagus wants to see
"more serious" practical steps regarding Hezbollah's weapons. She does not
consider the quantity of weapons stores confiscated by the Lebanese Army
sufficient. She wants to ensure that the government and the army are able to
completely disarm Hezbollah and that the weapons will be destroyed, not handed
over to the army. This is evident in the fact that the army detonates the
weapons it confiscates almost daily, as it is undesirable to keep them.
Ironically, the head of the oversight committee, the American general, prevented
the army from taking the weapons and ammunition abandoned by the resistance and
insisted on detonating them.
Changes in the Nature of the Conflict
The American envoy's visit will reflect the increasingly hardline US policy. In
recent years, the Middle East has witnessed significant shifts in the nature of
conflicts between major and regional powers, with proxy wars the dominant
feature. However, the rapid military and political developments have
demonstrated the possibility of a transition from this pattern to a direct
confrontation between Israel, supported by the United States, on the one hand,
and Iran, which seeks to strengthen its regional influence, on the other. Iran
has long sought to expand its influence and confront Israel without entering
into a direct confrontation with it, by supporting forces loyal to it in
Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, and Iraq. Meanwhile, Israel has received significant
support from the United States, particularly in military, technological, and
political aspects, with the aim of strengthening Israel's military superiority
on multiple fronts. The United States also provides strategic support for
advanced defense systems such as the Iron Dome and Arrow missiles, and, most
importantly, supplies it with approximately 85 Guided Bomb Unit (GBU-28)
bunker-buster bombs, each weighing approximately 2,000 kg. These bombs are among
the most destructive types of weapons in the American military arsenal (they
were used in the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah). In addition, the
United States exerts political influence to support Israel at the international
and regional levels, and by imposing economic sanctions on Iran with the aim of
weakening its expansionist capabilities in the region. The rules of engagement
in wars often change as political and military circumstances change. These
shifts begin to redraw the lines between opposing and contending powers, opening
the door to new conflicts with untold complexities. These shifts raise numerous
questions about the security, political, and economic future of the region. For
the past two decades, proxy wars between Israel and Iran have been a convenient
strategic solution for all.
A Shift in the Rules of Engagement
However, the region has recently witnessed a shift in the rules of engagement
between Israel and Iran. The proxy conflict has begun to escalate to greater
levels on the military front. Israel launched a series of attacks on Syrian and
Iranian military sites, while Iran responded indirectly by targeting Israel
through its allies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen. It also intensified its support
for pro-Iranian armed forces in Syria and Iraq. This has been the primary reason
for expanding the circle of confrontation further, leading the region to the
point where it began fragmenting the countries surrounding Israel and annexing
parts of them to fulfill Israel's dream. Continued US intervention enhances
Israel's ability to achieve its goals and respond effectively to Iranian
threats. The United States is deliberately pressuring Israel to halt its
military escalation in Lebanon and Gaza, so as not to escalate the conflict and
further deteriorate relations between the concerned parties in the region and
the Arabian Gulf. More than ever, the likelihood of a direct confrontation
between Israel and Iran is growing, especially in light of the rising tensions
in the Arabian Gulf. Iran continues to enhance its nuclear military
capabilities, raising the level of regional and international alert. Meanwhile,
Israel is working to strengthen its defense systems to confront any potential
threats. Should the situation escalate into a direct confrontation, it would
have far-reaching repercussions for regional and international security. Such a
confrontation would not only alter the military balance of power, but could also
lead to fundamental changes in regional and international alliances and
significantly impact the stability of global markets, most notably oil and gas
markets. Neighboring countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon would be at the
eye of the storm, which could lead to dramatic changes in their political,
security, and economic situations. According to diplomatic reports, which
intersect with military reports, a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran
is imminent. This would impact the stability of the entire region and increase
the likelihood that a direct conflict between regional and international powers
would become an inevitable reality.
From Normalization Hopes to Ceasefire Reality: Israel’s
Demands vs. Lebanon’s Preconditions
Philippe Abi-Akl/This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
The issue of normalization has reemerged in Lebanese domestic politics, with
each political party leveraging it to serve its own interests. In a development,
significant in both substance and timing, US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff
announced that Lebanon would be asked to enter into direct negotiations with
Israel. He added that Lebanon should appoint a civilian or nonmilitary figure to
lead the talks, while Israel would be represented by Strategic Affairs Minister
Ron Dermer. Witkoff also noted that President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister
Nawaf Salam had been encouraged to involve House Speaker Nabih Berri, describing
him as one of the few figures capable of playing a central role in the process.
However, Witkoff swiftly denied the statements attributed to him by An-Nahar
newspaper, reaffirming Lebanon’s sovereign right to make its own decisions and
voicing his support for the current administration.
A few days later, Witkoff stated that “normalization of relations between
Lebanon and Syria with Israel has become a real possibility.” Several senior
officials from the Trump administration also affirmed that, in light of recent
regional developments, Washington was determined to open a political channel
between Lebanon and Israel and move forward. Morgan Ortagus, Deputy US Special
Envoy to the Middle East, sent a letter to the Lebanese President of the
Republic, Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker, urging them to form three
committees that would address the issues of detainees, the five hills occupied
by Israel and the thirteen disputed points along the Blue Line. Berri responded
by reaffirming his strong commitment to the implementation of UN Resolution
1701, underscoring its central role in the ceasefire agreement. He emphasized
the importance of addressing ongoing violations and Israeli aggression since the
war's conclusion before any discussions on border demarcation could take place.
Presidential sources also confirmed that the three-committee-proposition is part
of a broader effort to implement Resolution 1701, and that these committees will
not engage in direct negotiations.
Israel is seeking to capitalize on regional developments, particularly in Syria,
to pressure Lebanon into direct negotiations over all unresolved issues. To this
end, it has disregarded the ceasefire agreement by establishing positions at
five strategically significant locations. Israel has also asserted the right to
violate Lebanese airspace, conduct airstrikes, carry out operations and
assassinate Hezbollah’s leaders, while destroying weapon storage facilities.
These actions are part of Israel's broader strategy to force Lebanon into direct
negotiations.
Israel's justification for engaging in negotiations with Lebanon over the
demarcation of its southern land border is fundamentally flawed, as Lebanon's
southern border with Palestine have been clearly defined since 1932 and are
internationally recognized under the armistice agreement signed on March 23,
1949, between Lebanon and Israel. Article 5 of the agreement explicitly states,
“The boundary line follows the international border between Lebanon and
Palestine.”
A former official states, “There is no dispute over border points between
Lebanon and Israel, as both countries adhere to the armistice agreement signed
by officials from both sides —Lieutenant Colonel Tawfiq Salem and Captain Joseph
Harb from Lebanon, and Lieutenant Colonel Mordechai Maklef, Yehoshua Belman and
Shabtai Rosen from Israel. This is why Lebanon did not participate in the wars
of 1965 and 1973, as there was no border dispute with Israel.”
The same official asserts that the situation changed after Israel's occupation
of the Kfarchouba Hills and Shebaa Farms in Lebanon, and after Lebanon's signing
of the Cairo Agreement, which allowed Palestinians to conduct operations against
Israel from the Fatah Land area in the south. As a result, Lebanon became the
only Arab front open for Palestinian operations against Israel. This led to
disruptions along the southern border, ultimately resulting in Israel's invasion
of Lebanon in 1982, the expulsion of the Palestinian leadership to Tunisia and
the withdrawal of Palestinian fighters from Lebanon.
In 2000, Israel took advantage of its withdrawal from Lebanon by refusing to
recognize the international border, instead insisting on the Blue Line—the line
of its withdrawal—and treating it as the border. This position resulted in a
dispute over 13 border points from which Israel had not withdrawn, thereby
maintaining control over nearly 484,800 square meters of land. These areas
included the following locations: Ras al-Naqoura, Marwahin, Alma al-Shaab (3
locations), Al-Bustan, Rmeish, Yaroun, Odaisseh, Kfar Kila, Mays al-Jabal,
Metula and Blida. In addition, Israel currently occupies five points: Labbouneh
Hills, Jabal Blat, Jal al-Deir, Markaba and Tal al-Hamames, along with buffer
zones in Dhayra, Bastra and the Kfar Kila-Odaisseh road.
In this context, Lebanon is calling for Israel's withdrawal from these points
and requesting that UNIFIL forces, along with American and French teams, oversee
the area through a supervisory committee. Hezbollah officials have made it clear
that the group will not relinquish its weapons as long as Israel continues to
occupy Lebanese territory. This position, in turn, prevents Lebanon from
receiving reconstruction aid, as donor countries require the state to have
exclusive control over weapons—a condition that cannot be fulfilled as long as
Israel remains in the south.
Finally, the same official emphasizes that the resolution of the border dispute
hinges on Israel's recognition of the international border as outlined in the
armistice agreement, rather than the Blue Line. The peace that Israel advocates,
and that Washington supports, must be grounded in several essential conditions:
an end to Israeli violations, Israel's withdrawal from all occupied territories,
including Shebaa and Kfarchouba, as well as the release of Lebanese prisoners.
The creation of an independent Palestinian State and the return of Palestinian
refugees to their homes are also essential elements in stabilizing the region
and bringing the conflict to an end.
Who Destroyed Lebanon: Hezbollah or the Banks?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
A “bloc” of lawmakers, political parties, media outlets, and non-governmental
organizations are peddling a platform that distracts attention from the
paramount importance of disarming Hezbollah and instead blames banks for the
utter misery that Lebanon finds itself in. Such an argument is either too dumb,
or its proponents are too complicit with the Iran-backed militia. Hezbollah’s
arms are the alpha and the omega of Lebanon’s problems. The tired argument
blaming banks rests on the premise that Lebanon’s national debt, now at $102
billion, was all blown away by profits for banks and the corrupt practices of
the country’s oligarchs and more minor politicians. To rectify the situation,
banks should be restructured, merged, punished, and humiliated.
And Hezbollah’s arms?
According to the same fallacy, Hezbollah’s armament is the product of
corruption. Therefore, Lebanon’s salvation starts with reforming the bureaucracy
and fleecing Lebanon’s banks of all the profits that they made over the past
three decades because banks are not supposed to make profits. Before we counter
the fallacious argument, it is good to remind its proponents that if corruption
produced the Hezbollah militia, then how come only the Shia community produced a
militia in Lebanon? If corruption was the vehicle of illicit armament, then why
have not the Christians, the Druze, and the Sunnis reconstituted their civil war
militias?
The answer is that while Hezbollah exploited loopholes in the Lebanese political
and banking systems, the militia was not the result of corruption but of an
imperial, ideological, Islamist Iranian project that swept nations, whether with
established banking sectors – like Lebanon – or without banks, such as Gaza,
Yemen, and Iraq. Hezbollah would have been there, with or without Lebanon’s
corruption and with or without the banks. Now to the more serious economics
argument. In the U.S., two indicators are scrutinized, year-round, to gauge the
health of the economy: Economic GDP growth and employment. Recently, a third
indicator – inflation – has come under the spotlight too. In Lebanon, for some
reason, the phrase “GDP growth” is never part of the economic debate. Instead,
the Lebanese seem to be obsessed with arguments over the best course of action
to attract rent – whether Gulf aid or foreign loans from the likes of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). What is worse is that
the IMF and the WB rarely present Lebanon with economic plans aimed at
incentivizing growth but always suggest their one-size-fits-all recipe of
shrinking the government and shirking social responsibility. In 2001, I was
reporting on the annual budget discussion in parliament. The IMF had suggested
that Lebanon let go of pegging its Lira to the US dollar, a demand that many in
Lebanon endorsed. But late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri refused these
recommendations arguing that such a move would have “shaken social stability for
no clear returns.” Hariri was right.Hariri’s calculus, however, assumed that the
economy would be growing, without which, pegging the Lira would rely on deficit
and national debt and thus become unsustainable.
Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah became the icon of perpetual war in
Lebanon and the region, was a repellent to foreign investments and an inhibitor
of GDP growth. Hariri understood the problem and held rounds of talks with
Nasrallah to convince him to surrender his arms and allow Lebanon to become
normal and let its economy grow. In 2005, Hezbollah killed Hariri, according to
the UN. The peg made Lebanon a high-middle-income country. A policeman made $500
a month, higher than his peers in most neighboring countries. With inflated
purchasing power, Lebanon’s current account remained deep in the red. Beirut
hemorrhaged foreign currency faster than it could replenish. The state, whose
borrowing risk was set at high due to Hezbollah and its wars, funded its peg,
deficit, and debt with bonds that local banks bought using FX reserves deposits,
often remittances or diaspora money parked in Lebanese banks. As foreign
currency sources started drying out, the Central Bank embarked on a slippery
slope of hiking interests to feed the government’s growing debt and service it,
until there were no more reserves left. Lebanon defaulted and its currency lost
98 percent of its value.
