Syria

2025-06-07

علق السفير الأمريكي لدى تركيا توماس (توم) باراك، الذي يشغل أيضا منصب مبعوث إلى دمشق، على صدور فتوى بخصوص الثأر والانتقام في سوريا. وفي التفاصيل، صدر (الجمعة) عن "مجلس الإفتاء الأعلى" في سوريا فتوى في حكم الثأر والانتقام جاء فيها: "انطلاقا من مسؤوليتنا الشرعية في حفظ الدماء والأعراض والأموال، نؤكد على حرمة الاعتداء على الأنفس". وشدد المجلس على أن حفظ واستيفاء الحقوق يتم عبر القضاء الشرعي وليس بالثأر الفردي وذلك لمنع الظلم أو التسرع في الأحكام بناءً على الشائعات دون دليل. وفي إطار ذلك، علق توم باراك على هذه الخطوة عبر حسابه على منصة "إكس" بالقول: "خطوات أولى عظيمة للحكومة السورية الجديدة في الطريق نحو سوريا الجديدة". يذكر أن الرئيس السوري أحمد الشرع ووزير خارجيته أسعد الشيباني التقيا في 24 مايو الماضي المبعوث الخاص للولايات المتحدة الأمريكية إلى سوريا توم باراك على هامش الزيارة إلى تركيا. وفي 29 مايو، استقبل الشرع باراك في قصر الشعب بدمشق، بحضور وزير الدفاع مرهف أبو قصرة، ووزير الخارجية أسعد الشيباني، ورئيس جهاز الاستخبارات العامة حسين سلامة. وقال باراك في تصريح بعد اللقاء، إن الرئيس الأمريكي دونالد ترامب سيعلن أن سوريا ليست دولة راعية للإرهاب، مبينا أن "رؤية ترامب هي أنه يتعين إعطاء الحكومة السورية فرصة بعدم التدخل". وأكد توم باراك لاحقا أن السياسات الأمريكية تجاه سوريا لن تشبه السياسة التي كانت متبعة خلال المئة عام الماضية لأن السياسات السابقة لم تنجح في تحقيق أهدافها.   Great first steps for a new Syrian Government on the move towards a new Syria.   — Ambassador Tom Barrack (@USAMBTurkiye) ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-12-12

وكالات أفادت شبكة "سي بي إس" بالعثور على مواطن أمريكي في سوريا يعرف عن نفسه بأنه ترافيس تيمرمان من مواليد ولاية ميزوري، بعد تحريره من سجون النظام السوري المخلوع. ويأتي ذلك بعد اشتباه بأن يكون المواطن الأمريكي الصحفي المختفي منذ 12 عاما أوستن تايس والذي ما يزال مصيره مجهولا. وقال تيمرمان لشبكة "سي بي إس" إنه اعتقل عند دخوله سوريا قبل 7 أشهر وأخرجه مسلحان من السجن يوم الاثنين الماضي. First video published of the American found in Syria.His name is Travis.Austin Tice is still missing. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-12-09

كتب ـ يوسف محمد: عرف النجم البرتغالي كريستيانو رونالدو، بمواقفه الإنسانية المميزة، التي يحرص دائماً على إظهارها، مع الكثير من المواطنين، وبشكل خاص الأطفال. ومن أشهر المواقف الإنسانية، التي يتذكرها الكثير من الجماهير وبالأخص الجماهير العربية، هو رسالة الدعم الذي نشرها النجم البرتغالي إلى أطفال سوريا في عام 2016. وأعاد الكثير من رواد مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي، نشر الفيديو الخاص بالنجم البرتغالي البرتغالي، خلال الساعات القليلة الماضية، خاصة في في ظل الأحداث التي تشهدها سوريا في الوقت الحالي. وكان النجم البرتغالي، نشر فيديو في 23 ديسمبر 2016، تحت عنوان: "رسالة آمل للأطفال المتأثرين بالنزاع في سوريا". ووجه النجم البرتغالي كريستيانو رونالدو، خلال الفيديو رسالة إلى أطفال سوريا، جاء نصها كالتالي: "مرحباً، هذا لأطفال سوريا، نحن نعلم أنكم كنتم تعانون كثيراً". وأضاف: "أنا لاعب مشهور ولكن أنتم الأبطال الحقيقيون، لا تفقدون الأمل، العالم معكم، نحن نهتم بك وأنا معك". وقام النجم البرتغالي كريستيانو رونالدو بتسجيل هذا الفيديو، بالتعاون مع منظمة إنقاذ الطفل في عام 2016. A message of hope to the children affected by the conflict in Syria. اقرأ أيضًا: للتعرف على مواعيد مباريات اليوم.. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-12-08

قال المبعوث الخاص للأمم المتحدة إلى سوريا جير بيدرسن، إن «اليوم يمثل لحظة فاصلة في تاريخ سوريا»، منوهًا أن «السوريين تحملوا نحو 14 عامًا من المعاناة المستمرة والخسارة التي لا توصف». وأعرب في بيان، نشره الموقع الرسمي للبعثة الأممية، صباح الأحد، عن تضامنه مع كل من تحملوا وطأة الموت والدمار والاعتقال وانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان التي لا توصف. وأضاف: «لقد ترك هذا الفصل المظلم ندوبًا عميقة، لكننا نتطلع اليوم بأمل حذر إلى فتح فصل جديد من السلام والمصالحة والكرامة والدمج لجميع السوريين». وأشار إلى أن تلك اللحظة تجدد الأمل لدى النازحين من أجل العودة إلى ديارهم، وتساهم في لم شمل الأسر التي فرقتها الحرب، كما أنها تبعث الأمل في نفوس المعتقلين ظلمًا وأسرهم. ونوه في الوقت نفسه، أن التحديات التي تنتظر سوريا «لا تزال هائلة»، مؤكدًا ثقته في قدرة الشعب السوري على الصمود لبناء دولة موحدة. وحث جميع السوريين على إعطاء الأولوية للحوار والوحدة، داعيًا إلى «وضع ترتيبات انتقالية مستقرة وشاملة، وضمان استمرار المؤسسات السورية في العمل». وشدد على أهمية تمكين الشعب السوري من وضع خارطة طريق لتلبية تطلعاته المشروعة، واستعادة سوريا الموحدة، مع ضمان سيادتها واستقلالها وسلامة أراضيها. وأضاف: «يجب على الأطراف المسلحة كافة المحافظة على النظام والقانون وضمان سلامة المدنيين، والحفاظ على المؤسسات العامة». . Today marks a watershed moment in ’s history...This dark chapter has left deep scars, but today we look forward with cautious hope to the opening of a new one—one of peace, reconciliation, dignity, and inclusion for all Syrians. — UN Special Envoy for Syria (@UNEnvoySyria) ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-08

