Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was born April 28, 1937 and died December 30, 2006. He was the fifth President of Iraq, holding that position from July 16, 1979 until 9 April 2003. He was one of the leading members of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, and afterward, the Baghdad-based Ba’ath Party and its regional organization Ba’ath Party, Iraq Region, which advocated ba’athism, an ideological marriage of Arab nationalism with Arab socialism. (Patricia Ramos, july 2013)
An especially dangerous threat to liberty occurs when members of the press collude with government agencies instead of monitoring and exposing the abuses of those agencies. Unfortunately, collusion is an all-too-common pattern in press coverage of the national security state’s activities. The American people then receive official propaganda disguised as honest reporting and analysis.
"The national security of America and the security of the world could be attained if the American leaders [..] become rational, if America disengages itself from its evil alliance with Zionism, which has been scheming to exploit the world and plunge it in blood and darkness, by using America and some Western countries. What the American peoples need mostly is someone who tells them the truth, courageously and honestly as it is.
They don’t need fanfares and cheerleaders, if they want to take a lesson from the (sept. 11) event so as to reach a real awakening, in spite of the enormity of the event that hit America.
But the world, including the rulers of America, should say all this to the American peoples, so as to have the courage to tell the truth and act according to what is right and not what to is wrong and unjust, to undertake their responsibilities in fairness and justice, and by recourse to reason..."
Saddam Hussein, INA 15-9-2002
Do not hate the individuals who do evil, hate only the evil deed itself
Saddam Hussein, Last Will, 26-12-2006
(Quran 25: 72) As a general rule the servants of Merciful God remain away from all kind of absurdities
and would bypass nonsense with dignity
“O brothers and great people, I call on you to preserve the ideals that made you worthy of being believers, of being the bright lamp of civilization, and of belonging to the land that gave birth to the father of prophets, Abraham, and also of other prophets. These ideals have made you the bearer of the official and authentic greatness...
“I call on you not to hate the peoples of the countries that have committed aggression on us. I call on you to distinguish between the decision-makers and the people. Hate only the deed. Even if someone's deeds deserve to be fought and combated, do not hate him as a human being. Do not hate the individuals who do evil, hate only the evil deed itself, and repel that evil as it deserves.
Firmness is a must whenever necessary. However, in order that firmness is acceptable to the people and the nation, it ought to be on the basis of the law, and to be fair and just, and not aggressive and based on malice or illegitimate ambitions.
Joe Biden & Truth - 2009
US Vice President Joe Biden said that the new administration would seek the
unvarnished truth from its spies, whether or not their information supported
the goals of the government.
The Vice President's address was greeted with loud cheers by the several hundred CIA employees who gathered for the swearing in ceremony in the foyer of the Agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Standing before the wall of 89 stars representing the CIA staff who have died in the line of duty, Mr Biden said:
"We expect you to provide independent analysis, not to engage in group think. We
expect you to tell us the facts as you know them wherever they may lead, not
what you think we want to hear." (Tim Shipman. 20-2-2009)
"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign
ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid
to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation
that is afraid of its people …
The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men. …
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." John F.Kennedy
“Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you can not retain.”
Saadi Shirazi
(Persian poet & humanist, born in Shiraz, Iran, c. 1210)
"The post-September 11 era in the US has heralded in a new age of ideology whose discourse and world views have served not only to accommodate such extremist views as those held by Sharon, but also to provide him with a platform and an influence that were unthinkable only a year ago.
Thus while the American President is busy devising a new Manichean universe of absolute good and absolute evil, pronouncing policy on the basis of a simplistic polarization of the world, and unilaterally defining the terms while categorizing state and non-state actors accordingly, Sharon’s Israel has maneuvered itself into a position of even greater power on the world stage provided explicitly by the US."
"Holism is the most fundamental discovery of 20th century science. It is a discovery of every science from astrophysics to quantum physics to environmental science to psychology to anthropology.
It is the discovery that the entire universe is an integral whole, and that the basic organizational principle of the universe is the field principle: the universe consists of fields within fields, levels of wholeness and integration that mirror in fundamental ways, and integrate with, the ultimate, cosmic whole...." "For many thinkers and religious teachers throughout this history, holism was the dominant thought, and the harmony that it implies has most often been understood to encompass cosmic, civilizational, and personal dimensions. Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Lord Krishna, Lao Tzu, and Confucius all give us visions of transformative harmony, a transformative harmony that derives from a deep relation to the holism of the cosmos."
About political holism
Political holism is based on the recognition that "we" are all members of a single whole. There's no "they," even though "we" are not all alike. Because "we" are all part of the whole, and therefore interdependent, we benefit from cooperating with each other. Political holism is a way of thinking about human cultures and nations as interdependent. Political holists search for solutions other than war to settle international disagreements. Their model of the world is one in which cooperation and negotiation, even with the enemy, even with the weak, promotes political stability more than warfare.
In an overpopulated world with planet-wide environmental problems, the development of weapons of mass destruction has rendered war obsolete as an effective means to resolve disputes.