Today, the same “bloc” argues that banks “criminally” took risks by buying risky
state bonds. But with the state’s high interest rates, any bank that opted for
lower-yield investments would have risked becoming less competitive. Like in
America’s subprime mortgage collapse of 2008, any single bank that stood against
the flood would have been knocked out. By 2020, the Lebanese formal economy had
collapsed and given rise to an informal cash economy that better serves
Hezbollah. To reverse the situation, the formal economy must be revived, a step
that requires a growing GDP, which in turn requires stability that attracts
investors. With Hezbollah’s arms, stability is impossible, hence why disarmament
is the key to solving Lebanon’s problem, not vice versa. Many in the “bloc” seem
to have their eyes on becoming presidents and prime ministers and think that
currying favor with Hezbollah requires diluting their attacks on the militia.
The “bloc” is politicking, not speaking truth to power.
Is Salam Breaking the Law by Withholding Key Legislation
Like Mikati?
Maurice Matta/This Is Beirut/March 25/2025
Over a year after former Prime Minister Najib Mikati refused to publish three
laws approved by Parliament – the non-residential rental law, the compensation
law for private school faculty, and a 650 billion LBP advance for the teachers’
pension fund – a recent report from the State Shura Council determined that
Mikati had exceeded his authority by rejecting and failing to publish these
laws. Despite this, the laws remain pending in Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s
office, even though he is fully aware of the report and its findings, which
clearly confirm the legal violation. This situation is particularly troubling
given the precedent set when Mikati’s government initially issued the laws, only
to later retract them – an unprecedented constitutional breach which legal
experts agree violated both the laws and the legislative process. The essential
procedural step of publishing the laws, which is crucial for their enforcement,
was notably skipped.
Salam is fully aware, according to sources, that a violation has occurred and
the matter is clear. However, the question remains: why has he not yet acted to
publish these laws? Sources suggest that after reviewing the case and drawing on
his judicial background, Salam is convinced that the laws should be published.
Yet, some appear to be attempting to hinder the process, hoping Parliament will
find a way to resolve the issue without embarrassing Mikati or acknowledging his
violation. Notably, the joint parliamentary committees had recommended in their
report that the laws be published in the Official Gazette – yet Mikati ignored
this request, offering only a brief statement expressing respect for judicial
decisions without taking any tangible action. All eyes are currently on Salam,
as he has promised to uphold the Constitution and enforce the laws. Will he
swiftly act to publish the three laws, or will he opt for a compromise,
following his predecessor’s approach to managing state affairs? According to
sources, the issue will be urgently raised tomorrow when Nehme Mahfoud, the head
of the Private School Teachers Syndicate, visits Minister of Education Rima
Karami with a delegation from the syndicate. They hope for a positive response
regarding the publication of the compensation and financial advance laws before
announcing a series of actions. Sources from the syndicate indicate that Mahfoud
had waited for the government formation and his visit to the prime minister, and
that enough time has passed since the State Shura Council’s report for the laws
to be published. Meanwhile, Patrick Rizkallah, the head of the Property Owners
Syndicate, will visit the prime minister tomorrow with a delegation to discuss
the same issue and seek a resolution regarding the non-residential rental law.
The Shura Council’s report was issued in response to the syndicate’s challenge
of the decree rejecting the law. Syndicate sources reveal that property owners
are leveraging the Shura Council’s report to pressure for the publication of the
law, taking advantage of the legal vacuum to file lawsuits under general law to
reclaim non-residential rental units leased before 1992.
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Israel Kills Six in Southern
Syria, Syrian Ministry Says
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
An Israeli attack killed six people in southern Syria on Tuesday, Syria's
foreign ministry said, after the Israeli military said its troops had clashed
with gunmen who had opened fire on them. Israeli troops occupying the area
clashed with local residents, Syrian state media and a war monitor
reported.Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said troops fired back at
gunmen who attacked them, before launching a drone attack.Syrian state-run news
agency SANA said several people were wounded, including a woman. The
Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death
toll at seven. The observatory and a town resident told The Associated Press
that clashes had erupted between Israeli troops and residents when the Israeli
troops fired. The violence in the border area marks increased friction between
Israel and Syria, where a new leadership has been installed after opposition
factions ousted former leader Bashar al-Assad from power in December. Israel
says it will not tolerate an armed presence in southern Syria and has sent its
troops into Syria's border zone. Syria's leadership has said it does not intend
to open a front against Israel. The Israeli military said militants in southern
Syria opened fire toward Israeli troops, without specifying whether the Israeli
troops were within Syrian territory when they were targeted. It said its troops
returned fire and that an Israeli warplane struck the militants. It gave no
details on casualties but said "hits were identified". Syria's foreign ministry
said six people had been killed in the attack on Koya, a town in the southern
province of Daraa, adding that the toll was expected to rise due to serious
injuries sustained from the attack. It has called for an international
investigation into the Israeli attacks on its territory, describing them as a
"blatant violation of its sovereignty". Earlier, Israel said it had attacked two
military bases, Tadmur and T4, in Homs province in central Syria. Israel spent
years carrying out airstrikes on Syria during Assad's rule, targeting
Iran-linked military installations and weapons transfers from Tehran intended
for the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. That arms route was cut when Assad was
toppled but Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Syrian military bases.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on Tuesday that
Israel's strikes into Syria "risk further escalation".Speaking at a joint press
conference with Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar, Kallas said the pair had
discussed Israel's actions. "And we (the EU) feel that these things are
unnecessary, because Syria is right now not attacking Israel," Kallas said. The
foreign ministry also urged Syrian people to reject any attempts to displace
them or "enforce any new realities on the ground".
Israel strikes Syria bases again despite EU warning
Agence France Presse/March 25/2025
The Israeli army said Tuesday that it had again struck two military bases in
central Syria, a day after the European Union's foreign policy chief warned
strikes there and in Lebanon risked escalation. "A short while ago, the IDF
struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of
Tadmur and T4," the Israeli military said, referring to bases in Palmyra and
another 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the city. "The IDF will continue to act
in order to remove any threat posed to the citizens of the State of Israel," it
added. Israel said Friday it struck the same bases after a war monitor first
reported the raids. On Monday during a visit to Jerusalem, EU foreign policy
chief Kaja Kallas warned that Israeli strikes on Syria and Lebanon were
threatening to worsen the situation. "Military actions must be proportionate,
and Israeli strikes into Syria and Lebanon risk further escalation," Kallas said
at a joint news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. "We feel
that these things are unnecessary because Syria is right now not attacking
Israel and that feeds more radicalization that is also against Israel," Kallas
told journalists. In Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military
sites since Islamist-led rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December. Israel
says it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of new authorities
it considers jihadists. And despite a ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry
out strikes on Lebanon -- with both sides repeatedly accusing the other of
violating the truce. Israel launched air strikes on southern Lebanon on
Saturday, killing eight people, in response to rocket fire that hit its
territory for the first time since a ceasefire took effect on November 27. No
party has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. The Israeli military has
also deployed to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, while Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria.
Syria's foreign ministry has accused Israel of waging a campaign against "the
stability of the country". When asked about Israel's stance towards Syria's new
leaders, Kallas said: "Of course our worries are the same. They say the right
things, will they do the right things?""But we have discussed this in the
European Union and amongst all the member states, and our view is that we need a
stable Syria," she added.
Netanyahu Believes Confrontation with Türkiye in Syria is
'Inevitable'
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding security consultations to
discuss concerns over Turkish influence in Syria following the fall of Bashar
Assad’s regime, and is trying to portray a confrontation with Ankara as
inevitable, Israeli security sources said. The Hebrew website Walla, citing
security sources, said Syria is holding contacts with Türkiye regarding the
transfer of areas near Palmyra (central Syria) to the Turkish army in exchange
for economic and military support for Damascus. This development sparked
significant Israeli concerns, the sources said. They noted that the new Syrian
regime is working to restore military bases and enhance missile and defense
capabilities in the south, near Israel. Also, Channel 12 reported that
Netanyahu, through his advisors, is pushing Israeli media to portray that “a
confrontation with Türkiye on Syrian territory is inevitable.” In January, a
confidential Israeli government study group delivered a warning about the
Türkiye-Syria alliance. The committee’s report urged Netanyahu to prepare for a
potential war with Ankara in Syria. Also, the Jerusalem Post said Israel must
prepare for a direct confrontation with Türkiye, according to the Nagel
Committee’s latest report on the defense budget and security strategy. It noted
that the committee, established by the Israeli government, warns that Ankara’s
ambitions to restore its Ottoman-era influence could lead to heightened tensions
with Israel, possibly escalating into conflict. The report highlights the risk
of Syrian factions aligning with Türkiye, creating a new and potent threat to
Israel’s security. “The threat from Syria could evolve
into something even more dangerous than the Iranian threat,” the report states,
warning that Turkish-backed forces might act as proxies, fueling regional
instability. Meanwhile, Syria TV said two members of the Syrian defense
ministry's 42nd Division were injured in the Israeli airstrike that targeted the
Palmyra military airport last Friday night.Later, the channel reported that US
helicopters flew at low altitudes over Deir Ezzor.
Last week, Syrian state news agency, SANA, said Israeli strikes on the southern
Syria province of Deraa killed and wounded several civilians.
Damascus Arrests Drug Trafficker Linked to Maher al-Assad,
Others Held Over Tadamon Massacre
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Security forces in the Damascus countryside announced the arrest of Shadi Adel
Mahfouz, describing him as one of the individuals involved in recent attacks on
security forces in the coastal region. Mahfouz was reportedly employed by the
ousted regime’s Military Intelligence Branch 277 and was responsible for
recruitment on behalf of Military Security. Security forces also arrested two
suspects linked to the 2013 massacre in the Tadamon district of Damascus: Kamel
Sharif Abbas and Maher Hadeed. Hadeed, a member of the National Defense Forces,
is accused of committing additional war crimes against Syrian civilians.
Authorities suspect a connection between Hadeed and Amjad Youssef, the primary
suspect in the Tadamon massacre.
The arrests follow just over a month after Syrian security forces captured three
individuals involved in the 2013 Tadamon massacre. One of the suspects confessed
to killing more than 500 people in the Tadamon district at the start of the
revolution against the former regime.
The massacre took place on Nasreen Street in Tadamon, near the Palestinian
refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus. It remained undiscovered for nearly nine
years until footage surfaced in April 2022, published by the Guardian. The video
revealed Syrian regime forces executing 41 civilians, including seven women and
several children. In related developments, local media sources reported the
arrest of Mohannad Naaman, a close associate of Maher al-Assad and senior
officers in the Fourth Division.
Naaman, originally from Harasta in the Damascus countryside, is accused of
overseeing one of the major captagon pill production sites in both the Damascus
countryside and along Syria’s coastal region, including a ship anchored off
Syria’s shores.
Iran’s Currency Drops to a Record Low amid Geopolitical
Uncertainty
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Iran's currency fell below the psychologically key level of 1,000,000 rial per
US dollar on Tuesday, as market participants saw no end in sight to sanctions
under US President Donald Trump's renewed "maximum pressure" campaign. Trump
said earlier this month that he had sent a letter to Iran's top authority,
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warning that Iran's nuclear program could either be
dealt with through negotiations or militarily. Khamenei rejected the US offer
for talks as a "deception" and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said last
week that negotiations with Washington were impossible unless its policy
changed. The apparent diplomatic deadlock has raised fears of potential
conflict, although Iranian officials have sought to assuage such concerns.
"I am certain there won't be any war as we are fully prepared for such
condition... so that no one will think about attacking Iran," Araqchi said on
Monday, during a meeting with the Iranian Red Crescent. Iran's currency dropped
to a record low of 1,039,000 rial to the US dollar according to Bonbast.com,
which gathers live data from Iranian exchanges. This represents a more than
halving of the currency's value since President Masoud Pezeshkian took office
last year. Facing an annual inflation rate of about
40%, Iranians seeking safe havens for their savings have been buying dollars,
other hard currencies or gold, suggesting further headwinds for the rial.
The Iranian rial stood around 55,000 to the US dollar in 2018, when US
sanctions were reimposed by the first Trump administration to force Tehran to
the negotiating table by limiting its oil exports and access to foreign
currency. The US has issued four rounds of sanctions on Iran's oil sales since
Trump's return to the White House.
US Strikes Target Houthi Hideouts in Sanaa, Saada
Aden: Ali Rabih/Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
The US military campaign ordered by President Donald Trump against Yemen’s
Houthi group entered its tenth day, following a series of concentrated strikes
on the capital, Sanaa, and their northern stronghold of Saada. The Iran-backed
group has remained silent on its losses, including the fate of targeted leaders
and military capabilities, in an apparent bid to maintain the morale of its
supporters. The escalation came after the collapse of the second phase of a
truce between Hamas and Israel in Gaza. In response, US President Donald Trump
ordered a decisive military offensive against the Houthis, vowing to deploy
“lethal force” to eliminate the group. However, Yemeni observers remain
skeptical about the effectiveness of the strikes if they continue at the same
pace as those carried out during Joe Biden’s administration.