In the policy world, every now and then very sophisticated people make arguments which underneath rely on a foundation of blatantly circular logic. The West’s critique of Israel’s policy – a policy which will need to be fundamentally reevaluated after Tehran’s k - has recently run into this issue. On one hand, many in the West have criticized Israel for assassinating Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander for Syria and Lebanon, Mohammed Reza Zahedi, on April 1. But at the same time, these same critics have urged Israel not to attack the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program. In the end, Israel heeded these critics somewhat, with Sports Minister Miri Regev confirming an Israeli attack on Iran’s S-300 anti aircraft missile system – a warning to Iran of the damage Israel could have done, but not actually doing any deep long-term damage. The S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2024. (credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters) It is far from clear that Israel’s limited action made it safe from future direct attacks from Iran. In any case, those who slammed Jerusalem for removing Zahedi from the board said he was too high ranking and it destabilized the region. They add that Israel itself was surprised that Tehran was furious enough at his death that it retaliated with around 350 aerial threats in its first-ever direct attack on the Jewish state. This is brought as further proof that attacking him was overly aggressive. Some of these same critics then urged Israel not to attack Iran back so as to avoid the conflict deteriorating into a regional war. Most importantly, to avoid regional war, they urged Israel not to touch Iran’s nuclear weapons program. One way to summarize these critics' advice to Israel is to sit back and wait for the ayatollahs and their proxies to do their worst against Jerusalem and to just always play defense. Zahedi was not killed in a vacuum the way that much of the global media have reported it – as if the conflict between Israel and Iran started with his unprovoked death on April 1. Rather, he has been directing a relentless terror campaign against Israel for years from both Syria and Lebanon. Hezbollah in Lebanon have fired on Israel thousands of times with rockets and anti-tank missiles since October 7, and militias in Syria have likely fired on Israel hundreds of times. But for around a decade before October 7, the IRGC, led by Qasem Soleimani or Zahedi, or both, was rallying Hezbollah and Syrian militias to attack Israel and to develop a huge threat buildup of rockets and militias on Israel’s borders to ready for an invasion or multi-front war, such as the current one. Israel has been trying to hold Iran, its proxies, and Zahedi at bay with thousands of its own strikes on attempts by Tehran to smuggle more advanced weapons to the border with Israel, either from the Lebanese or Syrian side. All of this is in the context that Israel has nothing against Iran at all if the ayatollahs ever just left the Jewish state alone. There are no land disputes between the countries – they are around 1500 kilometers apart. And if Iran simply stopped trying to l, Jerusalem would not order strikes on anyone Iranian because it would not be the Jewish state’s business. When Israel decided to kill Zahedi it was to send Iran a message that its years of pressing Hezbollah, Syria, and Hamas in Gaza to attack and wear down Israel, would not be free. Hamas chose the date to invade Israel, but it could not have invaded the Jewish state without Iranian funding, planning, weapons, and training. So Israel had plenty of reasons to want to remove Zahedi, and killing him was far from unprovoked. When Israel decides in the future whether it would be willing to kill Zahedi’s successor to some other similarly very high ranking IRGC official, it will not need to weigh whether it is worth the risk. But the risk it will be analyzing will not be in a vacuum, but by comparison. A man stands next to the apparent remains of a ballistic missile, as it lies in the desert near the Dead Sea, following a massive missile and drone attack by Iran on Israel, in southern Israel April 21, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun) Will Israel be more endangered by a backlash of another Iranian direct aerial attack to avenge the death of one of its top IRGC officials or will it be more endangered if it does nothing and allows the Islamic Republic to slowly attack it and surround it with more and more deadly weapons with impunity? This is not a simple balancing act, but it is a balancing act which Israel will need to weigh, as opposed to the simplistic formula of some Western critics acting as if “restraint” by itself is a strategy that could . And how would those advising Israel not to strike Iran’s nuclear program have had it respond to the around 350 aerial attack threats which could have killed thousands of Israelis, and made Hamas’s October 7 massacre look like a warm-up? Iran’s attack also could have eliminated Israel’s F-35 squadrons which would have hampered Israeli national offensive and defensive power for the next decade. Critics don’t want Israel to attack the nuclear program and they don’t want Israel to attack Iranian officials in Lebanon and Syria who are organizing terror campaigns against Jerusalem. Do they really think that the Islamic Republic won’t fire missiles, rockets, and drones at Israel again because the Jewish state showed it was magnanimous? How far will a US guarantee to defend Israel from future massive Iranian barrages go to deter Iran from attacking when the worst thing that could happen to Tehran is that its missiles will not get through and its “best” case scenario is killing thousands of Israelis. Israel may have missed a unique opportunity to set back Iran’s nuclear program as part of a “retaliation” for Tehran’s massive attack. But the US and the West pressed it not to, so it found a middle ground that did not draw blood and essentially let Iran off the hook without bloodying it too much. From the US perspective, in the short term maybe it saved Israel from itself: from rushing into an unnecessary intensified regional war. But Israel needs to live in this region long after the US loses focus or interest and will eventually need to recalibrate how it can both prevent Iran’s proxies from raining down a “ring of fire” on it as well as prevent Tehran from breaking out to a nuclear weapon which could endanger Israel on an existential level. Balancing the risks for retaliating is necessary, but constant restraint as a complete strategy for dealing with a hardened adversary like Iran would eventually be more dangerous than acting. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-08

(JTA) — I grew up in a small Syrian enclave in Brooklyn in the 1960s. It was a wonderful community with many old-world traditions. I missed it when I grew up and moved to Manhattan. In the days before electronic marketing, I received tons of unsolicited mail. I also received mail that most people did not: donation requests from American Palestinian groups. If you were going through a phone book, you would definitely identify my last name as of Arabic origin and put me on the list. Like many Jews who had centuries-long roots in Arabic countries such as my family had also long ago adopted Arabic family names — often by the chosen trade. My last name “Sayegh” means “jewel maker” in Arabic and is spelled to reflect that guttural “gh” sound that even I cannot pronounce correctly.  So, it’s not totally surprising that Palestinian groups thought I was one of them. Over the past years, I have often been frustrated when I find people do not understand the trauma of the 700,000 Jews from all over the who were violently expelled from their countries in 1948 and how it resonates today.  Pro-Palestinian activists who call out Israel as a “European settler colonial project” omit a critical part of the story that calls into question their claim. They ignore the Mizrahi majority in Israel who are descendants of Jews expelled from Arab lands when Israel was declared a state. Group of young Iraqi Jews who fled to Mandatory Palestine following the 1941 Farhud pogrom in Baghdad. (credit: Moshe Baruch/Wikimedia Commons) These “Arab Jews” — an often-contested term that I think is nonetheless fitting — experienced tremendous loss of life, property, family wealth and history that went back hundreds and sometimes thousands of years, and these experiences need to be acknowledged. By including it in the narrative of the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it will help balance the conversation by taking into account the actual historical events of 1948 and the impact on all the involved parties. My family had a long history in Syria before my grandparents came to America in the early 1900s. My grandfather was a true Damascene who was ready for an adventure and left his very large family to see what America was all about. My grandmother’s family moved from Aleppo to Palestine where she was born and grew up. Faced by the extreme poverty in Jerusalem, her family decided to follow others to America. My grandparents met in Marseilles waiting for the boat that would take them to America. Even though I have belonged to Jewish communities most of my adult life, my Syrian Jewish heritage continues to define me. It’s in the foods I like, the nasal intonation of the prayers that I often miss and in customs such as naming children after living relatives (a no-no among most Ashkenazim). I was blessed to have spent 30 years of my life knowing my grandmother Lily, aka Leah, after whom I am named. And as a “Syrian Jew,” I know what it means to belong to a minority of a minority in America. The Ashkenazi majority, with origins in Eastern Europe, defines Jewish culture in America.  Many American Jews with roots in Yiddish-speaking lands do not fully acknowledge that Jews come from every corner of the world — Asia, Africa, the Middle East and parts of the Caucasus — all of whom have different languages and customs. Nor do they seem to be fully aware of the experience of Jews in Arabic countries in and after 1948. When I moved to Israel in 1983, I finally met people who knew how to pronounce my last name and understood my Jewish cultural background. I also met my Great Uncle Daniel, who made it to Israel by foot after fleeing the extreme violence in Syria in 1948, and his large family. As a descendant of Syrian Jews, I propose that now is the time to highlight these stories so they can take a prominent place in the conversation on the Middle East by all Americans — including all American Jews. What my family and hundreds of thousands of other Arabic Jews suffered and lost should not be forgotten, or eclipsed by the well-publicized plight of Palestinians. With the founding of the State of Israel, many Arabic Jews  were expelled from their countries or were exposed to such horrific violence they had no choice but to leave. Many went to Israel. Their descendants now represent over 50% of the population of Israel. The legacy of Arabic Jews might also give hope to all sides in a region where hope is in short supply.  There is no side in any war that is unscathed and unimpacted. For Palestinians, this history might allow them to point to people who rebuilt meaningful new lives even after experiencing traumatic events.  By bringing to the forefront the existence and truth of this often overlooked narrative, we can create a better future for all based on the realities of our histories. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-07