Political dualists consider political holists unpatriotic for questioning the necessity to defeat "them." In times of impending war, political dualists tend to measure patriotism by the intensity of one's hostility to the country's immediate enemy. Naturally, they would view as disloyalty any suggestion that the enemy is not evil, any call for cooperation with the enemy, any criticism of one's own country.
To political dualists, cooperation with the enemy means capitulation, relinquishment of the nation's position of dominance. At its extreme, political dualism is essentially tribalism. (Betty Craige, 16-8-1997)
Desmond Tutu & Ubuntu
"A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed."
"We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World.
When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity." (Ubuntu info)
Russian and Syrian government air strikes pounded central Aleppo on Saturday as rebels claimed control of the city’s international airport and advanced towards Hama.
At least 16 civilians and 20 rebels have been killed in several air strikes since the early morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group. It was the first time air strikes had targeted Aleppo since 2016, when the Syrian opposition was driven out of the city.
flashback 2014-2015
However, rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied groups, including some backed by Turkey, claimed stunning gains on Saturday.
They claimed to have seized Aleppo International Airport and the strategic city of Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib. The administrative borders of Idlib Governorate were fully under their control, they added.
They also claimed to have begun marching towards Hama, successfully capturing six towns and villages in the countryside, including Morek, which lies along an important highway connecting central Syria to the north.
The offensive began on Wednesday when rebels broke out from opposition-held territory in northwest Syria towards Aleppo.
Within two days, they had seized dozens of towns and villages, as well as a section of the strategic M5 highway, cutting off supply routes to Damascus.They have taken several military bases and fortified positions since, often meeting little resistance.
According to SOHR, government forces have collapsed in Idlib and Aleppo. This has left Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, outside government control for the first time since the country’s independence in 1946, the monitoring group said.
Amid fast-moving developments, the foreign ministers of Turkey and Russia - both major stakeholders in Syria - spoke by phone on Saturday and agreed to coordinate efforts to stabilise Syria, according to Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also spoke by phone to his Iranian counterpart, according to Iranian state media.
The frontlines of Syria’s civil war have barely shifted since 2020. A “de-escalation” agreement in 2019 between rebel-backer Turkey and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad’s sponsors, Russia and Iran, had created some stability and a long-term ceasefire.
Most of Idlib province has since been held by HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, which has established a civilian administration.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, various local Islamist militant groups have risen to prominence.
Among them, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has emerged as the most powerful armed faction in northwest Syria, despite the collapse of numerous other militant groups through defeat or mergers.
HTS has managed to maintain its strength by adapting to Syria's constantly shifting political landscape, positioning itself as a formidable force that continues to control significant parts of the country.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was formed in January 2017 through the merger of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS) with several Syrian opposition groups, including Ansar al-Din, Jaysh al-Sunna, and Nour al-Din al-Zenki.
JFS was previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra Front) but rebranded after its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, attempted to sever ties with al-Qaeda in 2016.
Jabhat al-Nusra, founded in 2012, was initially aligned with al-Qaeda. In 2013, al-Julani rejected an opportunity to merge with ISIS and instead reaffirmed his allegiance to al-Qaeda, making Jabhat al-Nusra the official al-Qaeda branch in Syria.
In July 2016, Jabhat al-Nusra cut ties with al-Qaeda and rebranded as JFS.
Al-Julani's efforts to consolidate power and unite factions under HTS in 2017 were supported by clerics, including Saudi-born preacher Abdullah al-Muhaysini.
However, some former members of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS) broke away to form Hurras al-Din, a group that maintains ties to al-Qaeda.
HTS also formed the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) in November 2017 as part of its broader strategy to consolidate control in Idlib province. While presented as a civilian governing body, the SSG operates largely under HTS's influence, with the group's leaders shaping its policies and actions.
Since its formation, HTS has carefully cultivated an image of independence, seeking to distance itself from its jihadist origins. HTS's primary goal remains the overthrow of the Syrian government.
Yet, one might question whether it is truly a new entity or merely the same Salafi-extremist force rebranded — a question that raises alarm over the growing threat HTS poses to Syria's minorities, who have long faced persecution under Islamist militant rule.
Egypt reaffirms steadfast support to Syria sovereignty,
territorial integrity: FM Abdelatty to Syrian counterpart Ahram Online , Wednesday 4 Dec 2024
Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty reaffirmed Wednesday, during a phone call with his Syrian counterpart Bassam Sabbagh, Egypt's steadfast support for Syria and its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
During the call, both foreign ministers addressed the situation in northern Syria and its grave repercussions on the security and stability of the country and the whole region, a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs read. They explored ways to enhance Arab support for the Syrian state amid the current conflicts, particularly under the Arab League, the statement added.
The Council of the Arab League will hold an extraordinary foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on 8 December to address the recent developments in Syria and adopt a unified stance toward them.
On 27 November, a militant alliance led by the UNSC-designated terrorist group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) launched a surprise attack on the Syrian army in the northern province of Aleppo. This attack ended four years of relative calm under President Bashar Al-Assad’s control of much of the country.