Intense overnight airstrikes on Sunday targeted Houthi hideouts and a military
storage facility west of Sanaa, amid speculation that senior figures may have
been hit. The group claimed the strikes hit a residential building in the Asr
neighborhood of the capital’s Maeen district, killing one person and wounding 15
others, including women and children. In Saada, the group’s media outlets
reported four airstrikes on the outskirts of the city, followed by two more in
the Sahar and Saqin districts. The latest raids
extended a series of strikes on the rugged northern province in recent days.
Analysts suggest the attacks likely targeted fortified sites housing
advanced military capabilities—such as missiles and drones—along with experts
overseeing their deployment. Since the launch of the
latest US military campaign, Washington has provided few details on specific
Houthi targets but insists the strikes are ongoing around the clock, aimed at
safeguarding maritime navigation in the Red Sea. During Biden’s administration,
US and British forces carried out approximately 1,000 airstrikes on Houthi
positions between January 12, 2024, and the start of the Gaza truce. Despite the
sustained bombardment, the group continued its attacks, which Washington says
are backed by Iran.
Over 100 strikes
The Houthis have faced more than 100 air and naval strikes since March 15,
targeting fortified positions in Sanaa, Saada, Marib, Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Dhamar,
and Hajjah, as well as various locations in the Red Sea coastal province of
Hodeidah. In response, the Houthis fired five ballistic missiles toward Israel
since last Tuesday, all of which the Israeli military said were intercepted
without causing damage. The group also claimed to have launched six missile and
drone attacks on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and its accompanying
vessels since the strikes began. The US military has not commented on these
claims. Since joining the conflict against Israel after October 7, 2023, the
Houthis have launched around 200 missiles and drones. The attacks have had
little military impact, except for a drone explosion in an apartment on June 19
that killed one person. Yemeni officials fear potential Israeli retaliatory
strikes on Houthi-controlled areas, similar to five waves of attacks last year
that targeted infrastructure in Sanaa and Hodeidah, including the airport,
seaport, and power stations. Between November 2023 and the Gaza ceasefire
between Israel and Hamas, the Houthis claimed responsibility for attacking 211
vessels. After the ceasefire took effect on January 19, the group announced a
halt to its maritime and missile attacks on Israel. However, it resumed
operations following the breakdown of the truce’s second phase.
Israeli Strikes Kill 23 in Gaza, Military Expands Evacuation Orders
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 23 Palestinians on
Tuesday, local health officials said, as the Israeli military expanded
evacuation orders to tens of thousands of residents across the enclave. The
Israeli military resumed its campaign against Hamas in Gaza a week ago,
shattering a two-month ceasefire. Since then, nearly 700 people, mostly women
and children, have been killed, Palestinian health officials say. Most of Gaza's
2.3 million population has already been displaced by the fighting multiple times
during nearly 18 months of war and is facing worsening shortages of food and
water after Israel suspended aid deliveries earlier this month.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army told residents in all northern border towns to
evacuate, saying Palestinian rockets had been fired at Israel from the area. The
affected towns include Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Shejaia in Gaza
City. Orders were also issued for areas in Khan Younis and Rafah in the south.
"For your safety, you must move immediately south to known shelters," the
military said in its orders to residents in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's
historic refugee camps.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the Gaza
Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the renewed offensive aimed to
pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining 59 hostages it is holding in Gaza.
About 24 of them are believed to be still alive. Hamas, which accuses Israel of
abandoning the January 19 ceasefire deal, said it was cooperating with a new
effort, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to restore calm and
conclude the three-phase ceasefire agreement. According to some Hamas sources,
there has been no breakthrough. The latest bloodshed in the decades-old
Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas
fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according
to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed over
50,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry.
Hundreds in Gaza rally against Hamas, demand end to war
FRANCE 24/(AFP)/March 25, 2025
Hundreds of Palestinians protested in northern Gaza on Tuesday, demanding an end
to the war with Israel and chanting anti-Hamas slogans, witnesses said. The
crowd, mostly men, shouted "Hamas out" and "Hamas terrorists" in Beit Lahia.
Hundreds of Palestinians shouted anti-Hamas slogans at a protest in northern
Gaza on Tuesday calling for an end to the war with Israel, witnesses said. The
mostly male demonstrators chanted "Hamas out" and "Hamas terrorists" in Beit
Lahia, where the crowd had gathered a week after the Israeli army resumed its
intense bombing of Gaza following nearly two months of a truce. On the social
media network Telegram, at least one appeal to protest had circulated on
Tuesday. "I don't know who organised the protest," said Mohammed, a demonstrator
who declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals.
"I took part to send a message on behalf of the people: Enough with the war," he
said, adding that he had seen "members of the Hamas security forces in civilian
clothing breaking up the protest". Majdi, another protester who did not wish to
give his full name, said the "people are tired". "If Hamas leaving power in Gaza
is the solution, why doesn't Hamas give up power to protect the people?" he
asked. As of Tuesday evening, Telegram messages from unknown sources were
calling on people to reprise the demonstration in various parts of Gaza on
Wednesday.
Israel regularly calls for Gazans to mobilise against the Islamist movement that
has been in power in the territory since 2007.
Israeli legislators pass budget in a move that shores up Netanyahu's government
Tia Goldenberg/TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/March 25, 2025
Israel’s parliament on Tuesday passed a state budget, a move that shores up
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition even as the embattled
leader faces mounting public pressure over the war in Gaza and the hostage
crisis.
The budget vote was seen as a key test for Netanyahu’s coalition, which is made
up of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties that had demanded and largely
received hefty allocations for their constituents in exchange for supporting the
funding package.
Failure to pass a budget by March 31 would have triggered early elections,
potentially threatening Netanyahu's nearly unbroken 15-year rule. Critics say
the budget lacks much needed wartime funding for secular education, health and
welfare. They accuse Netanyahu of channeling funding to his political allies to
ensure his survival rather than thinking of the country’s best interests. “The
greatest theft in the country’s history officially begins,” opposition leader
Yair Lapid said Monday, ahead of an hours-long, marathon debate in parliament on
the budget. He said the middle class, including many reservists who have been
fighting in Gaza, was being trampled for the sake of the coalition’s survival.
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key Netanyahu ally, said
the budget had “everything needed to win on the front and at home.”
With its passing, Netanyahu's government is more likely to survive to the end of
its term in October 2026, a rarity in Israel's fractious politics. It’s a
political win for Netanyahu, who faces mass protests over his decision to resume
the war in Gaza while hostages are still held by Hamas, and over his
government’s recent moves to fire top legal and security chiefs. In theory,
Netanyahu now has more freedom to negotiate a lasting ceasefire with Hamas in
the Gaza Strip. His allies, who want to continue the war, have little incentive
to trigger new elections while their polling numbers are down, said Gayil
Talshir, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. But she
expects Netanyahu to stick with his coalition partners and further their
ultranationalist agenda to galvanize the right ahead of any future vote.
“Netanyahu is always thinking about the next elections,” Talshir said. “His goal
is to make sure the extreme right will be in his government now and in the
future.”Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, faces mass protests
in Israel over his return to war, with 59 captives, 24 of whom are said to be
alive, still in Gaza. Demonstrators are also angry over Netanyahu’s firing of
the head of the internal Shin Bet security agency and his government’s push to
fire the attorney general. Both moves are seen by opponents as part of the
government’s attempt to undermine state institutions and as part of Netanyahu’s
crusade against a “deep state” that he says is out to get him. Ahead of the
budget vote, anti-government protests erupted outside the Knesset and police
scuffled with demonstrators who blocked the entrances to the parliament.
Israel Releases Oscar-Winning Palestinian Director after He
Was Attacked by West Bank Settlers
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Israeli authorities released an Oscar-winning Palestinian director who was
detained by the army after being attacked by Jewish settlers in the occupied
West Bank. He said they beat him in front of his home while they filmed the
assault. Hamdan Ballal and the other directors of “No Other Land,” which looks
at the struggles of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, had mounted
the stage at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month when it
won the award for best documentary film. On Tuesday, with bruises on his face
and blood on his clothes, he was released from an Israeli police station in the
West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. He and two other Palestinians who had been
attacked and detained were taken to a nearby hospital. Ballal said he was held
at an army base, blindfolded for 24 hours and forced to sleep under a freezing
air conditioner. “All my body is pain,” he told The Associated Press. “I heard
the voices of the soldiers, they were laughing about me … I heard ‘Oscar’, but I
didn’t speak Hebrew.”Lea Tsemel, the attorney representing the three men, said
they received only minimal care for their injuries from the attack and that she
had no access to them for several hours after their arrest. Palestinian
residents say around two dozen settlers — some masked, some carrying guns and
some in military uniforms — attacked the West Bank village of Susiya on Monday
evening as residents were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan. Soldiers who arrived pointed their guns at the Palestinians, while
settlers continued throwing stones, they said. The Israeli police said Tuesday
that the military transferred to it three suspects for investigation for alleged
rock throwing, property damage and “endangering regional security.” It said the
three were released on condition of no contact with others involved in the
incident. Tsemel said Ballal and the other two Palestinians denied throwing
stones.
‘I’m dying!’
In testimony given to his lawyer while in detention, Ballal said he had gone out
to film the settlers as they attacked houses in the village. When he returned to
his home, a well-known settler who had threatened him in the past showed up with
two soldiers, according to the testimony, seen by the AP. At his house’s
entrance, the settler punched Ballal in the head from behind, knocking him to
the ground, then kicked him with his boots across his body and beat his head and
face, Ballal said. Lamia Ballal, the director’s wife, said she was huddling
inside with their three children and heard him screaming, “I’m dying!” When she
looked out the window, she saw three men in uniform beating Ballal with the
butts of their rifles and another person in civilian clothes who appeared to be
filming the violence. “Of course, after the Oscar, they have come to attack us
more,” Lamia said. “I felt afraid.”West Bank settlers are often armed and
sometimes wear military-style clothing that makes it difficult to distinguish
them from soldiers. On Tuesday, a small bloodstain could be seen outside their
home, and the car’s windshield and windows were shattered. Neighbors pointed to
a nearby water tank with a hole in the side that they said had been punched by
the settlers. The settler who beat Ballal can be seen with masked men
threatening him in a widely circulated video from April. “This is my land, I was
given it by God,” the settler says in the video, shouting profanity and trying
to provoke Ballal to fight him. “Next time it won’t be nice,” the settler says.
Film looked at Palestinians’ struggle to stay on the land “No Other Land"
chronicles the struggle by residents of the Masafer Yatta area to stop the
Israeli military from demolishing their villages. The joint Israeli-Palestinian
production has won a string of international awards, starting at the Berlin
International Film Festival in 2024. It has also drawn ire in Israel and abroad,
as when Miami Beach proposed ending the lease of a movie theater that screened
it. Basel Adra, another of the film’s co-directors and a prominent Palestinian
activist in the area, said there’s been a massive upswing in attacks by settlers
and Israeli forces since the Oscar win.
“Nobody can do anything to stop the pogroms, and soldiers are only there to
facilitate and help the attacks,” he said. “We’re living in dark days here, in
Gaza, and all of the West Bank ... Nobody’s stopping this.”Masked settlers with
sticks also attacked Jewish activists in the area on Monday, smashing their car
windows and slashing tires, according to Josh Kimelman, an activist with the
Center for Jewish Nonviolence. Video provided by the group showed a masked
settler shoving and swinging his fists at two activists in a dusty field at
night.
Open-ended military rule
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip
and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians want all three for their future state and
view settlement growth as a major obstacle to a two-state solution. Most of the
international community considers the settlements illegal. Israel has built well
over 100 settlements, home to over 500,000 settlers who have Israeli
citizenship. The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly
open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority administering
population centers.
The Israeli military designated Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank as a
live-fire training zone in the 1980s and ordered residents, mostly Arab Bedouin,
to be expelled. Around 1,000 residents have largely remained in place, but
soldiers regularly demolish homes, tents, water tanks and olive orchards.
Settlers have also set up outposts in the area and at times attack villages.
Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli forces usually turn a blind eye or
intervene on behalf of the settlers.
The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with the
Israeli military carrying out widescale military operations that have killed
hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has been a rise
in settler violence as well as Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Trump’s Nominee for Ambassador to Israel Avoids Direct
Answers on West Bank Annexation
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Mike Huckabee, facing a US Senate hearing for his confirmation as President
Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, is facing close questioning from Democrats
on his views on the potential for Israeli annexation of the West Bank, but he
avoided giving direct answers. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, asked
Huckabee whether he thought it would be wrong for a Jewish settler to push a
Palestinian family off land they own in the West Bank. Huckabee, a well-known
evangelical Christian, stood by past statements that Israel has a “Biblical
mandate” to the land. He also responded by saying he believed in the “law being
followed” and “clarity,” but also that “purchasing the land” would be a
“legitimate transaction.”Huckabee also said that any Palestinians living in an
annexed West Bank would have “security” and “opportunity,” but wouldn’t answer
Van Hollen’s questions about whether they would have the same legal and
political rights as Jewish people. Four pro-Palestinian demonstrators
interrupted the hearing in the Senate to decry Huckabee’s ardent support for
Israel.