Quite frankly, the hypocrisy and holier-than-thou attitude of the United States toward Israel is truly infuriating. The Pentagon recently announced that last year, on May 3, 2023, they mistakenly killed a civilian. It was not just a misguided, errant bullet that killed him. The United States had tracked a 53-year-old shepherd in northern Syria with a highly sophisticated Predator Drone. And then they launched that blew him to smithereens. The Hellfire, a guided smart bomb, is not very big, it’s about five feet long, but the cost is ginormous – about $150,000 per missile. The Predator Drone, however, is huge. It is 28 feet long and has a wingspan of between 48 and 66 feet.  Turns out, the United States tracked a simple shepherd named Lufti Hassan Masto thinking he was an al-Qaeda leader. They were wrong. A year later, after “a thorough investigation,” the Pentagon admitted its mistake.  Oops!  It was a very expensive mistake. Not just in monetary loss, but also perhaps more importantly, in credibility. It makes clear that the United States, too, makes mistakes. The United States, too, kills civilians in war. Of course, they do. The death of civilians is, unfortunately, a part of the cost of war. Good nations don’t target innocent civilians. Good nations, like Israel and the United States, try their best to minimize civilian casualties.  And yet, while at the same time that the United States is openly admitting their mistake – albeit a full year later, they are crucifying Israel (pun intended) for civilian deaths, crucifying Israel for what the Pentagon euphemistically terms “collateral damage.” The infuriating part is that the US admits that they do exactly what they are asking Israel not to do. A pure case of “do as I say, not as I do” military style. A US soldier oversees members of the Syrian Democratic Forces as they demolish a YPG fortification and raise a Tal Abyad Military Council flag over the outpost as part of the security mechanism zone agreement, in Syria September 21, 2019. (credit: US ARMY/STAFF SGT. ANDREW GOEDL/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS) And please, do not think for even one moment that the United States accidentally killed only one single civilian.  According to a piece published in the The Guardian on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, the for the killing of at least 22,000 civilians – perhaps as many as 48,000  since 9/11. The subtitle of the piece is: “Figures based on reported number of US airstrikes highlight the human cost of the 20-year ‘war on terror.’” Here are some examples:  On August 29, 2021, in Kabul, the US flubbed a drone strike killing 10 innocent people, including seven children who were fleeing the capital. The Pentagon took months to admit the mistake, insisting that the car was loaded with terrorists and weapons, which was the reason for the huge explosion. In the end, the car was actually carrying a family of one of the US helpers in Afghanistan. The United States mistakenly killed him and his family. Months later, on November 4, the Pentagon termed the deaths “an honest mistake.” In September 2019, the US targeted the Taliban and instead hit a wedding party killing at least 40 civilians. In Syria, in 2019, the US mistakenly attacked and killed dozens of women and children. The list can go on.  One report I read brought the total of innocent via drone and missile strikes to 140,000. That may be an exaggeration, but nevertheless, the numbers are huge. In January 2022, the Pentagon pledged to be more transparent about these mistakes, which is why we are hearing about them now. No doubt, that is a good thing. It also clearly points out that the United States and the Pentagon know full well that, sometimes, innocent civilians are hurt in war. And yet, they are not offering that same understanding to Israel.  Actually, the United States is refusing to extend that same understanding to Israel – the country that has, by all other accounts, set the gold standard for civilian death ratios. Instead, the United States persists in publicly chastising Israel for civilian deaths, knowing full well, as we all do, that Hamas hides behind civilians and civilian institutions like schools, mosques, and hospitals. Knowing that Hamas uses their own innocent civilians, as human shields. More than simply a double standard, the constant haranguing of Israel by the United States over the deaths of innocents – the accidental deaths of innocents, the unavoidable deaths of innocents during wartime – constitutes an immoral attack against an ethical army that is doing its best to prevent civilian casualties.  The IDF is doing its best to prevent civilian deaths even to the point of often endangering its own forces – and the United States knows that fully well. So, while I applaud the Pentagon for admitting that they mistakenly killed a Syrian shepherd, I just wish they would apply the same standard to Israel that they apply to themselves. But for now, that act of understanding and global recognition doesn’t seem to fit their agenda. It’s more than infuriating – It’s shameful. The writer is a columnist and a social and political commentator. Watch his TV show Thinking Out Loud on JBS. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-06

To paraphrase historian John Lewis Gaddis, grand strategy requires both a compass and a map. Metaphorically, the compass provides strategic direction toward a desired end-state, while the map is the situational awareness required to avoid major obstacles blocking one’s path ahead. As Israel faces an increasingly contested regional environment, it is indeed worrying that the government overseen by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to lack clear strategic direction on any of the relevant fronts. Regardless, the Israeli national security strategy developed before , 2023, would need to be rebalanced considering threats that have emerged since the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians. What this means in practice is that Israel must reassess how it prioritizes and allocates its limited military and intelligence resources. While this previously appeared to focus primarily on the northern front (Hezbollah and Iran-backed activities in Syria) and Iran, decision-makers must consider new threat actors that have demonstrated a greater-than-expected capability and willingness to strike Israel, including , the Houthis in Yemen, and the Iran-backed militias in Iraq. This should take into account both the urgency and importance of such threats. The good news is that Israel has many of the tools required to act against these malign regional actors backed by the Islamic Republic. Its air force is world-class, its ground forces have gained valuable experience over the past six months against Hamas and Hezbollah, and its defense technology ecosystem is exceptional. HEZBOLLAH MEMBERS hold flags during a rally marking the annual Hezbollah Martyrs’ Day, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, last month (credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS) Israel also has top-tier intelligence agencies capable of reaching the most guarded malign actors in Lebanon, Syria, and beyond. No less important than the first two strategic assets is the special relationship between the US and Israel: these ties provide Jerusalem with a network of operational partners, diplomatic support in hostile international fora like , and essential assistance to fight long wars which quickly deplete munitions stockpiles. To be clear, the US-Israel relationship is complex and there is inevitable friction between the interests of the two separate countries whose vantage points and interests naturally differ. The inevitable policy challenges are compounded by the interpersonal complications between Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden, particularly with the prospect of elections in both countries, which increases the degree to which both leaders factor in domestic public opinion about how Israel should prosecute its war against Hamas. Yet, the alliance between the two countries, despite the fact that it has never been formalized as a defense treaty, has held up well since October 7. But one must question how effective a superb air force, excellent intelligence, and supportive allies can be when Jerusalem has not presented a clear vision of what it aims to achieve. Netanyahu’s strategic goal against Hamas has been reduced to the unconvincing catchphrase of “total victory.” Tragically, it is looking more and more like Israel’s tactical military success in Gaza is not being leveraged to achieve long-term aims that might unseat the deadly terrorist group Hamas from its role of ruling over Gaza. In yet another arena, Israel looks to be headed to the same type of perpetual “whack-a-mole” that it is playing in countries like Syria. There are good reasons to question whether such an approach is sustainable, and if it is, whether it is optimal. Targeting terrorist leaders may temporarily throw an organization off balance, and it is certainly an end that those individuals richly deserve, but it is no substitute for a coherent long-term strategy. After October 7, Biden warned Israel to avoid making the same mistakes the US made after 9/11. Getting bogged down by costly counterinsurgency operations, whether in Afghanistan or Gaza, costs much in blood and treasure – but no less important are the opportunity costs of such campaigns, which can distract a country from tackling its most dangerous rivals: in the case of the US and the Global War on Terror, it was the emergence and emboldening of China and Russia, and in the case of Israel, there is a risk of getting distracted from the core of Israel’s regional challenges – the Islamic Republic of Iran. Refocusing away from Iran’s conventional and nuclear threats would of course be playing into Iran’s strategy of training, indoctrinating, and arming proxies. At the same time, those increasingly dangerous proxies armed with advanced weapons cannot be ignored. Israel should do the minimum it must against Iran’s proxies, and it should do the maximum to target Iran directly with the support of partners and allies. But beyond that, Jerusalem must explain what goals or end states it seeks to achieve in these arenas: it seems unrealistic to maintain momentum in “mowing the grass” in five-plus countries in the Middle East. The October 7 massacre by Hamas should have been a wake-up call on this, as even right in the territory adjacent to Israel this practice lost steam after more than a decade – and then Gaza erupted. Israel may have the means to navigate towards strategic goals vis-à-vis the Iran threat network, but without a compass providing strategic direction, its policies will remain reactive and tactical rather than strategic. The lack of clear guidance from the political echelon charged with overseeing the defense establishment also runs the risk of strategic drift into entanglements with less important adversaries and distracting from the most dangerous foes. After Netanyahu’s understanding of Israel’s strategic environment imploded on October 7, he should approach all previous assumptions with renewed skepticism. Until the Government of Israel can delineate clearer strategic aims in which it can anchor its policy toward the Iran threat network, Israeli national security policy will remain adrift. The writer advises Israeli defense technology start-ups entering the US federal market and consults for a variety of organizations on the Houthi threat in Yemen. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-04