In a dramatic turn of events, insurgent factions principally led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham have managed to seize Aleppo. This offensive not only represents the first major military action in Syria in nearly five years, but also juxtaposes sharply with the previous round in which the Syrian army took four years to capture Syria's second most important city. Idlib province in its entirety also has fallen to the insurgency, reverting the situation to where it was in 2015 when the Syrian government earlier lost the province to the insurgency.
What explains these dramatic losses, and what is likely to transpire?
While conspiracy theorists suggest a link between the insurgent offensive and the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the most important reason for the collapse of the Syrian government forces is more likely a failure of anticipation and preparation. In 2020, Russia and Turkey negotiated a ceasefire that effectively froze front lines and produced an expectation that major battles were over as both sides seemingly accepted the status quo to be preferable to active conflict. The Syrian government thought this status quo would persist for the foreseeable future with the hope that Turkey eventually would agree to withdraw its troops from the Northwest. While the status quo required manning front lines, there was little evidence that government forces had prepared for a major insurgent attack by building fortifications along or mining the lines of contact.
Conversely, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham's leader Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani made frequent speeches in Idlib and its environs about the necessity to continue the military struggle and capture territory.
Observers might have dismissed these statements as rhetoric but, just like Hamas on October 7, 2023, al-Jawlani was willing to try something big to shake up the status quo.
Flashback 2023:
HTS fatwa council head attacks US, considers it an enemy Enab Baladi, 22/12/2023
In the center, the head of the Fatwa Council of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which holds military control in Idlib, Abd al-Rahim Atoun - October 22, 2023
The head of the Fatwa Council of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which holds military control in Idlib, Abd al-Rahim Atoun, launched an attack on the United States, considering it “an enemy of the Islamic nation and the Sunnis” in a speech contrary to the faction’s stance in recent years.
In a Telegram post on December 20, Atoun considered hostility towards the Iranian project, which is in conjunction with the Houthis’ agenda, does not permit, in any way, the alignment with the United States alliance or trenching underneath it.
He stated that the US defends the Zionist entity, which is the “mortal enemy of the Islamic nation,” not just an enemy of Palestine or Gaza alone. He emphasized that the people and jihadists in Gaza are at the forefront of the struggle for Islam in the ongoing battle in Palestine.
Atoun contended that both the Iranian and their allied Houthi project and the American and Israeli project are enemies of the Sunnis, seeking expansion in the region at the expense of the population and clashing for that reason amid the “treachery, cowardice, and conspiracy of our country’s rulers aligning with one project or the other.”
Atoun considered that objecting to the Iranian project does not permit lining up under the sponsoring umbrella of the entity bombing in Gaza for more than 70 days. He concluded his post with a supplication against “the hypocrites of Iran and its militias, the US, Israel, and those who support any of them.”
The end of Baathism and Arab Nationalism Syria's anti-regime forces entered the capital Damascus early Sunday ending the Bashar Assad regime's decadeslong rule. The capture also overthrew the Baath Party, the Arab socialist group that had come to power in Syria in a 1963 coup. In 1970, Hafez Assad – the father of Bashar Assad, Syria’s newly deposed ruler – seized power in an internal party coup and became president in 1971. After the death of his father in 2000, Bashar Assad took over the Baath regime.
The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule over the Arab country after the militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stormed and captured the capital Damascus.
In a statement on Sunday morning, the HTS militants declared that they had captured the capital, confirming reports of the fall of the Assad government.
Earlier in the day, Reuters quoted an unnamed officer as saying that the Syrian army command notified officers that the Assad government had fallen. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali expressed the government’s readiness to “extend its hand” to the militants and hand over its functions to a transitional government.
“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” he said in a video statement.
He also noted that he would go to his office to continue work in the morning, calling on Syrian citizens not to deface public property.
Foreign-backed militants, led by the HTS, waged a surprise two-pronged attack on Syria’s Aleppo and the countryside around Idlib on November 27.Soon afterward, they captured several Syrian cities, including Hama, Homs, Dara’a, Suwayda, and Damascus. HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani called on militants to leave state institutions unharmed.
In their statement, the HTS militant group, which called itself the Syrian National Transitional Council, announced the toppling of the Assad government.
It further vowed to “preserve the unity and sovereignty of Syrian territory, … protect all citizens and their property, regardless of their affiliations,” and “achieve comprehensive national reconciliation.”
Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of militants saying that President Assad has been overthrown and all prisoners have been released. “The city of Damascus has been liberated,” said one of the militants who read the statement...
People ransack al-Assad’s private residence in Damascus (8-12-2024)
"Chaos and a struggle for power will begin in Syria now. Therefore, it is at least premature to say that the crisis is close to an end," Nikolay Surkov, senior researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), told Sputnik.
"After the [2023] earthquake, the Syrian economy went into a tailspin," Surkov said, commenting on the reasons for the defeat of Syrian government forces. "The government didn't even have the money to properly maintain the armed forces." The war-torn nation has been under enormous pressure for years:
-- The 2019 Caesar Act blocked imports of essential goods like food, energy, and basic medical supplies to Syria;
-- The US and allied forces occupied Syria's oil fields;
-- The US smuggled grain from illegally occupied Syrian regions.