One blew a shofar, a ram’s horn used for Jewish religious purposes, and another
shouted, “I am a proud American Jew!” then “Let Palestinians live!”Police
quickly grabbed the protesters, but their shouts could still be momentarily
heard in the Senate hallway. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and
one-time Republican presidential hopeful, has taken stances on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict that sharply contradict longstanding US policy in
the region. He has spoken favorably in the past about Israel’s right to annex
the occupied West Bank and has long been opposed to the idea of a two-state
solution between Israel and the Palestinian people.In an interview last year, he
went even further, saying that he doesn’t even believe in referring to the Arab
descendants of people who lived in British-controlled Palestine as
“Palestinians.”
The United States Puts Unacceptable Pressure on Greenland,
Denmark Says
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
The United States is putting unacceptable pressure on Greenland, Denmark's Prime
Minister Mette Frederiksen told broadcaster TV2 on Tuesday, ahead of a trip to
the semi-autonomous Danish territory this week by a high-profile US delegation.
The US visit, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, will be led by Usha Vance,
wife of Vice President JD Vance, and include White House National Security
Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. "I have to say that it is
unacceptable pressure being placed on Greenland and Denmark in this situation.
And it is pressure that we will resist," Frederiksen told TV2. The delegation
had not been invited by the governments of Greenland or Denmark. Brian Hughes,
spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said the delegation
aimed to "learn about Greenland, its culture, history, and people."Frederiksen
dismissed the idea of a private visit: "You cannot make a private visit with
official representatives from another country."
Ukraine Says Ceasefire Accords Brokered by US Take Immediate Effect
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a truce with Russia covering the
Black Sea and energy strikes was effective immediately on Tuesday and that he
would ask Donald Trump to supply weapons and sanction Russia if Moscow broke the
deals. The United States said earlier it had made separate agreements with Kyiv
and Moscow to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and to implement a ban on
attacks on energy facilities in the two countries. "The US side considers that
our agreements come into force after their announcement by the US side,"
Zelenskiy told reporters at a news conference in Kyiv, adding that he did not
trust Russia to honor the arrangements. The accords are the first ones aimed at
halting energy strikes since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February
2022, triggering Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two. The fighting
rages on across a 1,000-km (600-mile) front line. The Ukrainian leader cautioned
that the agreements did not set out a course of action if Russia broke them and
that he would appeal directly to the US president if that happened. "We have no
faith in the Russians, but we will be constructive," he said. He said US
officials saw the energy ceasefire as covering attacks on other civilian
infrastructure too and that ports should be covered by the Black Sea agreement.
Nightly Russian drone attacks have been a feature of life in big Ukrainian
cities for many months. So have power outages as missiles have hammered the
power grid. Kyiv has used drones to hit Russian oil refineries to raise the
costs for its much larger foe.Ukraine, Zelenskiy said, presented US officials
during talks with a list of facilities that should be covered by the moratorium
on energy strikes. The deals were announced following two days of talks in Saudi
Arabia between US and Ukrainian officials on the one hand and US and Russian
officials on the other. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who took part
in the talks, wrote on X: "All parties agreed to develop measures for
implementing the Presidents’ agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities
of Ukraine and Russia." The White House said in a joint statement with Russia
that it would help Moscow restore its access to the world market for
agricultural and fertilizer exports. Zelenskiy said Ukraine had not agreed to
put that in its statement with the US side. "We believe that this is a weakening
of position and sanctions," he said.
BLACK SEA WARNING
Kyiv will regard any movement of Russian naval vessels beyond the east of the
Black Sea as a violation of the spirit of the agreements, Umerov said. In such
an event, Kyiv will have the right to self-defense, he said, implying that
Ukraine could retaliate. Kyiv, which has used naval drones and missiles to push
Russia's Black Sea fleet back towards the east of the Black Sea, would welcome
third countries supporting the implementation of the accords, Umerov said. "The
American side really wanted all of this not to fail, so they did not want to go
into many details. But in any case we will have to understand answers to each of
the details," Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy said that Türkiye could potentially be
involved in monitoring in the Black Sea while Middle Eastern countries could
track the energy truce, though he noted that had not been discussed yet with
those countries. Separately, Zelenskiy said the United States had presented
Ukraine with an expanded version of a bilateral minerals deal that went beyond
the initial framework agreement that the two sides agreed earlier but never
signed. Zelenskiy had been expected to sign a minerals deal opening up Ukraine's
critical minerals to the United States during talks with Trump in the Oval
Office last month, but did not when the meeting spiraled into acrimony in front
of the world's media.n Zelenskiy said he had not been able to fully review the
new proposal in detail yet, but that it did not include greater US involvement
in Ukraine's nuclear power sector, something that has been floated by Washington
in recent days.
Pope Francis’ Doctors Considered Stopping Treatment to ‘Let Him Go’ after
Serious Breathing Crisis
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Pope Francis’ medical team briefly considered suspending treatment after a Feb.
28 breathing crisis but instead decided on an aggressive course that put his
organs at risk, the doctor coordinating the pope’s hospital care said in an
interview published Tuesday. Dr. Sergio Alfieri said the 88-year-old pontiff and
people close to him alike understood "that he might not survive the night,’’
after the bronchospasm attack during which the pope inhaled vomit. "We needed to
choose whether to stop and let him go, or to push it and attempt with all of the
possible drugs and the treatments, taking the very high risk of damaging other
organs,’’ Alfieri told told the Milan daily Corriere della Sera. "In the end,
that is the path we chose." Francis was released Sunday after 38 days of
treatment for double pneumonia, under doctors' orders to observe two months of
convalescence during which he should avoid large gatherings. The pope appeared
weak and frail when he greeted the crowd outside the Gemelli hospital before his
discharge. Alfieri said that the pope remained "alert’’ throughout the Feb. 28
ordeal and that his personal health care assistant, Massimiliano Strappetti,
"who knows perfectly the pontiff’s wishes,’’ urged them "to try everything.
Don’t give up."Alfieri acknowledged that the treatment risked damaging the
pope’s kidneys and bone marrow, "but we continued, and his body responded to the
treatments and the lung infection improved."The medical bulletin that night said
that the pope had suffered a bronchiospasm so severe that he inhaled vomit
"worsening his respiratory picture." Doctors used a non-invasive aspiration to
clear his airways. Three days later, in a second life-and-death crisis, the pope
suffered a pair of acute bronchiospasms episodes. Doctors used a camera tube
with a device to remove mucus plus that yielded abundant secretions. The
bulletin emphasized that the pope "always remained alert, oriented and
collaborative."Alfieri said he believed that prayers for the pope help keep him
alive, something that the doctor said is backed by scientific literature. "In
this case the whole world was praying. I can say that twice the situation was
lost, and then it happened like a miracle," the doctor said, adding that "of
course he was a very cooperative patient."
Egyptian Parliament Approves Formation of Saudi-Egyptian Supreme Coordination
Council
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
The Egyptian Parliament, chaired by Speaker Dr. Hanafy El Gebali, approved on
Monday the formation of the Saudi-Egyptian Supreme Coordination Council, aimed
at elevating bilateral relations to an unprecedented strategic level. The
establishment of the council was announced in mid-October following discussions
between Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo. By the end of last year, the
Egyptian government had approved the council’s formation, with an official
statement highlighting its goal of “intensifying communication and strengthening
cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Egypt across various sectors of mutual
interest.”During a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart Prince
Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah in September, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr
Abdelatty emphasized that the Supreme Coordination Council would serve as “an
overarching framework to further deepen bilateral relations and expand
cooperation across political, economic, trade, developmental, and investment
sectors to benefit both nations.”According to the Egyptian government’s
statement, the council will comprise ministers and officials from both countries
in relevant fields and will hold regular meetings alternately in both nations,
with provisions for extraordinary meetings when necessary. The council will
replace the previously established Joint Higher Committee Agreement. Ahmed Fouad
Abaza, chairman of the Egyptian Parliament’s Arab Affairs Committee, stated that
the council aims to achieve several strategic objectives, including coordination
and consultations on regional and international issues of mutual concern,
contributing to security and stability in the region. He added that the council
would boost economic, trade, and investment partnerships by facilitating Saudi
investments in Egypt and encouraging private sector collaboration between the
two countries. It will also focus on exchanging expertise and information in
security and defense, as well as strengthening cooperation in counterterrorism
and combating organized crime. The council will drive cooperation in key sectors
such as education, healthcare, agriculture, environmental sustainability,
culture, industry, technology, telecommunications, transportation, digital
transformation, infrastructure, and energy, among other vital areas, stressed
Abaza.
Turks Say They Will Carry on with Protests as Erdogan Says ‘Show’ Will End
Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
Anti-government protesters in Türkiye said they planned to keep up a campaign of
demonstrations triggered by the jailing of Istanbul's mayor - the biggest such
opposition action in a decade - despite mass arrests and clashes with police.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that what he dismissed as their
"show" will fizzle out. But since the arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu last week,
hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in squares, streets and university
campuses nationwide each evening chanting anti-Erdogan slogans and calling not
only for Imamoglu's release but also for justice and rights. Protesters,
opposition parties, European leaders and rights groups have called the detention
of Imamoglu, Erdogan's main rival, a politicized and anti-democratic move.
The gatherings are banned but have carried on nonetheless, almost entirely
peacefully until the late hours when police have used clubs and pepper spray in
response to projectiles and arrested more than 1,400 people. "I'll try to come
as much as I can because the government has left us no justice," said one
university student at Istanbul's Sarachane park. "I was scared when I first
came, thinking we might get arrested. But I'm not scared now," she said. At the
main nightly protest at the park between city hall and a towering Roman
aqueduct, most people have cheered speeches by opposition leaders while others,
some 200 meters (650 feet) away, have chanted and faced off with hundreds of
white-helmeted riot police. Other people also told Reuters they expect to
continue daily protests even as the main opposition Republic People's Party
(CHP) has said that Tuesday will mark the last day of planned events at
Sarachane.
CHALLENGE TO ERDOGAN
The continued protests pose a potential bind for Erdogan, who has called them
"street terrorism". He has tolerated little criticism from the streets since
authorities violently shut down the anti-government Gezi Park protests in
2013.After a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Monday, the president accused the CHP
of provoking citizens and predicted they would feel ashamed for the "evil" done
to the country once their "show" fades away. The government has rejected claims
of political influence and says the judiciary is independent. The hitherto more
reserved CHP has in recent days repeatedly urged people out to the streets,
echoing a call on Sunday by Imamoglu before he was jailed pending a trial on
corruption charges that he denies. CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel, who has given
hoarse-voiced speeches from atop a bus at Sarachane park each evening, has said
the last event there on Tuesday would be both "a great end and big kick off" to
new rallies elsewhere, vowing to fight on. He gave no details on the plans, but
said he will keep overnighting at city hall until the CHP-majority council there
elects an acting mayor on Wednesday. On Monday at Sarachane, a physician said he
hoped in coming days to also attend demonstrations at Silivri prison where the
mayor is behind bars just outside the city. "I hope it never stops," he said of
the rallies. "We are here because of justice and democracy and because we don't
believe that we are living in a democratic country." Elsewhere in Istanbul on
Monday evening a sit-in protest briefly blocked all traffic at the 19th-century
Galata Bridge crossing the Golden Horn waterway. Students have driven much of
the civil disobedience and many have boycotted university classes since Monday.
Many university professors observed a one-day protest strike on Tuesday. The
United Nations Human Rights Office urged Turkish authorities to ensure that the
rights to freedom of expression and assembly are guaranteed, in line with
international law. However, a court on Tuesday jailed, pending trial, seven
journalists, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul for "refusing to disperse
despite warning during a demonstration," a court document showed. Since
Imamoglu's detention, Turkish assets have plunged, prompting the central bank to
use reserves to support the lira. Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek told a call
with international investors on Tuesday that authorities would do whatever was
needed to tame the market jitters, and that the impact of the market turmoil
would limited and temporary.
Major breach as journalist added to US administration chat group
discussing Yemen war plans
Agence France Presse/March 25/2025
Top Trump administration officials texted a group chat including a journalist
plans for strikes on Yemen's Houthi rebels, the White House said, an
extraordinary security breach that shocked Washington's political elite. U.S.
President Donald Trump announced the strikes on March 15, but The Atlantic
magazine's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote on Monday that he had hours of
advance notice via the group chat on Signal, which included Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance. Top Democrats were quick to condemn
the breach, saying it was potentially illegal and calling for an investigation
to find out how it happened, while Republicans tried to play down the incident.