An Iranian-backed terrorist group in Bahrain claims to have targeted Israel a second time. JPost on May 2 that the “Islamic Resistance in Bahrain, Saraya Al-Ashtar” claimed it had targeted Israel. The group alleged via pro-Iran media such as Al-Mayadeen that on April 27 it had targeted an Israeli company in Eilat. There is no evidence that the group’s attacks, which it claims involved drones, have taken place or been successful. The group posted an undated video showing a drone being launched. Now Iran’s IRNA reported on May 4 that the group said it had carried out a second attack targeting Eilat. “The Bahraini resistance group,, has announced its second attack on Israeli positions in support of the Palestinian people in war-ravaged Gaza,” IRNA claimed. The group has been sanctioned as a terrorist group by the US. Bahrain is a member of the Abraham Accords. Bahrain has a Shi’ite minority and Iran has often sought to influence the Shi’ite community in Bahrain and stir up trouble in the Kingdom. Iran has done the same among Shi’ites in Saudi Arabia. Iran likely is pushing the Bahrain group to make these claims during the 15th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in , where Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian is pushing countries to cut ties with Israel. As such Iran appears to be trying to operationalize a new “front” against Israel. Iran already uses Hamas in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq and Syria to attack Israel. Iran also attacked Israel on April 13-14. Iran’s foreign minister met with his Saudi counterparts in Gambia on may 4. Iran may be trying to send a message it can destabilize Bahrain, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, and it is pushing this terrorist proxy to make these claims in that light. THE SECRETARIES-GENERAL of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (left) and the Arab League, with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister between them, hold a news conference at the joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, on November 11 (credit: AHMED YOSRI/ REUTERS) According to IRNA, the “Al-Ashtar Brigades stressed in its statement that it will continue attacks against the Israeli regime until it stops its war on Gaza and lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory.” The Iranian media also claimed that the “Bahraini resistance group carried out its first anti-Israel attack on April 30, targeting Eilat Port with drones.” The April 30 date appears different than the April 27 date that the group claimed on Thursday. It is not clear why Iranian media has now reported two different dates. The Iranian media admitted that other groups in the region, “including those in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon have also hit Israeli targets in the past months in an effort to force the regime to halt its genocidal war on Gaza.” Iran is clearly trying to set the region aflame and using its proxies to do so. It is admitting this openly as part of its goal to change the regional order and use the October 7 attack as part of a shift in the new world order that Iran believes is arriving.  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-04

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, met with Holocaust survivors, and leaders of the delegations of the 2024 Holocaust Remembrance Conference of Yad Vashem, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem Thursday night. The meeting was also attended by government secretary Yossi Fuchs, Dani Dayan, and family members accompanying the survivors. Aryeh Itani, a 97-year-old from Italy recounted his experiences during the Holocaust. "At the age of 18, while in the ghetto, only a weak population remained, and out of all of them, only I survived. They ask me 'why?' and I don't know. I wasn't smarter, more religious, or stronger. I don't know how I survived." Itani shared his story, and then pleaded with Netanyahu to bring home. "I was a prisoner in both Syria and Cyprus and I escaped, I was in prison for two months," he said. "I've been through enough prisons and I have only one wish left - the honor of the prime minister, bring back the hostages. It bothers me a lot, it drives me crazy, believe me. This is it, sir, bring back the captives, please, from you."Netanyahu meets holocaust survivors, members of the ''Yad Ezer Lachaver'' (credit: KOBI GIDEON/GPO) The Prime Minister responded to his pleas, "We are making tremendous efforts. We have already returned half, when people didn't believe we would return anyone, and I can tell you that we are determined to bring back everyone - both the living and the fallen. We don't forget anyone." Izzy (Yitzhak) Kavillo, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor from Yugoslavia, said that first and foremost, we must not forget what happened. "The State of Israel today is the one and only refuge for the Jewish people," he declared. "If anyone ever thought that the United States of America could also be a refuge, with what's happening there today, we see that it's no longer the case. Therefore, we must strengthen the country." ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-03