-- In addition, Israel seemed to be interested in the armed opposition’s advance, seeking to close the corridor to Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and undermining Iran's Axis of Resistance.
Russia did its best in fighting terrorist forces in Syria. However, Moscow made it clear it would work with any government chosen by the Syrian people.
A Palestinian boy sits atop the rubble of a building,
destroyed in an Israeli strike, in the Nuseirat refugee Camp
In southern Gaza, the Israeli army demolished residential buildings in the Al-Mawasi coastal area, west of Rafah city. Israel has killed at least 44,664 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 105,976 others since it launched its genocidal war on Gaza on 7 October 2023.
Thousands of victims are still under the rubble and in the streets, with rescue and ambulance teams unable to reach them.
An Israeli lieutenant in the armoured corps was killed during continuous battles between the Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces across Gaza, the Israeli Army Radio said, citing a military source.
At least 780 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the Gaza war began, according to the Israeli figures published in early November.
In the occupied West Bank, an Israeli soldier was seriously wounded in a car-ramming attack near the southern Al-Fawwar refugee camp, Israel's military said. This comes as the occupation forces continued their violent raids and arrests in several of the West Bank's cities on Sunday.
Israeli forces have also detained two young men in Ramallah and launched a search campaign in the homes of citizens in Nablus. Additionally, the Israeli troops have closed the entrances to the village of Haris, northwest of Salfit.
Israel has detained at least 11,900 Palestinians from the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, since the start of the war on Gaza. (Source: Ahram online, 8 december 2024)
Damascus: Syria’s rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani celebrated a “historic” triumph on Sunday from a prominent mosque in Damascus after his Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led a swift offensive, capturing the capital in under two weeks. In his speech, the leader hailed the victory as a significant moment, not just for his group, but for the entire Islamic world.
His remarks, shared via video on Telegram, came as President Bashar al-Assad fled the country – reportedly to Moscow, according to Russian news outlets – sparking celebrations across Syria and abroad marking the end of his regime.
"This victory, my brothers, is historic for the region," HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in a speech at the Umayyad Mosque. "Today, Syria is being purified," he said, adding that "this victory is born from the people who have languished in prison, and the mujahideen (fighters) broke their chains".
He said that, under Assad, Syria had become a place for "Iranian ambitions, where sectarianism was rife," in reference to Assad's allies Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.
As he entered the mosque, crowds could be seen cheering him on and chanting "Allahu akbar (God is greatest)", videos circulating online showed.
HTS, which evolved from the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda before severing ties with the terrorist group in 2016, has long been designated as a terrorist organization by Western nations.
Abu Muhammad al-Jolani: Syria’s jihadist-in-chief
The man picked by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
to establish a branch in Syria is now leading the country’s
most potent militant organisation Stanly Johny, The Hindu, 8-12-2024
“We deputised al-Jolani, who is one of our soldiers, with a group of our sons, and pushed them from Iraq to Syria to meet with our cells in Syria and set for them the plans and drew for them the policy of work,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then-chief of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) announced on April 2, 2014, referring to al-Qaeda’s Syria arm, Jabhat al-Nusra. Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, a Saudi-born Syrian jihadist was a lieutenant of Baghdadi.
It was Jolani he turned to when he decided to expand his jihadist network into Syria, where a civil war broke out in 2011.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (2019) - Abu Muhammad al-Jolani (2016)
“We supplied them with half of what is in the treasury every month, and supplied them with men who had battlefield experience from among the muhajirun [“emigrants”; foreign fighters] and ansar [“supporters”; local jihadists], so they did well next to their brothers from the ardent sons of Syria,” said Baghdadi, taking credit for the creation of a-Nusra. Baghdadi was killed in an American airstrike in Syria in October 2019.
The ‘caliphate’ he built, which at its peak had spread from eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor to Iraq’s Mosul, was destroyed. The Islamic State, the jihadist organisation Baghdadi created and led, has been scattered and weakened ever since.
But Jolani, the man Baghdadi chose to lead his network in Syria, is today the leader of Syria’s armed insurgency. He is the ‘emir’ of the ‘Syrian Salvation Government’, which is based in the northwestern province of Idlib, and the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
President Joe Biden said Sunday that the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad is a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but it was “a moment of risk and uncertainty” for the Middle East. Biden spoke at the White House hours after rebel groups completed a takeover of the country.
The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump were working to make sense of new threats and opportunities across the Middle East. Biden credited action by the U.S. and its allies for weakening Syria’s backers — Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.
He said that they could no longer defend Assad’s grip on power. “Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East,” Biden said, after a meeting with his national security team.
Like Biden, Trump, who takes office in five-plus weeks, made a connection between the upheaval in Syria and Russia’s war in Ukraine, noting that Assad’s allies in Moscow, as well as in Iran, the main sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah, “are in a weakened state right now.”