"The message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are
reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain," National Security
Council spokesman Brian Hughes said. The White House said Trump "continues to
have the utmost confidence in his national security team," after the U.S.
president earlier said he did not "know anything about" the issue. Hegseth, a
former Fox News host with no experience running a huge organization like the
Pentagon, took no responsibility for the security breach as he spoke to
reporters late Monday. He instead attacked Goldberg and insisted that "nobody
was texting war plans," despite the White House confirming the breach. Goldberg
wrote that Hegseth sent information on the strikes, including on "targets,
weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing," to the group chat.
"According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be
felt two hours hence, at 1:45 pm eastern time," Goldberg wrote -- a timeline
that was borne out on the ground in Yemen. The leak could have been highly
damaging if Goldberg had publicized details of the plan in advance, but he did
not do so. The journalist said he was added to the group chat two days earlier,
and received messages from other top government officials designating
representatives who would work on the issue. On March 14, a person identified as
Vance expressed doubts about carrying out the strikes, saying he hated "bailing
Europe out again," as countries there were more affected by Houthi attacks on
shipping than the United States.
'Dangerous'
Group chat contributors identified as National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and
Hegseth both sent messages arguing only Washington had the capability to carry
out the strikes, with the latter official saying he shared Vance's "loathing of
European free-loading." As he spoke to reporters Monday Hegseth dodged questions
about the leak, in which highly sensitive material was also shared on a
commercial app rather than in secure military channels reserved for such
communications. The security breach provoked outrage among Democrats, including
some like Senator Elizabeth Warren who said the exchange over group chat could
be illegal. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described it as "one of the
most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about" and called
for a full investigation. And Hillary Clinton -- who was repeatedly attacked by
Trump for using a private email server while she was secretary of state --
posted on X: "You have got to be kidding me." The reaction of top Republicans
like House Speaker Mike Johnson was less critical. Johnson said those involved
should not be punished, calling it a "mistake" that "won't happen again", news
site Axios reported. But former national security officials reacted with shock.
"Some of these issues... they should only be discussed face to face," former
national security advisor John Bolton told CNN. "I have no faith that the
Department of Justice will prosecute anyone involved."
Houthi attacks
The Houthi rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are
part of the "axis of resistance" of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel
and the United States.
They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in
the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, saying they were carried out
in solidarity with Palestinians.
The Houthis' campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12
percent of world shipping traffic. The US began targeting the Houthis in
response under the previous administration of president Joe Biden, and has
launched repeated rounds of strikes on Houthi targets, some with British
support. Trump has vowed to "use overwhelming lethal force until we have
achieved our objective," citing the Houthis' threats against Red Sea shipping.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on March 25-26/2025
The Unloved Iranian Revolution
Reuel Marc Gerecht & Ray Takeyh/National Review/March 25/2025
The Islamic Republic of Iran is at an impasse. Its leaders cannot change; the
public already has.
This February Iran’s revolution turned 46. Middle age usually brings a measure
of wisdom, as men cast aside aspirations of youth and come to terms with hard
truths. But Iran’s Islamists are forever young. Too attached to their
ideological verities to accept history’s verdict, they press on with their
mission to redeem. The Islamic Republic is at an impasse. Its leaders cannot
change; the public already has.
The mullahs promised much in 1979. A new polity that would somehow reconcile
democratic norms with religious convictions. An economy that would lift up the
working class in whose name the revolution was waged. The revolution was
supposed to be borderless: Through spontaneous combustion and Iranian
clandestine activity, Muslims everywhere were supposed to accept the Islamic
Republic as the vanguard of God’s message.
There was real genius at the heart of the Islamic Republic’s constitution. Power
rested with the unelected few, such as the Supreme Leader and the Guardian
Council, which vets candidates for public office and ensures that all laws
conform to Islamic standards. But there were elections to the presidency,
parliament, and city councils. For years, the Islamic Republic’s elections could
be boisterous affairs, as candidates from different political camps offered the
public real choices. Mohammad Khatami, who had long wrestled with Western
thought and the conundrum that Western states had created more wealth and
apparent happiness than any Muslim realm had, promised an Islamic democracy. The
Islamic Republic’s first, cleric-doubting populist, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, spoke
of economic justice. And Hassan Rouhani, a serious revolutionary who nonetheless
understood that faith alone isn’t sufficient to win great ideological struggles,
claimed that he could revive the economy by transacting an arms control
agreement with America.
This diversity was the indispensable safety valve for the theocracy, allowing
the disgruntled citizen a way of influencing the deliberations of government.
This all came to naught.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has himself to blame for the regime’s current
predicament. At every step of the way, he has thwarted his presidents and
parliaments. He has emasculated the electoral process by ensuring that only
those who are completely subservient to him are allowed to run for office. This
was as true for hardline Ibrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last
year, as it is for the less harsh Masoud Pezeshkian. In the meantime, the
parliament has been reduced to a debating society that occasionally impeaches a
minister but does little else.
Today, most Iranians do not participate in elections, and the institutions that
once mediated between the ruling elite and the masses have lost their standing.
Street protests are the only way for citizens to express their grievances.
Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, once quipped that the
revolution is not about the price of melons. The mullahs never understood
economics. Their attempt to reconcile the requirements of the private economy
and the inequalities it produces with their pledge to raise the dispossessed has
led to the creation of a massive welfare state and a bloated bureaucracy. The
lower classes today get bad health care, poor education, and cramped housing.
State subsidies consume an ever-larger percentage of the country’s GDP, and no
one is happy.
And the government of God is drowning in corruption. The system is riddled with
nepo babies, scions of influential mullahs who get lucrative state contracts,
pay no taxes, and adhere to no regulations. The Revolutionary Guards have
followed the model of other corrupt Third World dictatorships by taking control
of key industries such as telecommunications, construction, and even banking. At
a time when about 30 percent of the Iranians live below the poverty line, the
class cleavages resemble the last days of the decadent monarchy. All this is
particularly galling to Iranians as the clerical leaders routinely call on the
masses to sacrifice and endure hardship for the sake of the regime and the
faith.
Iran’s revolution succeeded best beyond its borders. The Islamic Republic has
always sought to subvert its neighbors. It has supported a variety of militants
and terrorists and has made the destruction of Israel its leading cause.
America, the Great Satan, is an affront to the mullahs. Its culture, which has
gone global, entices Iranian youth while its armada patrols Iran’s coastline.
No Middle Eastern nation has killed more Americans than the Islamic Republic.
The Marine and embassy bombings of 1983, the attack on a U.S. base in Saudi
Arabia in 1996, and the relentless assault on American troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan have killed and wounded thousands. Washington has responded with
sanctions that have helped to debilitate Iran’s economy and stretched its
resources.
The mullahs remain unrepentant. In the early decades of this century, they
created the most successful imperial enterprise — most bang for the buck — in
the Middle East since the British Empire. In the aftermath of the 9/11 wars and
the Arab Spring, the region’s state system essentially collapsed. Civil wars and
ungoverned spaces provided plenty of opportunities for Tehran to create the
so-called axis of resistance, a concatenation of Shia militias and Arab
militants that did Iran’s bidding. The Islamic Republic helped to evict America
from Iraq, harassed Saudi Arabia directly and via proxies in Yemen, and for a
while preserved the Assad regime in Syria.
And then came October 7th and the great undoing. The Islamic Republic’s imperial
strategy succeeded only because there was little pushback. Successive American
administrations did not want to tangle with Tehran for fear of widening
conflicts. But then Jerusalem flipped the script. It rejected Washington’s calls
for restraint as it destroyed Hamas and decapitated Hezbollah. All this presaged
the collapse of the Syrian regime, which happened so rapidly that its Iranian
and Russians patrons had no chance to save it. As baleful, in its own scrimmage
with Iran, Israel demonstrated its military prowess by easily penetrating the
Islamic Republic’s air defenses.
Suddenly Tehran was exposed and its imperial reach limited to parts of Iraq and
the Gulf.
All this has not sat well with the Iranian people. Since 1979, the revolution
has steadily shed constituents. The liberals, the first to be excised, soon
realized they had no place in the new theocratic order. Students, always the
backbone of all protest movements in Iran, made their exit in the riots of 1999.
In 2009 a fraudulent presidential election led to the rise of the pro-democracy
Green Movement, which shook the regime’s foundations. Even more disturbing for
the mullahs were the riots of 2019, as the lower classes took to the streets.
They were supposed to be the mainstay of the theocracy, tied to the regime by
piety and patronage.
And in 2023, the Women, Life, Freedom movement came to embody the totality of
the Iranian people’s grievances. From classical times onward, Islamic
theologians have often worried about the disruptive potential of women in
society. Their claim on men can rival that of God’s. Women had an outsized role
in fueling the now-dead reform movements inside the Islamic Republic — Khatami’s
election in 1997, which many in the ruling elite see as the beginning of the
threatening domestic upheavals, wouldn’t have happened if women hadn’t locked
onto the candidate as a vehicle to express their discontent. After the Women,
Life, Freedom eruption, it’s probably fair to say that Khamenei views women as a
group as hopelessly infected with Western ideology.
The 85-year-old Khamenei surely is deeply concerned about his legacy. His record
looks bad: The Islamic Republic has been humbled in the region by Jews. The
sullen citizenry now routinely mocks the theocracy. Iran’s defensive and
offensive strategies are in ruins — except the nuclear-weapons program. The bomb
is now more essential than it was before — and Khamenei hasn’t spent tens of
billions of dollars on its development, and weathered all the sanctions, to go
Japanese. A nuke would ensure the awe elicited by the Islamic Republic in the
region. Proxies and militias were always unreliable instruments of power
projection; a nuclear arsenal would offer permanent advantage. And the
international community could be counted on eventually to accept an Iranian bomb
and embrace a regime that was too dangerous to fail.
Nuclear weapons may not save the Islamic Republic, since the rot is too deep and
popular disaffection too widespread. But as Khamenei takes account of his
revolution, the bomb may be the last thing he can do to sustain the government
of God.
Syria’s New Leader Is an Autocrat; Will That Be Good or Bad
for Israel and Turkey?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/The Algemeiner/March 25/2025
Islamist or not, Syria’s self-proclaimed interim president, Ahmad Sharaa, seems
like he will do anything to keep power.
This is good news and bad news for Sharaa’s two strongest neighbors — Turkey and
Israel — whose interests clash in Syria. The Trump administration thinks that
the best outcome is to deconflict tensions between the two regional powers. The
gap, however, seems unbridgeable.
Ankara wants a strongman protégé in Damascus, whose top priority is to break
Kurdish power and autonomy in the northeast. Jerusalem, for its part, has strong
ties with Syria’s Kurds and does not want to see others trample on them.
The arbiter here is Washington, which relied heavily on these Kurdish fighters
in defeating ISIS and keeping their leaders locked up in prisons under Kurdish
supervision.
The US has maintained a minor military presence in Kurdish territories in
northeast Syria, which has bolstered the Kurds and helped them wither down one
Turkish military offensive after another.
But now that President Trump is in office, Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan thinks that he can convince Trump to fold, hoping that such an American
move would weaken the Kurds and allow pro-Turkish Syrian militias to run over
Kurdish territory.
Washington has encouraged the Kurds to sort things out with Damascus, because
American troops will not stay forever. Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi has met with
Sharaa twice, signing an agreement to “discuss” the unification of their ranks.
But unification is tricky. Sharaa thinks that he is Syria, and that his militia
is the national army. He has thus demanded that other militias surrender their
arms to his “army.”
The Kurds countered by saying that they are willing to join a national army, but
one whose bylaws and structure are agreed upon. The Kurds seek a merger with
Sharaa, not a surrender to his militia.
To buy them out, Sharaa has contemplated granting the Kurds their demands:
Kurdish battalions in the army, under Kurdish officers, stationed in the
northeast, and administrative autonomy. But these Sharaa concessions conflict
with Turkey’s demand for absolute surrender, even humiliation, of the Kurds.
This is where the interests of Ankara and Sharaa diverge and this is when the
Turks might consider supporting Sharaa’s Islamist rivals — such as Abu Amsheh or
Hassan al-Dgheim — to take him out and take his place.
Where does Israel stand on this? Jerusalem supports an agreement between the
Kurds and Sharaa on Kurdish terms, even if the agreement results in Sharaa
becoming Syria’s undisputed autocrat thereafter. Israel, therefore, disagrees
drastically with Turkey.
Israel also has other allies in Syria: the Druze in the south. Like the Kurds,
the Druze have demanded Druze battalions, under senior Druze officers, stationed
in their territory as a guarantee that they will not be subjected to Sharaa’s
future possible Islamist tyranny, and to avoid a repeat of past ISIS massacres
against them. Granting the Druze, and Israel in general, their demands in the
south, is easier for Sharaa than giving the Kurds concessions.
Sharaa, however, has not yet conceded anything to anyone. The Kurds and the
Druze, in return, have not surrendered their arms or power. And while Sharaa is
busy building his power base in Damascus, both Turkey and Israel have relied on
their own forces to protect their interests inside Syria.Turkey’s Syrian
militias have launched a few attacks on the Kurds, all failing and retreating.