Here’s how you plan a reporting trip to Israel’s northern war zone.  You check the app of Israel’s Homefront Command to browse the locations of recent . You’re looking for someplace that’s seen some action, but not too much — because you don’t have a helmet or flak jacket and you’ve made some vague promises to your wife.  You find yourself puzzling over what shirt to wear: Should you go with olive green, which offers maximal camouflage from among your limited wardrobe, or does green increase the chances that a Hezbollah sniper will mistake you for a soldier and identify you as a target? In any case, you’re wearing blue jeans, so you don’t exactly blend in. You decide to split the difference and go with a brown T-shirt.  I live about two hours south of the conflict zone, so when I head toward the border with Lebanon, I’ve got a bit of a drive ahead of me, and I’m not sure where to go. Along the border, Israel faces daily fire from Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese group designated by numerous countries as a terror organization. More than from their homes in northern Israel since October. The visible military presence increases the farther north I get. Armored personnel carriers, army jeeps and military fuel trucks crowd the road, and the only travelers at rest stops seem to be soldiers. At one gas station, a handful of volunteers work a barbecue, offering soldiers free lunches, snacks and drinks.  Amidst tension with Syria, IDF Reserve infantrymen take part in a military maneuver of their battalion in Golan Heights, on April 1, 2024. (credit: MICHAEL GILADI/FLASH90) Closer to , the largest Israeli city to be evacuated, the traffic thins out but there are still a few cars on the road. I’m not quite sure where the danger begins. I’m in the panhandle area of Israel known as the Finger of the Galilee, an outcropping of territory surrounded by Lebanon to the west and north and the Golan (formerly Syria’s, now Israel’s) to the east. I eye the sky above the mountain ridge to my left, scanning for projectiles. The ridge itself is inside Israel, but Lebanon is just beyond. In the conflict zone, it’s safer to drive fast then slow because it’s harder for terrorists to target a fast-moving vehicle with a shoulder-borne weapon. It’s one of the many differences from normal life in this upside-down world, and it’s why all the traffic signals in Kiryat Shmona run continuously on flashing yellow lights. Stopping for a red light is just too dangerous. As I approach the southern entrance to Kiryat Shmona, just a mile and a half from Lebanon and well into the evacuation zone, the quiet, verdant hills belie the war that has taken the lives of about two dozen people in northern Israel since the outbreak of hostilities last October. More than 350 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah members, according to the group. The area still bears the hallmarks of one of Israel’s most popular vacation destinations. Roadside signs advertise river kayaking, torchlight tours of the Nimrod fortress near the Syrian border, a cable car ride up the Manara Cliff. There’s no asterisk indicating they’re all closed, or explaining that dozens of homes in Kibbutz Manara, an Israeli community of 280 right along the Lebanese border, have been destroyed by Hezbollah fire.  I hadn’t intended to drive all the way into Kiryat Shmona. But I encounter no army checkpoint before I reach the city, and in the car beside me I spot an elderly woman behind the wheel, looking unfazed. Well, damn. If she can do it, so can I.  I manage to do a few interviews during my brief visit to Kiryat Shmona, but I’m interrupted by two sirens warning of incoming rocket fire. Locals rush me to shelter in the kitchen of the only shawarma restaurant still open in the city.  Before leaving town I pull up the map on my phone to find the best route out. It shows my location as the Beirut airport. I try again. This time I’m in Cairo. I later learn that the Israeli authorities regularly scramble GPS signals in the conflict zone so as not to provide rocket-armed enemies with information about the whereabouts of Israeli civilians. I had arrived on a day that GPS signals in the entire country were scrambled following an attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, for which Israel was anticipating reprisals by Iran or its proxies in Lebanon.  As I race eastward across the finger of the Galilee on a road lined with eucalyptus trees, I realize the trees serve a function I never before considered: They not only provide welcome shade but also block a direct line of sight for Hezbollah. I later learn that was by design. It takes just a few minutes to cross the Galilee here, and soon I again head northward. But a few miles later I encounter my first army checkpoint: Points north are dangerous for civilians.  I turn into Kfar Szold, the northernmost community in the Galilee not under mandatory evacuation orders. The soldiers at the kibbutz gate wave me through, and I park in front of a guesthouse where my two older kids and I stayed a couple of years earlier on a ski trip to Mount Hermon, about 45 minutes away. The rooms are all shuttered and the dining room is empty. The flowers that line the kibbutz pathways dazzle in a springtime bloom of yellow and purple. I can hear the faint buzz of a tractor.  From the kibbutz I continue farther east, climbing to the plateau of the Golan Heights —  territory Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed. This is one of the most beautiful places in Israel, and it’s looking its best: The hills are still mostly green after the winter rainy season, even though it’s already over 85 degrees. In a few weeks they’ll turn dry and desiccated, yellowed out until next winter’s rains.  Although it’s still claimed by Syria, the Golan hasn’t seen real combat since the 1973 Yom Kippur war, when the area was the site of fierce tank battles between Syrian and Israeli forces. But the growing regional conflict that began on Oct. 7 has renewed concerns in the Golan that have been dormant for years. I notice newly erected berms with bunkers on the side of some roads — positions for the army to hold should there be an invasion of the territory. After Hamas’s surprise attack and the subsequent opening of the northern front by Hezbollah, that otherwise far-fetched scenario no longer can be ignored. Over the last six months of war, Hezbollah rocket attacks have reached many areas in the Golan, there have been a few drone infiltrations of the Golan from militants in Syria, and in mid-April Iran targeted sites in the Golan with its barrage of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. With the sun sinking, I look for a place to do a short stand-up video to post on social media. I find an old, rusting tank left over from one of the wars and set up my shot. But late-afternoon swarms of gnats foil my plans, and all I’m left with is an expletive-laden video selfie where I stumble through the high grass swatting in vain at my miniscule antagonists.  It’s time to find a place to sleep. I know the Golan well enough to have favorite hotels here, but in community after community I find them all closed. My phone shows Airbnbs available nearby, but there’s no indication of whether they’re equipped with bomb shelters.  Sitting on the side of the road outside one of the Golan’s kibbutzim, I work my phone to reserve a room at a hotel near the Sea of Galilee — far from where I want to be the next day but safely beyond the conflict zone. It’s almost dark now, but there’s enough light to make out a dozen or more tanks parked in the trees across the road.  When I finally arrive at my hotel I’m surprised to find the parking lot full — until I reach the lobby and discover that almost all the guests are evacuees from one of the border communities up north. As I approach the reception desk the clerk looks up at me and says, “I know who you are! You’re the one who booked us on Expedia. Now I have to see if we have a clean room.”  He leaves me to wait in the lobby for a very long time. In the meantime, I go up to the dining room, where there are only 20 minutes left before the buffet dinner closes. I end up spending a long evening chatting with a group of seniors from an evacuated kibbutz who have been living at the hotel for more than five months. They seem to be in good spirits. When they see me the next morning at breakfast they greet me warmly by name.  It’s nearly noon before I find my way to the hotel exit, to head back to the Golan Heights for a day of reporting in Druze and Israeli villages near the nexus of the Israeli, Syrian and Lebanese borders. Along the way, I bump into some more elderly ladies on their way out of an exercise class and then some kindergarteners at their makeshift school. They’ve taken over the buggy of an Arab hotel employee setting up for the season’s opening of the outdoor swimming pool, and their teacher is trying to coax them out. The pool man is laughing.  At the time of my visit Passover was fast approaching and the hotel was expecting to be sold out, but a big chunk of guests were to be the evacuees who’ve been living there for months.  When I ask one of them if she thinks she’ll still be in the hotel for the fall Jewish holidays, a sad smile spreads across her face. She shrugs.  “We don’t know anything,” she says. “I try to do the best that I can within this situation.” ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-02

Alleged Israeli airstrikes were reported in the Damascus area on Thursday night for the first time since several senior commanders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in in early April. According to Reuters, the airstrike on Thursday targeted a building used by Syrian security forces near Damascus. Syrian opposition sources reported that the strike targeted a site near Najha, south of Damascus.  Initial reports indicated that several people were injured in the strikes. The scene of the assassination in Damascus (credit: REUTERS/FIRAS MAKDESI) The last alleged Israeli airstrikes to target the Damascus area were reported in early April, when targeted a building next to the Iranian embassy, killing Mohammad Reza Zahedi — a commander in the IRGC responsible for operations in Syria and Lebanon - and several other senior IRGC commanders. About two weeks later, Iran launched over 300 toward Israel in response. While the IDF, the US, and several regional and international partners succeeded in downing most of the missiles and drones, some of the missiles fell on a base in southern Israel, and shrapnel from the missiles seriously wounded a 7-year-old Bedouin girl. This is a developing story.  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-02