Vice President-elect JD Vance, a veteran of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, wrote on social media Sunday to express skepticism about the insurgents. “Many of ‘the rebels’ are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they’ve moderated. Time will tell,” he said.
A senior Biden administration official, when asked about contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leaders after Assad’s departure, said Washington was in contact with Syrian groups of all kinds.
The British government is considering removing Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from its list of designated terrorist organisations following the group's victory in Syria.
Speaking to the BBC a day after HTS-led rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad, UK government minister Pat McFadden said any move to delist the former al-Qaeda affiliate would be a "relatively swift decision" considering the fluid situation in Syria.
"The leader of that group has distanced himself away from some of the things that have been said in the past," McFadden told the BBC's Today programme. "He is saying some of the right things about the protection of minorities, about protecting people's rights. So we'll look at that in the days to come."
HTS is listed by the UK's Home Office as an "alternative name" for al-Qaeda, the armed group that carried out the 11 September 2001 World Trade Centre attacks. A senior Arab official briefed by the US told Middle East Eye on Sunday that US officials were also discussing the merits of removing a $10m bounty on Jolani.
The FBI is seeking information on the leadership of the al Nusrah Front (ANF), a foreign terrorist organization, to include information on Muhammad al-Jawlani. Today, the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of Muhammad al-Jawlani.
In 2011 al-Jawlani, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, and Abu Muhammad al-Golani, established ANF. In 2013, al-Jawlani, as a leader of ANF, pledged the organization’s allegiance to al Qaeda and its leadership.
In 2016, al-Jawlani claimed that the ANF was changing its name to Jabhat Fath Al Sham, or "Conquest of the Levant Front," which has also been known as Jabhat al-Nusrah, Jabhet al-Nusra, The Victory Front, and al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant. In January 2017, ANF merged with several other hardline opposition groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Mohammed al-Bashir, the head of the so-called "salvation government," said on Tuesday that the Syrian opposition had authorized him to form an interim government in the country.
"By decision of the General Command, we have been authorized to form an interim government. This will be done tentatively by March 1, 2025," al-Bashir told Al Hadath broadcaster.
The so-called "salvation government" was formed by opposition forces in Idlib since January 2024.
Syrian armed opposition groups captured Damascus on Sunday. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said that he and 18 other ministers had decided to remain in the capital. Jalali also said he was in contact with the leaders of militant groups
Info: According to a profile on the Salvation Govt's Facebook page, Bashir was
born in Idlib province in 1983. He previously served as director of
sharia education in Salvation Govt's ministry of religious endowments,
and held a senior role in the ministry of development and humanitarian
affairs. He obtained a degree in electrical engineering from Aleppo
University in 2007, and another in sharia and law from Idlib University
in 2021.
Qatar will reopen embassy in Syria
Sally Shakkour. Albawaba News, 11-12-2024
Qatar announced on Wednesday that it will resume the work of its embassy in Syria which has been closed since the Syrian civil war.
qatar emir 2011 - qaradawi 2012 - emir 2018
Qatar announced the closure of its Damascus embassy in 2011.
However, today, the adviser to the Prime Minister and Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the country's bid to reopen the embassy very "soon". The announcement came three days after the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
The Israeli military said Tuesday that it launched 480 strikes in Syria over 48 hours following the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which Israeli media said marked the heaviest Israeli bombing of Syria in history. The IDF said it struck “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria” and estimated it destroyed between 70% to 80% of the former government’s weapons. Israeli strikes hit targets across Syria, including the port of Latakia, which destroyed naval vessels.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli bombing campaign “destroyed the most important military sites in Syria, including Syrian airports and their warehouses, aircraft squadrons, radars, military signal stations, and many weapons and ammunition depots in various locations in most Syrian governorates.”
"The only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters Monday. "That’s why we attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists."
Israel has also seized territory inside Syria, a buffer zone separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, and several areas beyond the zone.
Israeli sources announced they were creating a “sterile defense zone” in southern Syria, framing the occupation as temporary. The US has backed Israel’s land grab in Syria, also claiming it was a defensive move.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday claimed Israel doesn’t seek to interfere in Syria’s “internal affairs” despite the massive bombing campaign and land grab. He also threatened that Israel would take more action if the new government aligned with Iran. “If the new regime in Syria allows Iran to re-establish itself, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah – we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader previously took credit for the overthrow of Assad by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, and celebrated the regime change. “The Assad regime is a central link in Iran’s axis of evil — this regime has fallen,” he said on Sunday.
A new study by a Reichman University professor indicates a trend of growing affinity towards Judaism in the Israeli public and concludes that the, "Jewish nation is stronger in its Jewish faith," against the backdrop of the ongoing war.
Under the title "The war has made Israelis more religious," Prof. Asif Efrat states that the findings clearly indicate an increase in the Israelis’ level of religiosity due to the influence of the war. "The implication of the data is that the war has brought Israelis closer to religion, and this closeness has intensified with the continuation of the conflict," he says to the Times of Israel.