The Turkish air force has repeatedly struck targets in the landlocked Kurdish
enclave.
Israel, for its part, has been more active inside Syria, with its fighter jets
policing and striking the remnants of pro-Iran militias, such as Hezbollah,
while also making sure to destroy all heavy weapons south of Damascus.
As Turkey and Israel carve their own spheres of influence inside Syria, Syrian
national unity becomes elusive. Sharaa’s insatiable appetite for undisputed
power makes national reconciliation ever harder. America has correctly tied
lifting of the crippling sanctions it has imposed on the Syrian government,
under former President Bashar al-Assad, to Sharaa sharing power with Kurds,
Druze, Alawites, and others.
The Europeans have insisted that Sharaa weed out radical Islamists, especially
foreign fighters. The interim president has yet to do either. Until he does, an
economy in tatters will make rebuilding the state an even more gargantuan task.
To give Sharaa credit where it is due, in his bid to build his dictatorship, he
has been responsive in dealing with the different foreign intelligence agencies:
Jordanian and Gulf governments commend his cooperation in stopping the narcotics
trade, while America praises his crackdown on ISIS. Even Israel has telegraphed
to Sharaa its intentions whenever it struck inside Syria. In return, the budding
Syrian autocrat has steered clear from bombastic anti-Israel populism.
But is Sharaa’s cooperation enough for a new and better Syria? So far, things do
not seem to be on the right track.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD), a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on
national security and foreign policy. X: @hahussain
https://www.algemeiner.com/2025/03/24/syrias-new-leader-is-an-autocrat-will-that-be-good-or-bad-for-israel-and-turkey/
The Trump administration should bring Al Jazeera in line
with US law
Natalie Ecanow/Jewish News Syndicate/March 25/2025
AJ+ is headquartered in the United States but the Justice Department found it
operates “at the direction and control” of the Qatari government.
There’s one challenge in the Middle East that President Donald Trump can easily
tackle. During his first term, his administration ordered AJ+, a U.S.-based
project of the Al Jazeera Media Network, to register as a foreign agent acting
on behalf of Qatar. Al Jazeera remains noncompliant. As the Qatari network faces
heat for aiding and abetting Hamas terrorism—including a lawsuit in U.S. Federal
Court—the Trump administration should enforce its original order.
AJ+ is headquartered in the United States but the Justice Department found it
operates “at the direction and control” of the Qatari government. It’s a
textbook target for the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which exists to
“promote transparency with respect to foreign influence.” Accordingly, the
Justice Department instructed AJ+ to register under FARA in 2020.
In that order, the Justice Department noted that Al Jazeera’s style guide
“reveals AJ+’s intention to influence audience attitudes” about the Middle East
for example, by prohibiting the words “terrorist” or “terrorism” in its
reporting. For a network focused on the region that’s home to Hamas, Hezbollah
and Al-Qaeda, censoring the word “terrorism” is a clear sign that Al Jazeera’s
mission is not objective reporting, but shaping opinion.
Al Jazeera’s manipulation of language is a misdemeanor, however, compared to the
network’s direct involvement with terrorists. In October, the Israel Defense
Forces released documents it found in Gaza “indicating close cooperation”
between Al Jazeera and Hamas. One document included instructions for Al Jazeera
on how to cover a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket that killed Palestinian
civilians. Hamas directed Al Jazeera to refrain from using the word “massacre.”
The Qatari network apparently complied.
Israeli troops have also uncovered evidence implicating Al Jazeera journalists
in Palestinian terrorism. Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Abu Omar was injured
in an Israeli drone strike last year, but Israel did not target him because he
worked for the media outlet. According to the IDF, he was a deputy Hamas
commander who participated in the terror group’s Oct. 7 assault. Abu Omar even
filmed himself from inside Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of the attacks. And he
isn’t Al Jazeera’s only rotten apple. The IDF has exposed at least a half-dozen
other Al Jazeera journalists who moonlit as Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives.
As the Gaza war approaches the 18-month mark, and with the future of the
ceasefire uncertain, Qatar needs to feel the heat. The emirate has been parading
as a neutral arbiter while aiding Hamas’s efforts to shape global opinion. And
it’s done so after shoring up the terrorist group with political and financial
support for decades.
Forcing AJ+ to register as a foreign agent is a minimally disruptive way for the
Trump administration to uphold transparency and show Qatar it is not above the
law.
Forcing AJ+ to register under FARA will also show that the Trump administration
can finish what it starts. It’s been on the administration’s to-do list since at
least 2018, when a bipartisan group of congressional members sent a letter to
then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking the Justice Department to investigate
whether AJ+ “should be required to register under FARA.” Two more congressional
letters landed on the desk of the U.S. attorney general before the Justice
Department finally took action.
If AJ+ continues to skirt its FARA obligations, the Justice Department should
subject the network to prosecution, financial penalties or both. The Trump
administration can further twist Doha’s arm by revoking the Al Jazeera Media
Network’s Capitol Hill press credentials. Lawmakers encouraged congressional
leadership to do just that in February 2023, asking how, “unless and until” Al
Jazeera complies with U.S. law, Congress can “in good conscience allow over 100
of its employees almost unfettered access to roam the halls and even loiter
outside the floor of the House or Senate?”
The Swords of Iron War has proven that Qatar is neither an honest broker nor a
faithful ally of the United States. Forcing AJ+ to comply with its FARA
obligations should be the first of several steps taken to hold Qatar accountable
for its conduct. The Trump administration should pressure Qatar to extradite
senior Hamas leaders and shutter the terror group’s Doha office. It should also
strip Qatar of its Major Non-NATO Ally status. And it should press the Pentagon
to replicate elsewhere the vital military capabilities that currently reside at
Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha. Qatar shouldn’t enjoy the privileges of
friendship with the United States while supporting designated terrorist
organizations and flouting U.S. law in the process.
**Natalie Ecanow is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies (FDD).
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/op_eds/2025/03/24/the-trump-administration-should-bring-al-jazeera-in-line-with-us-law/
A deported Brown University professor’s Hezbollah ties
Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi / FDD's Long War Journal/March 25/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/03/141568/
On March 13, Dr. Racha Alawieh, an assistant professor of medicine at Brown
University, was denied entry into the United States and ordered deported back to
her native Lebanon. US immigration authorities blocked the 34-year-old
nephrologist, who studied and worked in the United States for six years, from
entering the United States on an H-1B visa due to her alleged support for
Hezbollah, a foreign terrorist organization designated by the US Department of
State since 1997.
Attorneys representing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “cited the
powerful discretion given to a border officer” for permitting entry into the US,
according to a summary of a legal brief by The Providence Journal, which quotes
from the document:
“If a CBP officer determines that an alien who is arriving in the United States
is inadmissible,” their brief reads, quoting from an immigration statute, “the
officer shall order the alien removed from the United States without further
hearing or review unless the alien indicates either an intention to apply for
asylum … or a fear of persecution.”
The case is now under judicial review and has broad implications. If courts
uphold the decision of immigration authorities to deport Alawieh, the Trump
administration will have a powerful instrument to disrupt Hezbollah’s operations
in the United States, which have relied on US-based supporters and sympathizers
of Lebanese background for decades.
In the past, the US largely relied on prosecutions and convictions to go after
Hezbollah’s agents and supporters, primarily those involved in illicit financial
schemes. However, while jailing Hezbollah supporters rather than deporting them
may appear to be a stronger tactic against the group, the record is mixed. Most
cases led to light convictions for white-collar crimes. In one prominent case,
that of Kassem Tajideen, US authorities released Tajideen halfway through his
five-year sentence on humanitarian grounds. Short sentences haven’t
significantly deterred various Hezbollah members from operating in the US.
However, the risk of deportation could provide a deterrent, with the added
benefit that removing agents of influence and facilitators would not only be
disruptive to the terrorist group but also discourage others from risking
comfortable lives in the US.
Racha Alawieh’s supporters, much like those of Mahmoud Khalil, the Algerian
Columbia University student who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, have
sought to turn her case into a free speech issue. These supporters claim she is
solely being punished for her political views. However, Racha comes from a
prominent Hezbollah family. In addition, immigration agents stated they found
“sympathetic,” pro-Hezbollah material on her phone that align with her family’s
political affiliation, which, had she disclosed it to authorities, could have
jeopardized her visa application.
Media coverage of Alawieh’s case has so far focused on evidence CBP agents found
on her phone. While in Lebanon, where she was waiting for her H1-B visa to be
processed, Alawieh attended the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah, who died in an Israeli strike on September 28, 2024. Her phone
reportedly also contained material sympathetic to Hezbollah and photos of
Hezbollah martyrs. Alawieh reportedly explained to CPB agents that she followed
Nasrallah’s teachings “from a religious perspective,” not a political one.
However, this argument is belied by Nasrallah’s religious views being
inextricably enmeshed with Hezbollah’s ideological and political outlook.
More importantly, Alawieh’s political alignment with Hezbollah is plausible,
given her family ties to the terror group. Her paternal uncle, Yasser Abbas
Alawieh, the youngest brother to her father Mustapha, is the Tyre branch manager
of Al Qard Al Hassan (AQAH), Hezbollah’s main financial institution and,
according to the US Department of Treasury, which sanctioned AQAH in 2007, a key
conduit of Hezbollah’s illicit financial activities. Tyre, a large city and a
commercial hub in southern Lebanon, hosts a large Shia majority. Yasser Abbas
Alawieh’s position speaks to his prominence within Hezbollah’s financial arm.
According to AQAH banking records leaked into the public domain in December
2020, Yasser Alawieh holds 20 accounts with AQAH (Leaked AQAH records were
accessed through the Know Your Client platform, 240 Analytics), a further
indication of his significance within the financial institution, where bank
managers have acted as conduits, through their personal accounts, for
Hezbollah’s illicit financial operations.
Racha’s uncle Yasser is not the only family member who banks at Hezbollah’s AQAH.
So do her two brothers, Hadi and Ali Alawieh, who hold two accounts (one
dollar-denominated) at the AQAH branch in Haret Hreik, Beirut, a Hezbollah
stronghold. Social media accounts belonging to members of Racha’s extended
family also contain clues to the family’s ideological bent—including videos of
Hezbollah martyrs bearing the Alawieh family name, and memorial messages and
devotional images of Nasrallah.
Racha Alawieh is not the only Lebanese national with ties to Hezbollah who has
come to the United States. Between 2017 and 2019, US authorities indicted Samer
El Debek, Ali Kourani, and Ali Hassan Saab, all Hezbollah agents from Lebanon
who had become US citizens. Their case involved plotting terror attacks, but
their indictments included immigration fraud among the charges—they had all lied
about their affiliation with a US-designated foreign terrorist organization when
they sought legal entry into the country. Numerous other Lebanese nationals have
been indicted and convicted over the years in white-collar crimes that usually
served the purpose of financing Hezbollah’s overseas activities.
As Racha Alawieh’s case undergoes judicial review, time will tell whether the
evidence amassed by immigration authorities goes beyond mere sympathy for
Hezbollah and participation in its late leader’s funeral. However, lying to
immigration authorities about family ties, political sympathies, and
affiliations to a terror group is a distinct issue from free speech. If such
ties and misrepresenting them are the basis for pulling Dr. Alawieh’s H-1B visa,
this legal justification can become a blueprint for the US government to go
after the vast network of support Hezbollah has garnered in the United States
over four decades of work among immigrant communities.
In the past, prosecuting Hezbollah supporters and facilitators has taken years
and significant public resources while often yielding light sentences. If the
deportation of Racha Alawieh becomes precedent, the Trump administration may use
it to significantly disrupt Hezbollah’s influence and illicit finance operations
in the United States.
**Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi is an independent analyst focusing on Iran’s and
Hezbollah’s overseas illicit finance and influence networks.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2025/03/analysis-a-deported-brown-university-professors-hezbollah-ties.php
Gaza doctor widely quoted by major media outlets has deep
Hamas ties
Ahmad Sharawi & Joe Truzman/ FDD's Long War Journal/March 25/2025
A Gaza-based doctor who is frequently quoted by major media outlets on the
impacts of Hamas’s war with Israel has close familial ties to the terrorist
group. Numerous family members of orthopedic surgeon Dr. Fadel Naim are or were
Hamas members, including a son and nephew who were killed by the Israeli
military and a brother who is Hamas leader Basem Naim, according to an analysis
of open-source data conducted by FDD’s Long War Journal.
In 2009, an Israeli airstrike killed Hamas fighter Anas Fadel Naim, Dr. Fadel
Naim’s son and Basem Naim’s nephew. Previously, Fadel’s nephew, Naim Basem Naim,
also a Hamas fighter and the son of Basem Naim, died when he was wounded
battling Israeli forces in the Shujaiyya neighborhood on January 5, 2003. Basem
Naim, Fadel’s brother, is a US-sanctioned Hamas official who has held several
prominent roles in the organization, including minister of health. He is
currently the deputy head of Hamas’s Arab and Islamic Relations Office. Notably,
Basem has become a key figure in promoting the group’s message to the
international media following Hamas’s war with Israel that began on October 7,
2023.