The leader of , a Christian political party in Lebanon, sounded the alarm on Hezbollah and the low-level conflict with Israel that it has brought on Lebanon. His comments were published by the Associated Press this week and represent an important development in the Lebanese political landscape. They coincide with a BBC report that also revealed how the ongoing clashes have led some areas to be deserted. Hezbollah pretends that it is waging a successful war on Israel. In Israel, there is concern that this is the new normal, and there are discussions and disputes reported in Ynet on Thursday among about how best to deal with Hezbollah. However, not only in Israel is the war ruffling feathers. Samir Geagea slammed Hezbollah for its seven months of clashes with Israel that have harmed Lebanon. “No one has the right to control the fate of a country and people on its own,” Geagea said. “Hezbollah is not the government in Lebanon. There is a government in Lebanon in which Hezbollah is represented.” “All the damage that could have happened in Gaza…happened. What was the benefit of military operations that were launched from south Lebanon? Nothing,” Geagea said. Geagea is a unique figure in Lebanese politics. A CROWD in Tehran watches an address, on the screen by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in November. Hezbollah is virtually a state within a state, sucking the lifeblood out of Lebanon at the instigation of Iran, says the writer. (credit: WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY/REUTERS) He was formerly a commander in the Lebanese Forces when it was an armed group during the civil war in Lebanon. It was dissolved in 1986. Saudi helped broker a peace deal in Lebanon in 1990 to end the war. He was appointed Minister of State in 1990 but refused a role in government due to the Syrian occupation of the country. As revenge, Syria likely helped engineer his arrest and solitary confinement in prison for many years. Released after the Syrians were expelled in 2005 when Hezbollah murdered former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. He has been outspoken in the past, and his political faction has improved its standing in Lebanon in recent years. Not all the Christian parties in Lebanon oppose Hezbollah, Michel Aoun, another Christian leader, has worked with Hezbollah. Lebanon may be tired of the excesses of Hezbollah and how it is dragging the country into conflict. Hezbollah, for instance, backed the Iranian attack on Israel on April 13-14 and showed itself to be more a proxy of Iran, than a “defender” of Lebanon.  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-02

The “Islamic Resistance , Saraya Al-Ashtar” claimed that it attempted to target Israel with a drone attack, according to reports posted on social media and also by pro-Iranian media in the region. The pro-Iranian Al-Mayadeen said that the group had “announced the targeting of the depths of the Israeli occupation entity, with drones, in support of the Palestinian cause and in support of the resisting people in Gaza, in the first operation since the beginning of the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation.” Saraya Al-Ashtar confirmed, in a statement published on Thursday, “that it targeted the headquarters of the company responsible for land transportation in the occupation entity, Trucknet, in the city of Umm Al-Rashrash, Eilat, south of occupied Palestine.” It claimed that it had carried out the attack on April 27. In a video online, the group appeared to use an Iranian-style drone launched from a metal frame with a propellant. The drone then soars into the distance. The newly formed Islamic Resistance in released a footage of what it claims a drone that was used to target Eilat, southern from Bahrain. This is the first time this group claimed to attack Israel since the attack by Hamas. Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon joined the attacks on Israel on October 8, and several days later, the Iranian-backed Houthis also said they would form a joint operations room against Israel. Since then, Iran has been active against Israel, using proxies from up to seven fronts in the region. Iran has prodded Iraqi-based militias to target Israel. Those groups have also targeted Eilat with drone attacks. Iranian-backed groups in Syria and the West Bank have also targeted Israel. Bahrain, along with the UAE, was part of the 2020 Abraham Accords. Bahrain has a large Shi’ite minority population, which Iran has often sought to radicalize and use against the Kingdom and also use it as a conduit to influence Shi’ite groups in Saudi Arabia. “The Islamic Resistance in Bahrain confirmed that it is continuing its movement and support for the Palestinian people , at all levels, stressing that it will not stop its operations unless the aggression in the Gaza Strip stops,” the Al-Mayadeen report said.Kingdom of Bahrain flag (credit: Wikimedia Commons) According to the US Office of the Department of National Intelligence, the “Al-Ashtar Brigades (AAB) is a Bahraini Shia militant group that plans and commits terrorist attacks against the Government of Bahrain with Iran’s assistance. The group emerged in 2013 when it split from the 14 February Youth Coalition, Bahrain’s oldest Iran-aligned Shia militia. AAB seeks to overthrow Bahrain’s monarchy and has claimed at least 20 attacks in Bahrain, some of which caused fatalities.” The US has sanctioned the group in the past. On March 12 the US State Department said that t had sanctioned three members of the terrorist group. “The Department of State designated Saraya al-Ashtar as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated International Terrorist in 2018. The Department of the Treasury took action under Executive Order 13224, as amended, targeting terrorist groups and their supporters. For more information regarding today's action, please see the Treasury press release.” ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-02