Efrat added: "37% of individuals aged 18-35 have reported an increase in their belief in God since the outbreak of the war, compared to only 18% among those aged 56 and older. Similarly, young adults reported a higher rate of adherence to religious tradition.
The trend of Israel becoming more religious has been well-established, long before the war, and is primarily driven by demographics. The birth rate among religious families is higher compared to secular families.
The “Chotam—Judaism on the Agenda” organization, which endeavors to bring Jewish values back to the top of public agenda, responded with satisfaction to the findings and conveyed to Israel National News:
"Israel has strengthened its Judaism during the war, and contrary to those who thought it was a passing phenomenon, this trend is increasing over time, especially among young people.
This can be seen primarily among our heroic soldiers, who raise their voices in praising God, while holding swords in their hands, as King David said in the Psalms."
"This trend brings happiness and obligates each and every one of us to strengthen our belief in God and commitment to Torah and commandments...
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late Thursday received U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ankara for talks focused on a critical aspect of establishing stability in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Assad.
The meeting at the Esenboğa Airport was also attended by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the president's Chief Advisor Akif Çağatay Kılıç and Communications Director Fahrettin Altun.
NATO allies Washington and Ankara supported Syrian opposition forces during the 13-year civil war.
They have both said they wanted the new Syrian administration to be inclusive and for Syrians to determine their own future.
Erdoğan and Blinken discussed the latest developments in Syria, with the Turkish president calling on the international community to work together for the reconstruction of institutions in Syria, a statement by the Communications Directorate said.
Erdoğan also told Blinken that Türkiye would take preventive measures in Syria for its national security against terrorist organizations, including the PKK's Syrian wing YPG, which is backed by Washington under the guise of a fight against the Daesh terrorist group.
Blinken noted the shared interest of the U.S. and Türkiye in supporting a Syrian-led political transition to an accountable and inclusive government, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
During his visit to Damascus, MIT President Kalın was accompanied by HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani. Kalın and Julani got into the same vehicle. It was reported that Kalın toured Damascus with Julani.
Separately on Thursday, Turkish intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalın, arrived in Damascus for what the Syrian Information Ministry said would be talks involving its new leadership. It marked the first visit by a senior foreign official since Assad's fall. Kalın and Qatar's head of state security, Khalfan al-Kaabi, arrived in the capital to meet with anti-regime leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, and caretaker prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir. Kalın was seen arriving at the Umayyad Mosque to pray, amid heavy security measures and large crowds, according to video shown on Turkish television.
Later on Thursday, Türkiye named a new chief of mission to its long-closed embassy in Damascus, which it has pledged to reopen following Assad's fall... Türkiye closed its embassy in late March 2012, a year after Syria's civil war began, due to the deteriorating security situation amid calls by the Turkish government for Assad to step down.
Libya’s Mufti, Sheikh Al-Sadeq Al-Gharyani, cautioned the Syrian people against accepting financial support from international actors, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), telling them to remember what happened in Egypt and Libya.
Al-Ghariani advised Syrians to learn from the experiences of previous revolutions in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. He highlighted that these nations faced significant challenges due to external influences. “Syrians should be wary of those currently in power,” he stated.
“The UAE and Saudi Arabia have invested substantial resources into undermining elected governments in Egypt and Tunisia while exacerbating conflicts such as that in Sudan.”
He underscored the role of Israel and its allies as obstacles to these revolutions, asserting that what transpired in both Libya and Egypt amounted to coups rather than genuine democratic transitions.
“Though elections occurred in Egypt and Libya,” Al-Ghariani noted, “international powers did not support their success; instead, they backed coup leaders like Khalifa Haftar, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Kais Saied.”
He warned his Syrian brothers about similar threats infiltrating their revolution.
Social media users criticized the decision made by the General Authority for Libyan Endowments and Islamic Affairs, based in Tripoli, regarding the establishment of the ‘Hurras Al-Fadhilah – Virtue Guards’ program.
The Authority said that the program “aims to promote virtue and prevent vice in society,” but critics argue that it may lead to the imposition of conservative Islamic values on citizens... The Authority explained that through the program, “everyone will seek to play a role in saving humanity from the clutches of deviation, atheism, proselytism, and intellectual and doctrinal terrorism.”
Awqaf Authority launches program
to spread religious teachings in schools
Libya Update News, Friday, January 27, 2023
The General Awqaf Authority in Tripoli, which is controlled by the former Grand Mufti of Libya, al-Sadiq al-Ghariani, seeks to spread extremist ideology in Libya through religious schools in Tripoli and its environs, in addition to a religious program that targets primary and preparatory public schools.
The Awqaf Authority in the government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, announced the launch of a program in public schools, which it said, “aims to spread religious awareness in schools, and to combat intellectual and cultural invasion,” during a meeting of the authority with Education Minister Musa al-Maqryef on Thursday. In April 2022, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh granted Sadiq al-Ghariani, permission, by official decree No. 709, to establish religious schools for the stages of preparatory and secondary education.
Al-Ghariani issued a decree to put Dbeibeh’s decision into action and established several religious schools in various municipalities, especially in Tripoli and the cities around it.