Prominent media outlets, including The New York Times, The Associated Press
(AP), Reuters, NPR, CBS News, CNN, and others, have quoted Dr. Fadel Naim about
casualty statistics during the war and the aftermath of specific events without
disclosing his family ties to the terrorist group. It is unknown whether these
outlets were aware of the Gaza-based doctor’s relationships before using him as
a source.
Fadel Naim’s recitation of Hamas casualty statistics and accusations of civilian
targeting
Fadel has cast a negative view of Israel and its actions that benefit Hamas’s
message locally and abroad. In a recent message posted on X, Fadel highlighted
casualty figures while claiming Israel had committed genocide and explicitly
targeted noncombatants.
“The Israeli occupation of Gaza has resulted in a genocidal war lasting 470
days, resulting in 10,100 massacres, 61,182 dead, and 14,222 missing persons,”
Fadel wrote. He added that Israel had targeted “healthcare workers, journalists,
police, and aid security personnel.”
The statistics cited by Fadel were published by the Gaza Media Office, a Hamas
government body. However, several sources have identified erroneous casualty
figures produced by Hamas’s various agencies during the war.
A report published by the London-based Henry Jackson Society on December 13
found “distortion of statistics, misreporting of natural deaths, deaths from
before the war started and a high likelihood of combatant deaths” in the figures
published by Hamas.
On June 7, 2024, the AP conducted an analysis on the death toll data published
by Hamas. Among its findings, the report concluded, “Women and children made up
fewer than 40% of those killed in the Gaza Strip during April, down from more
than 60% in October.” The AP analysis notes that these statistics contradict
statements made by the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Compounding the challenges of identifying accurate Gaza casualty figures is that
Hamas has not officially published details about the number of its fighters
killed in the war, apart from acknowledging the deaths of the group’s senior
leaders. Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, Israel’s former military chief of
staff, claimed that Israeli forces killed almost 20,000 Hamas fighters in the
conflict.
In addition, Israel’s attempts to mitigate civilian casualties during military
actions in Gaza, including establishing humanitarian zones and warning civilians
to evacuate areas before operations, dispute Fadel’s assertion Israel undertook
“a genocidal war” in the territory.
Fadel’s familial connections to Hamas make him an unlikely candidate to produce
an impartial account of the Gaza war and Israel’s operations. Nevertheless, none
of the media outlets that have used him as a source have mentioned these
relationships.
Hamas martyrdom-posters for Anas Naaim and Naim Basem Naaim
Naim recounts the death of his son and nephew, both Hamas fighters
In a 2021 Facebook post, Fadel Naim tells the story of experiencing the deaths
of his nephew (Naim Basem Naaim) and his son (Anas Naim). Fadel recounts
receiving the news about Naim’s death and his nephew’s transfer to Al Shifa
Hospital in 2003.
Six years later, Basem Naim (referred to by his kunya (nickname) Abu Naim), the
minister of health for the Hamas government at the time, was at the same
hospital to receive the news about the death of Fadel’s son, Anas. Fadel states
in the post “that Anas had ascended to meet his cousin [Naim] in heaven.” The
post includes photos of Anas and Naim.
LWJ analyzed additional open-source data to confirm the father-son relationship
between Basem Naim and Naim Basem Naim, including an Instagram post from an
account in Basem’s name that eulogized Naim on May 1, 2023.
The Naim family and additional Hamas ties
LWJ constructed a partial list of the Naim family tree:
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/op_eds/2025/03/24/gaza-doctor-widely-quoted-by-major-media-outlets-has-deep-hamas-ties/
No Difference Between Hamas 'Politicians' And Terrorists
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./March 25, 2025
"They [Hamas] need to demilitarize, and then they might be politically involved
in Gaza." —US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, interview with
Tucker Carlson, March 21, 2025.
"I thought we had an acceptable deal. I even thought we had an approval from
Hamas. Maybe that's just me getting duped." — Steve Witkoff, about a ceasefire
extension he thought he had just finished negotiating, Fox News, March 23, 2023.
Duped is putting it mildly. Witkoff, who doubtless has the best intentions, is
sadly proving the perfect mark.
Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that needs to be
designated by the US as a terrorist group. Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood, and
Muslim Brotherhood is Hamas.
[Hamas's] politicians devise the strategy and set the goals, while its armed
wing is entrusted with following them. The political leadership of Hamas ruled
that Israel must be eliminated, and the group's military wing has carried out
countless terrorist attacks to achieve that goal.
The political leaders need the military wing to control the Palestinians of the
Gaza Strip, as they have been doing since their violent coup there in 2007.
Hamas, which has brought death and destruction upon both Israelis and
Palestinians, has no right to exist, either as a political or a military entity.
Did it ever occur to anyone to allow the political leaders of ISIS or Al-Qaeda
to play any role in Syria and Iraq?
If Hamas is permitted to continue its political activities in the Gaza Strip, it
will comfortably continue its jihad against Israel. The group's political
leaders will undoubtedly continue to call – in Arabic -- for the annihilation of
Israel and encourage Palestinians to launch terrorist attacks against it.
Witkoff's talk about a possible political role for Hamas is dangerous, mainly
because it implies that the US continues to view the terror group as a
legitimate player in the Palestinian arena. If the US envoy wants to see
stability and security in the Middle East, he must insist on the complete and
permanent removal of Hamas – all of its "wings." Destroying "much" of Hamas's
military capabilities or disarming it is totally worthless.
Hamas, which has brought death and destruction upon both Israelis and
Palestinians, has no right to exist, either as a political or a military entity.
Did it ever occur to anyone to allow the political leaders of ISIS or Al-Qaeda
to play any role in Syria and Iraq? A terrorist in a suit and tie is no
different from a terrorist in a military uniform.
US President Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said last
week that he does not rule out the possibility that the Iran-backed Palestinian
terror group Hamas could be politically active in the Gaza Strip after it
disarms. "They [Hamas] need to demilitarize, and then they might be politically
involved in Gaza," Witkoff said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that was
aired on March 21.
Witkoff -- who, thanks to his excruciating lack of familiarity with Arab
assumptions apart from real estate deals, is increasingly becoming a major
embarrassment to Trump -- appears to draw a distinction between Hamas's
political and military leaderships. He also seems naïve enough to believe that
Hamas would ever agree to lay down its weapons or halt its terrorist attacks
against Israel.
"I thought we had an acceptable deal. I even thought we had an approval from
Hamas. Maybe that's just me getting duped," Witkoff admitted on Fox News on
March 23 about a ceasefire extension he thought he had just finished
negotiating.
Duped is putting it mildly. Witkoff, who doubtless has the best intentions, is
sadly proving the perfect mark.
Apparently, Witkoff believes that Hamas's political activities are not as
dangerous as its terrorism. Otherwise, how could he even consider the
possibility that Hamas could be transformed into a political party? This
assumption, of course, is untrue and misleading.
There is no difference between a Hamas political leader and a military
commander. They all share the same extremist ideology, which does not recognize
Israel's right to exist and calls for destroying it through jihad (holy war).
They all belong to the same school of the Muslim Brotherhood organization. Hamas
is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that needs to be
designated by the US as a terrorist group. Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood, and
Muslim Brotherhood is Hamas.
Hamas's political and military leaders have always remained loyal to the group's
1988 covenant, which starts by quoting the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
organization, Hassan al-Banna, as saying: "Israel will exist and will continue
to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before
it."
Hamas's slogan is clearly outlined in the covenant: "Jihad is its path and death
for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes." Moreover, Article 11
states:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) believes that the land of Palestine is
an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day.
It, or any part of its, should not be squandered. It, or any part of it, should
not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries...possess
the right to do that."
Witkoff probably does not know that the Hamas covenant was written by the
group's political, not military, leaders. When the covenant was published in
1988, Hamas had not yet established its military wing, Izz a-Din al-Qassam
Brigades. The military wing was created in 1991. Since then, the political and
military leaderships of Hamas have been working in full coordination. The
group's politicians devise the strategy and set the goals, while its armed wing
is entrusted with following them. The political leadership of Hamas ruled that
Israel must be eliminated, and the group's military wing has carried out
countless terrorist attacks to achieve that goal.
Hamas's attacks reached their peak on October 7, 2023, when thousands of its
terrorists invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 Israelis and injuring thousands.
Another 251 Israelis were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where 59 – alive and dead
-- remain in captivity.
Hamas's political leaders, based in Qatar, were the first to celebrate the
October 7 massacre by holding a special prayer. "This is a prostration of
gratitude for this [Hamas] victory," said the late Ismail Haniyeh, one of the
group's prominent political leaders, as he and his friends watched the coverage
of the October 7 attack on the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera Network. "Allah, please
bestow your support and glory on our people and nation."
Notably, the October 7 massacre was masterminded and led by another Hamas
political leader: the late Yahya Sinwar. The Gaza-based Sinwar served as
chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from August 2024, and as the political
leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from February 2017. The fact that he was a
"politician" did not stop Sinwar from committing the worst massacre against Jews
since the Holocaust.
Witkoff and the Trump administration might have learned from the grave mistake
the US made in 2006, when it allowed Hamas to run in the Palestinian
parliamentary election. Then, the Bush administration believed that the move
would encourage Hamas to lay down its weapons and turn into a political party.
Hamas won the election, but of course never disarmed. A year later, Hamas staged
a brutal coup against the Palestinian Authority and seized control of the Gaza
Strip. Needless to say, Hamas's victory in the election did not top it from
pursuing its jihad against Israel.
In 2017, former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged that it had
been a "mistake" to allow Hamas to participate in the election:
"I think one mistake we made with Hamas was we really should have said they had
to disarm if they were going to participate in the elections, along the lines of
what was done in Northern Ireland, for instance."
Even if the US had asked Hamas to disarm, the group would bluntly have said no.
Recently, Hamas political leaders, in a series of statements have repeated their
group's refusal to disarm. Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, flatly said
that his group will not disarm and may even grow after the war with Israel. "We
have an opportunity to expand," Hamdan said, adding that the idea of Hamas
disarming was not even up for discussion.
Hamas's political leaders are aware that they will not be able to play any role
in the Gaza Strip without the presence of their armed wing. The military wing of
Hamas is crucial for the survival of the group's political leadership. The
political leaders need the military wing to control the Palestinians of the Gaza
Strip, as they have been doing since their violent coup there in 2007.
Hamas should have no political or military role in the Gaza Strip, especially
not after October 7. Hamas, which has brought death and destruction upon both
Israelis and Palestinians, has no right to exist, either as a political or a
military entity. Did it ever occur to anyone to allow the political leaders of
ISIS or Al-Qaeda to play any role in Syria and Iraq?
If Hamas is permitted to continue its political activities in the Gaza Strip, it
will comfortably continue its jihad against Israel. The group's political
leaders will undoubtedly continue to call – in Arabic -- for the annihilation of
Israel and encourage Palestinians to launch terrorist attacks against it. This
is precisely what Hamas political leaders have been doing since 1988. They
continued to do it after they won their 2006 parliamentary election, and they
have continued to do it since October 7. Not a single Hamas politician has yet
come out against the October 7 massacre.
Witkoff's talk about a possible political role for Hamas is dangerous, mainly
because it implies that the US continues to view the terror group as a
legitimate player in the Palestinian arena. If the US envoy wants to see
stability and security in the Middle East, he must insist on the complete and
permanent removal of Hamas – all of its "wings." Destroying "much" of Hamas's
military capabilities or disarming it is totally worthless.
As we are seeing now in Syria, a terrorist in a suit and tie is no different
from a terrorist in a military uniform.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
**Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
© 2025 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
For Russia, Trump Has a Lot to Offer
Anton Troianovski/The New York Times/March 25/2025
President Trump says he is focused on stopping the “death march” in Ukraine “as
soon as possible.”
But for President Vladimir Putin of Russia, ceasefire talks with Trump are a
means to much broader ends.Russian and American officials met in Saudi Arabia on
Monday to deepen their negotiations about technical details of a partial
ceasefire to halt attacks on energy facilities and on ships in the Black Sea.
While Ukraine says it’s ready for a full truce, Putin has made it clear that he
will seek a wide range of concessions first.
The upshot: The Kremlin appears determined to squeeze as many benefits as
possible from Trump’s desire for a Ukraine peace deal, even as it slow-walks the
negotiations. Viewed from Moscow, better ties with Washington are an economic
and geopolitical boon — one that may be achieved even as Russian missiles
continue pounding Ukraine. Interviews last week with senior Russian
foreign-policy figures at a security conference in New Delhi suggested that the
Kremlin saw negotiations over Ukraine and over US-Russia ties as running on two
separate tracks. Putin continues to seek a far-reaching victory in Ukraine but
is humoring Trump’s ceasefire push to seize the benefits of a thaw with
Washington. Vyacheslav Nikonov, a deputy chairman of the foreign affairs
committee of the lower house of the Russian Parliament, said that Trump and
Putin were developing a “bilateral agenda” that was “not connected to Ukraine.”