Yoni Ben-Menachem is a journalist who previously served as CEO of the Israel Broadcasting Authority and as director of the Voice of Israel broadcast network. He served in the Israeli Intelligence Corps and was discharged with the rank of captain, then studied for a bachelor's degree in Arabic language and literature and a master's degree in East Asian studies. He speaks Arabic fluently in several dialects. Ben-Menachem was the first to interview Yasser Arafat before the Oslo Accords and covered, among other things, Israel's political, with Syria, in the Wye River Memorandum, the Camp David Accords, and more. Today he serves as a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a commentator on Arab media channels, and a lecturer on the topic of the Middle East. In addition, he is a consultant for political crises, intelligence, and terrorism matters. His skills, experience, and deep knowledge of the nuances of the Middle East allow him to analyze the reality and challenges that Israel is currently facing. Maariv asked to contribute from his point of view, especially to understand Egypt as an actor in the overall fabric of interests in the region. Despite various reports that the Hamas movement responded positively to Israel's response to the Egyptian proposal, Aizat Rishak, a member of the Hamas political bureau, stated that Hamas has not published any reference to the abductee release deal. Rishak said that Hamas is still examining it and that the publications in Israel are intended to create confusion. Ben-Menachem also commented that Hamas officials are attempting to lower enthusiasm from Israel and Blinken, the American secretary of state who is currently in Saudi Arabia. In this analysis, Ben-Menachem also referred to what Blinken said this morning - that the Egyptian offer is generous, that Hamas should take it, and that the US hopes Hamas will decide quickly. The meaning of Hamas's chilling message from Rishek's mouth to Ben-Menachem's understanding is, "that Israelis, Americans, or Egyptians are trying to put Hamas under pressure and push them into this deal. Hamas, for their part, say they are not in a hurry to get anywhere." Ben-Menachem emphasized that no one really knows what reservations Israel made to the Egyptian intelligence delegation that brought its proposal. Only one publication by Yaron Avraham claimed that Israel is ready to withdraw from the Netzer Corridor. On this, Ben-Menachem stated, "I don't think it makes much sense because this is one of Israel's cards. The corridor cuts the Strip in two and blocks the passage of the displaced people from the north of the Strip and back. It leverages very serious pressure on Hamas. We are talking about between 20 and 40 abductees who will be released out of 133. This number is also not final because Hamas claims that it will be difficult to commit to 40 alive abductees and that it is not exactly in control and does not know what is happening with the other abductees who are not being held by them. Hamas is ready to commit to only 20." On the other hand, Ben-Menachem specifies that "Israel demands, according to the intelligence data it has, at least 33 abductees. Even if, in the best case scenario, Hamas returns 33 abductees alive, this means that 100 Israeli abductees will remain in the hands of Hamas." Ben-Menachem considers such large and significant concessions at such a stage, leaving with Hamas, apart from most of the abductees, also a very large lever of pressure on Israel to continue. He recognizes their motivation and that their basic demands are that Israel stop the war completely and withdraw from the Gaza Strip completely. This means they will remain in power, and the situation will return to normal.  If this is indeed the case, Ben-Menachem stated, "They murdered 1,400 Israelis, we lost several hundred more soldiers and thousands wounded in the war, and in the end they won, because we are in exchange for 33 hostages (to be the most optimistic), we will release hundreds of terrorists, including extremely dangerous murderers." He emphasized that the list of prisoners will most likely include even more dangerous ones than Sinwar, for example, Abdullah Barghouti, who is serving 67 life sentences in an Israeli prison. Ben-Menachem continued, "If you take the balance of this deal, it is a defeat for Israel, the worst for Israel. Because most of the abductees remain held in their hands, and we have no pressure lever to continue." He estimated that the chances of a deal are 50%. Regarding the fact that Israel apparently agreed to stop the war, he said that "this is something that anyone can interpret however they want." , Ben-Menachem stated, "They saw how the IDF attacked when the war started. In the north of the Gaza Strip, we dropped bombs and eliminated many. I don't know if the Palestinian numbers are correct and it may be that they are exaggerated, but there is no doubt that we killed a significant number of people there. The Egyptians are really afraid that there will be a forced crossing of thousands of refugees." According to him, the Egyptians believe that Hamas wants to complicate matters by pushing displaced people to break through the fence and move to their territory. "It happened in the past," he recalls, "a few years ago, they broke through the fence by force, and then the Egyptians had to shoot them." Ben-Menachem believes that the Egyptians will not be able to stop thousands of Palestinians who will move for fear of the bombs or that Hamas will push them. "The Egyptians will not be able to open fire and kill thousands of Palestinians so that Palestinians will enter Egyptian territory. This is already creating a very big problem for the Egyptian president. This will immediately destabilize the internal situation in Egypt. Hamas is part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which is the main opposition movement in Egypt to President El-Sisi, who is trying to topple him from power. When he came to power, he suppressed them by force and outlawed them, today it is considered a terrorist organization in Egypt." He compared what is happening in the last month in Egypt with what is happening in Jordan and claims that King Abdullah has lost control, "The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are holding huge demonstrations there and are openly threatening to topple him from power. In Egypt, they are afraid everything is under pressure from the Egyptian security forces, who carry out preventive arrests and forcefully hold the pressure cooker from exploding. It will create huge protests in Egypt, which may topple him from power. The Arab majority sympathizes with Hamas 100 percent and hates Israel. The majority is against the peace agreements. The rulers, on the other hand, play the American game, because they need the Americans. Egypt, for example, needs America for military and economic aid, without which it will collapse, the Egyptian government will collapse." Further, Ben-Menachem believes the Egyptians hold the internal situation better than the Jordanians. President El-Sisi fears that once they break in, there will be a massacre and that the Hamas and Qatari media will cover it up. Ben-Menachem added another Egyptian interest: "They also need the help of Israel, which will lobby Congress and the Senate for them." He attributes this to the security cooperation between Israel and Egypt. Further, Ben-Menachem revealed conversations he heard from security officials, "The Egyptians are simply afraid that their nakedness will be revealed to the public because as soon as the IDF seizes the Philadelphia axis, it will discover the tunnels that are underneath, which have been used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt for years. The Egyptians say that there is no smuggling under the Philadelphia axis, there are no tunnels, that in 2012 they flooded the tunnels with water and closed them all, and that this is all Israeli inventions to occupy Rafah." Ben-Menachem pointed out that there is an Israeli security official who said that there are 130 tunnels under the Philadelphia axis, "I don't know if this is true, or Israeli propaganda, but Israel insists that there are. The Egyptians fear that if Israel seizes the tunnels, it will be a big blow for them on the world level, given Their insistence that there is no tunnel and that everything is Israeli lies. They think that in the end, Israel, as it conducts itself and fights, will not defeat Hamas. For Hamas to remain in power in the Strip, Egyptians may pay a heavy price. Until 2017, Gaza Hamas participated in attacks against the police and the Egyptian army inside Egyptian territory, together with the Muslim Brotherhood and the ISIS branch from northern Sinai. They were even complicit in a very famous attack by the Egyptian Attorney General." He concluded, "This cooperation between Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and ISIS against the rule of al-Sisi greatly worried the Egyptians. In 2017, Sinwar was elected as the and reached an agreement with Egyptian intelligence that the military arm would stop the attacks on Egyptian territory and in return would open the Rafah crossing in a continuous manner for the passage of people and goods, an open gate for Hamas to the outside world. Sinwar kept his commitment to the Egyptians. If he stays in power, he will come to account with Egypt, for everything that happened. If he emerges victorious in the war, he will renew the terror with the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS against al-Sisi's rule. The Egyptians do not see Israeli determination to eliminate Hamas. They are very worried about this." ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-02

A Syrian man and an aid organization have lodged a formal complaint against Russia for alleged violations of international law, specifically accusing Moscow of deliberately n northern Syria in 2019. The complaint, filed this week at the United Nations Human Rights Committee, has reignited scrutiny over Russia's military intervention in Syria's conflict, aimed at bolstering President Bashar al-Assad's forces. The accusation centers on a series of airstrikes on the Kafr Nobol Surgical Hospital in the northwest province of Idlib on May 5, 2019. The complaint, filed by the cousin of two civilians killed in the attack and Hand in Hand for Aid and Development, alleges that Russia's Air Force was responsible for the bombing, which occurred in territory held by armed groups opposed . Evidence presented in the complaint includes videos, eyewitness statements, and audio recordings, including correspondence between a Russian pilot and ground control discussing the dropping of munitions. Fadi al-Dairi, director of Hand in Hand, emphasized the importance of the Human Rights Committee in acknowledging the truth of the attack and the suffering it caused. People carry a banner while attending a protest against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, Russia and the Syrian Democratic forces, in Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria February 29, 2016. (credit: REUTERS/ABDALRHMAN ISMAIL) The Human Rights Committee, based in Geneva, monitors political and civil rights globally and can receive complaints from states and individuals regarding alleged violations. Individual complaints, such as this one, have the potential to lead to compensation payments, investigations, or other measures. Russia, while denying accusations of violating , is subject to the committee's oversight as it signed the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1991. However, both Syria and Russia are not party to the International Criminal Court's Rome Statute, limiting opportunities for accountability. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-05-01

The and fears of an impending Israeli military invasion in Rafah continue to impact tourism in Israel and Palestine, with no end in sight to the slump. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reported a rise in tourist entries to 79,500 in March 2024 from 68,100 in February, though this was significantly lower than the 375,600 entries in March 2023. From January to March 2024, visitor entries totaled 206,700, a steep decline from the 966,200 tourists during the same period in 2023. Following the October 7 Hamas attack, international airlines ceased flights to Israel due to security concerns. Since began, tourist entries into Israel dropped dramatically, with only 180,000 arriving in the last quarter of 2023 versus an expected 900,000. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 415,300 Israelis traveled abroad in March 2024, up from 343,800 in February but still below the 746,300 who traveled in March 2023. PASSENGERS AT Ben-Gurion Airport get ready to leave Israel. (credit: GILI YAARI/FLASH90) Although some foreign airlines have resumed flights, tourism in Israel is gradually recovering but has not returned to normal. The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities reported that visitor numbers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem reached 2.5 million from January to the beginning of October 2023—around 278,000 visitors per month; since then, they have plummeted to less than 1% of this figure. The ongoing war is causing Palestinian cities to lose about $2.5 million daily, with 60% of these losses affecting Bethlehem. Specifically in Bethlehem, 90 antique stores and 450 crafts operators have suffered significant losses, leading to closures. The crisis has also deeply impacted the city’s tour guides, photographers, pottery workshops, and street vendors, leaving most jobless. “We used to have 35,000 employees in the tourist industry in Palestine, but so far, less than 3% are working,” Majed Ishaq, director general of marketing at the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, told The Media Line. “We have few religious tourists, mostly Christians, in the cities of Jericho, Nazareth, and Bethlehem, but most of them come through Jordan since many flights from abroad do not fly to Tel Aviv,” he added. Ishaq also noted that a major challenge is the omission of the Holy Land from the International Tour Operators Catalogue, as it is now deemed an unsafe travel destination. Meanwhile, neighboring countries like Jordan, Egypt, and even Syria are attracting more tourists, perceived as safer than Israel and Palestine. “Some of our tour operators from East Jerusalem can move freely within Israel and the Palestinian Territories, while others, mainly from the West Bank, require a permit to work in Israel,” Ishaq explained. “Due to the war, many have not managed to renew their permits, making it almost impossible to obtain Israeli authorization in time,” he added. Unlike Israel, which benefits from domestic tourism, travel is very difficult for Palestinians. It may take hours to pass through Israeli checkpoints, making travel between the Palestinian territories and Israel unbearable for a one-day visit, Ishaq stated. He also mentioned that the Palestinian Tourism Ministry is struggling financially due to the economic crisis in the West Bank and Gaza and the loss of income from Palestinians who previously worked in Israel. In contrast, government subsidies in Israel are helping to keep parts of the industry afloat. “Our ministry is financially assisting those affected by the tourism downturn, paying 80% of salaries for those employed in travel agencies. We also provide marketing support,” Peleg Lewi, the international affairs adviser for the Israeli minister of tourism, told The Media Line. However, complications persist. “The situation for freelance guides is particularly complicated since they do not receive a salary. The ministry has tried employing them in schools, but this has not been very successful so far,” Lewi added. Lewi pointed out that domestic tourism, including visits from faith-related groups and discounted accommodations for those relocated from northern Israel, is helping the country withstand a crisis worse than COVID. However, the industry is concerned about potential military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in the north. “Despite we foresee not only religious tourism but also support from international activists and Muslims boosting our economy,” Ishaq asserted. On the other hand, Lewi speculated that “while overall foreign tourism in Israel may remain stable, Israelis’ travel abroad will change. Many are likely to choose destinations where they feel safer, and it’s probable that Western Europe won’t be among these.” ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-29

Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said that terrorist attacks in Iran and Russia recently "are the result of the support of Western countries, especially the United States, to terrorist groups," the Iranian government's semi-official Mehr News Agency reported last Saturday. Ashtiani made these comments while in a meeting with his Russian counterpart the day before, where he also praised Russia's condemnation of the alleged Israeli airstrike on the area around the Islamic Republic of Iran's consulate in Damascus Syria, the report said. While the article did not reveal which terror groups were being referenced by Ashtiani, both Russia and Iran have been the target of attacks by ISIS in recent months. In March, , killing scores of people. While ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed fingers at Ukraine, which has received notable military support from the West; especially from the United States. Similarly, in January, ISIS orchestrated an which killed close to 100 people. Ashtiani's Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, said that Iran's response to the alleged Israeli strike was in line with the Islamic Republic's "right to legitimate defense," which saw hundreds of drones and missiles launched from Iran at Israeli towns and cities. Smoke rises above the burning Crocus City Hall concert venue following a reported shooting incident, outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2024. (credit: MAXIM SHEMETOV/REUTERS) Shoigu also condemned the airstrike on Iran’s embassy in Syria, which saw the death of a high-ranking IRGC official and several other IRGC members.  While Israel has not publicly admitted to have orchestrated the strike, an anonymous that those eliminated had  "been behind many attacks on Israeli and American assets and had plans for additional attacks."  Ashtiani also called for collaboration with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization "to eliminate common threats" after referring to NATO, according to the report, and called for developing bilateral relations with Moscow in the fields of defense and military. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-29

Iran is seeking greater influence, via , in Africa, two new reports claim. The assertion, at the UAE-based Al-Ain media, describes how Iran is “is expanding its footprint in Africa, offering a recipe for weapons, trade partnerships and chaos to enhance its .” It is using the current global chaos unleashed as a result of events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza to achieve this. It is also adding “new lines of influence from Sudan,” the report says. The report builds on an earlier investigation by Radio Free Europe (RFE) on April 23 which first examined this trend. “Iran is expanding its footprint in Africa, offering arms, partnerships, and chaos as it works to boost its influence on the continent,” RFE noted. “This week, Iran is touting the second Iran-Africa trade summit in just over a year, with representatives from more than 40 African countries expected for the April 26-29 event in Tehran,” the RFE article said. It focused on Iran’s role in Niger and Sudan. The UAE’s media interest illustrates that Iran’s expansion raises eyebrows in the Gulf. It examines this trend amid reports that Iran also drew-down forces in Syria. An Iranian official was quoted saying “the future of global trade will be determined in Africa,” according to Iran’s Mehr Agency. An Iranian woman walks past an anti-Israel banner with a picture of Iranian missiles on a street in Tehran, Iran April 19, 2024. (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS) All the ingredients in Africa are present for enabling Iran’s exploitation of the scene. Iran preys on chaos and establishes long-term investment in local networks. This is how it operationalized the Houthis in Yemen. It also seeks to establish proxy groups. Iran is also expanding relationships in Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti. “Iranian weapons sales to Sudan's armed forces, which are fighting a civil war against rebels, have recently allowed the military to reverse losses and regain territory,” RFE noted. The export of Iranian drones to Sudan has been in the spotlight over the last months, for instance. “Iran seeks, by providing such assistance to the Sudanese Armed Forces, to strengthen its presence on the African continent and carve out an area of influence for it,” Al-Ain noted. Both reports focus on Iran’s role across the Sahel from Sudan to Niger. Niger has sought to shift its links from the West to countries like Russia and Iran. Tehran wants to fill the vacuum left by the West, as it has done elsewhere. “Iran signed several cooperation agreements with Burkina Faso in the fields of energy, urban planning, higher education, and construction,” the Al-Ain report said. Iran has also sought to expand influence in Mali. The in Africa has been clear for years. In many cases Iran already had ties with regimes such as Sudan and they are merely trying to keep those ties. However, they also want to exploit the apparent weakening of the West to move into new areas of influence. Towards that end they see opportunities in places like Niger. The wider picture is Iran’s attempt to use the Gaza war and its ties with Russia to build a new regional and global world order. Africa is one area it is active, but it is also active in Central Asia and other regions.  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-27

passed a law criminalizing same-sex relationships with a maximum 15-year prison sentence on Saturday, in a move it said aimed to uphold religious values but was condemned by rights advocates as the latest attack on the in Iraq. The law aims to "protect Iraqi society from moral depravity and the calls for homosexuality that have overtaken the world," according to a copy of the law seen by Reuters. It was backed mainly by who form the largest coalition in mainly Muslim Iraq's parliament. The Law on Combating Prostitution and Homosexuality bans same-sex relations with at least 10 years and a maximum of 15 years in prison, and mandates at least seven years in prison for anybody who promotes homosexuality or prostitution. It also imposes between one and three years in prison for anyone who changes their "biological gender" or wilfully dresses in an effeminate manner. The bill had initially included the death penalty for same-sex acts but was amended before being passed after strong opposition from the United States and European nations. Shi'ite Muslims mostly from Iraq flock to the shrine of Sayyida Zeinab in Syria, March 25, 2003. (credit: REUTERS/JAMAL SAIDI) Until Saturday, Iraq didn't explicitly criminalize gay sex, though loosely defined morality clauses in its penal code had been used to target LGBT people, and members of the community have also been killed by armed groups and individuals. "The Iraqi parliament’s passage of the anti-LGBT law rubber-stamps Iraq's appalling record of rights violations against LGBT people and is a serious blow to fundamental human rights," Rasha Younes, deputy director of the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters. Iraqi officials who oversee human rights could not immediately be reached for comment. Major Iraqi parties have in the past year stepped up criticism of LGBT rights, with rainbow flags frequently being burned in protests by both ruling and opposition conservative Shi'ite Muslim factions last year. More than 60 countries criminalize gay sex, while same-sex sexual acts are legal in more than 130 countries, according to Our World in Data. ...قراءة المزيد

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