Flashback 2020: Libya's grand mufti thanks Qatar, Turkey
Middle East Monitor, May 23, 2020
Libya's Grand Mufti Sadiq Al-Ghariani thanked Qatar and Turkey for their support of the Libyan people's stability.
"May Allah reward Qatar with good, as it has made its best... I also salute and thank the president, government, and people of the brotherly country Turkey, especially after signing the joint security cooperation agreement with the legitimate Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA)."
He further indicated: "May Allah reward the Turkish president with good. He has implemented this agreement's requirements at the best, bearing the suffering, hostility, and an internal and external confrontation from the opposition that has attacked him."
In the famous lines of Tacitus (Roman historian, quoting or paraphrasing Calgacus, an enemy of Rome): “They plunder, they slaughter, and they steal: this they falsely name Empire, and where they make a wasteland, they call it peace. ”
In our age, it is Israel and the U.S. that make a desert and call it peace. The story is simple. In stark violation of international law, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers claim the right to rule over 7 million Palestinian Arabs.
When Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands leads to militant resistance, Israel labels the resistance “terrorism” and calls on the U.S. to overthrow the Middle East governments that back the “terrorists.”
The U.S., under the sway of the Israel Lobby, goes to war on Israel’s behalf.
The fall of Syria this week is the culmination of the Israel-U.S. campaign against Syria that goes back to 1996 with Netanyahu’s arrival in office as prime minister. The Israel-U.S. war on Syria escalated in 2011 and 2012, when former U.S. President Barack Obama covertly tasked the C.I.A. with the overthrow of the Syrian Government in Operation Timber Sycamore.
That effort finally came to “fruition” this week, after more than 300,000 deaths in the Syrian war since 2011.
Syria’s fall came swiftly because of more than a decade of crushing economic sanctions, the burdens of war, the U.S. seizure of Syria’s oil, Russia’s priorities regarding the conflict in Ukraine, and most immediately, Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah, which was the key military backstop to the Syrian government.
In the immediate two days following the collapse of the government, Israel conducted about 480 strikes across Syria, and completely destroyed the Syrian fleet in Latakia.
Pursuing his expansionist agenda, Prime Minister Netanyahu illegally claimed control over the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights and declared that the Golan Heights will be a part of the State of Israel “for eternity.”
Before the U.S.-Israel campaign to overthrow Assad began in earnest in 2011, Syria was a functioning, growing middle-income country. In January 2009, the IMF Executive Board had this to say:
“Executive Directors welcomed Syria’s strong macroeconomic performance in recent years, as manifested in the rapid non-oil GDP growth, comfortable level of foreign reserves, and low and declining government debt. This performance reflected both robust regional demand and the authorities’ reform efforts to shift toward a more market- based economy.”
Since 2011, the Israel-U.S. perpetual war on Syria, including bombing, jihadists, economic sanctions, U.S. seizure of Syria’s oil fields, and more, has sunk the Syrian people into misery
flashback 2012-2014
The long history of Israel’s campaign to overthrow the Syrian government is not widely understood, yet the documentary record is clear. Israel’s war on Syria began with U.S. and Israeli neoconservatives in 1996, who fashioned a “Clean Break” strategy for the Middle East for Netanyahu as he came to office.
Israel would retain the occupied Palestinian lands, rule over the Palestinian people in an apartheid state, step-by-step ethnically cleanse the state, and enforce so-called “peace for peace” by overthrowing neighboring governments that resisted Israel’s land claims.
In his 1996 book 'Fighting Terrorism', Benjamin Netanyahu set out the new strategy. Israel would not fight the terrorists; it would fight the states that support the terrorists. More accurately, it would get the U.S. to do Israel’s fighting for it. As he elaborated in 2001:
“The first and most crucial thing to understand is this: There is no international terrorism without the support of sovereign states.… Take away all this state support, and the entire scaffolding of international terrorism will collapse into dust.”
Netanyahu’s strategy was integrated into U.S. foreign policy. Taking out Syria was always a key part of the plan. This was confirmed by General Wesley Clark after 9/11.
He was told, during a visit at the Pentagon, that “we’re going to attack and destroy the governments in seven countries in five years — we’re going to start with Iraq, and then we’re going to move to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.”
The U.S. has by now led or sponsored wars against Iraq (invasion in 2003), Lebanon (U.S. funding and arming Israel), Libya (NATO bombing in 2011), Syria (C.I.A. operation during 2010s), Sudan (supporting rebels to break Sudan apart in 2011), and Somalia (backing Ethiopia’s invasion in 2006).
A prospective U.S. war with Iran, ardently sought by Israel, is still pending. Strange as it might seem, the C.I.A. has repeatedly backed Islamist Jihadists to fight these wars, and jihadists have just toppled the Syrian regime.
The C.I.A., after all, helped to create Al-Qaeda in the first place by training, arming, and financing the Mujahideen in Afghanistan from the late 1970s onward. Yes, Osama bin Laden later turned on the U.S., but his movement was a U.S. creation all the same.