“Ukraine is running its course,” Nikonov said in an interview on the sidelines
of the New Delhi conference, called the Raisina Dialogue. “The offensive is
ongoing,” Nikonov added. “But I think that for Putin, relations with America are
more important than the question of Ukraine specifically.”
Engaging with Trump, Moscow’s thinking seems to go, could unlock economic
benefits as basic as spare parts for Russia’s Boeing jets and geopolitical gains
as broad as a reduction in NATO’s presence in Europe. What’s less clear is
whether Trump will use those hopes as leverage to get a better deal for Ukraine,
and whether he will at some point lose patience with Putin.
“Trump likes quick deals,” said Aleksandr A. Dynkin, an international affairs
specialist who advises the Russian Foreign Ministry. “If he sees that there are
big difficulties, he may be disappointed and cast this problem aside.”As a
result, Putin seems to be pulling out all the stops to hold Trump’s interest.
Meeting in Moscow with the White House envoy Steve Witkoff this month, Putin
handed over a “beautiful portrait of President Trump” commissioned from a
Russian artist, Witkoff said in an interview released on Saturday. “It was such
a gracious moment,” Witkoff told the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
On Ukraine, Putin has shown no sign of budging from his far-reaching goals — a
guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO, a rollback of the Western alliance
in Central and Eastern Europe, limits on Ukraine’s military, and some level of
influence over Ukraine’s domestic politics.
Feodor Voitolovsky, director of the Institute of World Economy and International
Relations in Moscow, said that Russia would seek a “road map” to a broader deal
before agreeing to any ceasefire. He also said that Russia could accept a United
Nations peacekeeping force in Ukraine as long as it did not include troops from
NATO countries.
“For Russia, the long-term perspective is more valuable than a tactical
ceasefire,” said Voitolovsky, who serves on advisory boards at the Russian
Foreign Ministry and Security Council. “We can emerge with a model that will
allow Russia and the United States, and Russia and NATO, to coexist without
interfering in each other’s spheres of interests,” he added.
To achieve such a deal, Russia is appealing to Trump’s business-minded focus.
Voitolovsky contended that broad agreement over Ukraine was a prerequisite for
US-Russian cooperation, and that Trump, “as a businessman,” understood that
Russian assets were currently undervalued.
Dynkin, the Russian international affairs specialist, said that the Kremlin
could remove the United States from its list of “unfriendly countries” — a
classification that restricts American companies’ ability to do business in
Russia. He said that Moscow was particularly interested in negotiations over the
aviation sector, given the challenges that Russian airlines face in servicing
their American-made jets. The United States could allow the export of airplane
spare parts and reinstate direct flights to Moscow, he said; Russia could let
American airlines fly over Siberia, a right that Russia withdrew in 2022.
Anastasia Likhacheva, dean of international affairs at the Higher School of
Economics in Moscow, said it was unlikely that Trump would deliver quick and
far-reaching sanctions relief. But she said a thaw in relations with the United
States could lead to reduced enforcement of sanctions and make it easier for
Russian companies to operate globally by sending a signal that Russia was no
longer a problematic partner. “Such a detox,” she said, “could be useful and
will expand our menu of possibilities.”
Us… the United States… and the Future
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
A witty Arab artist, when asked: "What message would you like to send to future
Arab generations?" ironically replied: "I’d tell them not to come!"
This statement has an unsettling implication that reflects the state of the Arab
world, which mostly passively receives. The power to influence and drive change
is concentrated in the hands of a very few, not just among world powers, but
even individuals.
Everywhere, not just in the Arab world or the so-called "Third World," the
individual diminishes in significance, by the hour, in the face of the alarming
technological advancements brought about by the "information revolution" and
communication technologies.
Even in the United States, executive orders issued by President Donald Trump,
endorsed and promoted by figures like Elon Musk, are eroding the role of the
individual, amid a rapid deterioration of the value system upon which the
country had been founded. In my view, this erosion will only accelerate as we
fully enter the age of artificial intelligence, which will continue to be the
subject of much debate.
The core issue is the same in every country. We are struggling with the
difficult balance of “digesting” the pace of technological progress while
maintaining social cohesion, political stability, and human dignity.
In every country- especially in Europe, which faces a severe demographic crisis-
this challenge is visible. The difference, however, lies in how countries
approach this issue. Two areas are key: first, how they manage and control the
challenge, and second, how they assign responsibility.
The speed of technological changes has led some major Western countries to the
conclusion, earlier than others, that "full employment" has become a thing of
the past. They have recognized the need to adapt to high unemployment rates,
which will only continue to rise as new technologies, and later artificial
intelligence, erase jobs. Unskilled labor will be hit first and, within a few
short years, it will extend to sectors of skilled labor.
A few decades ago, the growing realization that full employment had been an
illusion led to the decline of trade unions and, thus the collapse of the theory
of “class struggle that had traditionally divided societies horizontally.”
Interests were contested, instead, by groups split “vertically,” between the
local labor force and incoming migrant workers.
In some countries, such as Britain, this shift was manifested in the rise of
isolationist nationalism, with Brexit becoming the driving force behind the UK’s
departure from the European Union.
Trade unions had already been dealt a defeat under Margaret Thatcher as market
forces compelled the UK to adopt new technologies. Traditional industries and
mining sectors took a back seat to services, finance, and emerging technologies.
This shift was reinforced when the European Union, after the end of the Cold
War, eliminated barriers between the British labor market and low-wage workers
from Eastern European countries where communism had ended. The influx of
migrants fueled local working-class resentment toward their foreign competitors.
Thus, two broad conflicts of interests emerged: one between local workers and
lower-wage migrant labor, and the second over taxes, as Britain’s prominent
capitalists were undermined by European regulations that strengthened “safety
nets” for the working class. The opposing interests of the left (the labor
movement) and the right (the capitalists) converged in opposing European unity,
leading to the victory of those advocating for the UK's departure from the
European Union.
France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and other countries experienced similar
changes. Traditional left-wing parties rooted in class struggle ideology
collapsed, and then nationalist, and in some cases even racist, parties and
movements surged. These forces built their strategies around opposition to
migration and migrants, whether from North Africa (France, the Netherlands, and
Spain), Türkiye, Bosnia, and Central Europe... Or from Iraq and Syria in the
cases of Germany and Sweden.
Meanwhile, the United States, a country built by immigrants, was also undergoing
a metamorphosis. The priorities of the Cold War and its prolonged global
conflicts, however, masked many of the “cracks” in the structure of American
capitalism. These geopolitical concerns also allowed leaders in both the
Republican and Democratic parties to avoid seriously addressing systemic issues
like debt, persistent budget deficits, and declining competitiveness- problems
that ultimately led to the outsourcing of many industries.
Then, with the triumph of the US at its peak following years of unipolarity,
problems and repercussions began to surface, most notably the Financial Crisis
of 2008.
This crisis exposed how the nation that had mastered the art of war had failed
to win the battle of peace. It also exposed the emptiness of flashy slogans
about economic freedom, shattering the very principles that the US aggressively
promoted worldwide, chief among them the enforcement of economic openness, the
embrace of free investment, and the rejection of tariffs and protectionism.
Today, amid an open economic war on both allies and adversaries through tariffs,
and a war on migrant labor, information technology and communication oligarchs
dominate the Trump administration. These oligarchs have been given free rein to
butcher state institutions in the name of financial efficiency, leading to the
elimination of tens of thousands of jobs!
Amid a rise in extreme nationalist rhetoric taken directly from the MAGA
Movement, Washington is threatening Canada’s sovereignty, clashing with Denmark
over the acquisition of Greenland, and reopening the debate on control of the
Panama Canal.
In these times, two profound quotes are pertinent: one by the Norwegian scholar
and Nobel laureate Christian Lous Lange: “Technology is a useful servant but a
dangerous master,” and another from Albert Einstein, “It has become appallingly
obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
The Characterization of Defeat and the Defeat of
Characterization!
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/March 25/2025
There is no longer a need for analysis to prove that, in the eyes of the
Israelis, the war has not ended: neither in Gaza, where death and savagery have
returned with full force, nor in Lebanon, where withdrawal is not on the table,
nor in Syria, where territory is being chipped away and the skies remain, as
they had been under the deposed regime, under its control.
With the Americans having added the Houthi-controlled part of Yemen to the
Israeli formula, it is evident that the US is as keen on achieving the objective
of resuming the war as the Israelis. Meanwhile, Iran, whose air defenses - and
this is no longer a secret - have been destroyed, finds itself essentially faced
with two choices: pre-emptive surrender and taking the hit. And this comes after
strict limits have been drawn around Iraq’s movement and ability to intervene.
The view that the aim of this Israeli-American escalation is peace treaties that
embody what Netanyahu has called the "New Middle East," or to finish the chapter
of the "Abraham Accords," is becoming highly credible as the evidence pointing
in this direction mounts. Meanwhile, occupation is becoming an increasingly
likely prospect, as are the displacement of Gaza’s population and the annexation
of the West Bank.
It adds nothing new to what is well known to describe the current phase of the
war in the same terms as the first phase. It is also the making of raw Israeli
power that has no regard for anything and does not care about international law,
which many around the world do not care for anymore. However, that does not
negate the astronomical gap in military power - indeed, it is so stark that
speaking of a balance of power at all has become untenable after the succession
of wars and attempts at building resistance came to nothing but the situation we
are in today.
On top of that, the Levant is home to a weakness and frailty contest - with its
armies, economies, and civil societies all competing - amid waves of mass
migration that have left its people scattered. Moreover, the region lacks even
the minimal capacities needed for the reconstruction that Syria, Gaza, and
Lebanon desperately need. It has not found, as it seeks help in confronting
Israel’s incursions, capable allies who wield influence on the world stage.
Amid severe domestic decline and rising communal tensions, separatist tendencies
are surging, and the situation at the borders - as we saw in the recent
Lebanese-Syrian clashes - seems to be nothing more than an extension of the
upheaval within those borders.
This bleak picture calls for pause. We need to reflect on the situation we find
ourselves in: What should we do? How can we stop the downward spiral at some
point? Shouldn’t we reassess the ideas, practices, and relationships that have
led us to this inferno?
Only the rejectionists have a clear-cut answer. Sharp and decisive as a blade,
their response turns Imam Malik ibn Anas’ dictum: the final generations of this
nation can only be destroyed by that which destroyed its first generations. That
is, they suggest using the same resistance that put us in this tunnel to escape
it. This stance can be read from several angles that clash at times and
complement one another at others:
There is, of course, the Iranian dimension, which suggests we do not leave our
collapsing trenches, thereby allowing Tehran to negotiate with the United States
- though this choice is similarly crumbling day by day.
Then there is the miraculous dimension, whereby some divine intervention is
expected to reverse the equations slapping us in the face, leaving no room for
ambiguity or interpretation.
There is also the nihilistic dimension. As our colleague Omar Kaddour recently
reminded us, Moammar al-Gaddafi named his country The "Great Socialist People's
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" right after it was bombed by US airstrikes in 1986,
linking greatness to being bombed by the powerful.
This nihilism implies a suicidal dimension. Summed up in Samson's famous line in
the Bible: "Let me die with the Philistines," its most striking manifestation is
the plight of the Houthi-controlled regions of Yemen.
Finally, there is the criminal dimension, which is reflected in slogans like
"Fighting with the flesh of children." It translates to sacrificing peoples'
lives without any hope - not for victory, but even for slightly better terms of
defeat. In the depths of this despair reinforced by reality, the "Philistines"
in the Samson's line ultimately become us, as we are the only ones who could die
a gratuitous death.
Since the seventeenth century, the English philosopher John Locke distinguished,
in his reflections on "human understanding," between what he called the
"primary" and "secondary" qualities of things and materials. An apple has a
specific size and weight; these are some of its primary qualities, while taste
is one of its secondary qualities. Since primary qualities are "objective," they
leave no room for disagreement: if one person claims that an apple weighs a
quarter of a kilogram while another insists that it weighs a third, they cannot
both be correct. However, secondary qualities, because they are "subjective,"
allow for one person to find apples delicious while another does not.
The primary quality of our current state of affairs is defeat, and no easy
remedy for it appears on the horizon. The secondary qualities are our
disagreements over its causes, its consequences, and perhaps how we feel and
what we want to do about it. The Resistance Axis inverts these categories:
rendering the primary, objective quality secondary and subjective, and the
secondary, subjective quality primary and objective. They then act accordingly,
with no regard for the lives lost or the enormous costs involved. This inversion
could lead some of those who contemplate "human understanding" to a profound
pessimism.