In short, American interference, at the behest of Netanyahu’s Israel, has left the Middle East in ruins. All this is in the service of a profoundly unjust cause: to deny Palestinians their political rights in the service of Zionist extremism...
[Jeffrey D. Sachs is a university professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.]
My first reaction to news earlier this month that the Syrian government had been overthrown was, how much did we have to do with it; how involved was the CIA; and how much is it going to cost.
As with Saddam and Gaddafi before him, we know that Assad was no libertarian hero. But unleashing an army dedicated to establishing an Islamic state in once-secular Syria hardly seems like a good idea to me.
As with President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” moment after Saddam’s overthrow, getting rid of Assad will prove to be the easy part. Rebuilding Syrian society after the destruction of the country will cost billions and will likely be about as successful as our “liberation” of Libya, which is still a failed, terrorist-dominated state more than a decade later.
al-qaeda in syria and libya
How involved is the US government in the overthrow of the Syrian government?
For the past ten years the US has controlled the areas of Syria oil and wheat production, stealing resources that we have no legal claim on. The combination of resource theft and extreme sanctions hollowed out Syrian society over the past ten years, so when the terrorists sprang forth from Idlib a few weeks ago there was little resistance. Now instead of the relatively benign yet authoritarian rule of Assad, we have rule by the direct inheritors of the people who attacked us on 9/11.
I am shocked that the mainstream media and many if not most politicians are cheering this. Ironically, some of the biggest cheerleaders for the al-Qaeda takeover of Syria are the same Members of Congress who finished their daily speeches on the House Floor with “we will never forget 9/11.”
I guess they finally forgot?
The implosion of Syria, like the US-engineered implosion of Libya and Iraq, has not led to democracy, peace, and the protection of civil liberties.
In each case it has produced the exact opposite. Millions dead, millions more living in misery with many seeking revenge against those who destroyed their families, their lifestyle, and their countries. Are we safer having created millions of new enemies?
Representatives of Libya's parliament and High Council of State announced a preliminary agreement Wednesday to form a unified government and establish special committees to address contentious issues.
The deal was disclosed by House of Representatives member Sara Al-Sweih at a news conference following the first day of meetings in the city of Bouznika in northern Morocco.
The discussions, which began Wednesday and are set to conclude Thursday, aim to resolve Libya's political crisis.
Al-Sweih said the two bodies agreed to form a joint committee to reevaluate the criteria for sovereign appointments, establish a candidate application process and outline a selection mechanism.
Morocco previously hosted six rounds of talks with Libyan factions, culminating in a January 2021 agreement on the allocation of sovereign positions. It has also been a venue for discussions on Libya's electoral laws and diplomatic visits from Libyan officials.
The deputy head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Stephanie Koury, announced the formation on Sunday of a technical committee of Libyan experts to prioritize steps toward forming a unified government with broad consensus. The efforts are to pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections to end a political deadlock between two rival administrations -- the eastern-based government led by Osama Hamad, appointed by the House of Representatives in 2022, and the Government of National Unity under Abdul Hamid Dbeibah operating from Tripoli in the west.
Libyan Prime Minister of the Parliament-designate government, Osama Hammad, has called for international oversight of the outcomes of the Bouznika talks between members of the House of Representatives (HoR) and the High Council of State (HCS) in Morocco.
Hammad welcomed the agreements reached, particularly on forming a new executive authority, including a Presidential Council and a new government. He stressed the importance of involving the African Union and key international players to ensure successful implementation.
Libya’s eastern-based parliament voted on Tuesday to replace Fathi Bashagha as prime minister, its spokesperson said, after he failed to take office in Tripoli where the incumbent Abdulhamid Dbeibah has refused to cede power. The parliament assigned Bashagha’s finance minister Osama Hamad to take over his duties, parliament spokesperson Abdullah Belhaiq said, part of an apparent new push to oust Dbeibah and install a new government in Tripoli.
Bashagha was appointed in March 2022 but his efforts to enter Tripoli and take office ended in battles between factions aligned with him and others aligned with Dbeibah, and he has had to operate outside Tripoli with no control of state finances.
Osama Hammad
Khalid al-Mishri is a Libyan politician who has served as the Chairman of the High Council of State since 8 April 2018, an advisory body to the Government of National Accord founded in December 2015. He is a member of the Justice and Construction Party, an organisation affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Libya has had little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gadhafi, and it split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions, though major fighting has been paused since a ceasefire in 2020.
Dbeibah’s government was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021 that was aimed at holding elections that year, but the vote was cancelled amid disputes over the rules. Diplomacy now is focused on bringing the parliament and another legislative body, the High State Council, to agree on rules that would allow an election to take place.
Israel is guilty of the crime of extermination and acts of genocide in Gaza, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has concluded in a new report published on Thursday.
The US-based human rights organisation found that Israel has inflicted conditions of life in Gaza calculated to destroy the enclave's Palestinian population. This amounts to extermination, which is a crime against humanity, and acts of genocide....
In this special interview, journalist and author Fatima Bhutto speaks to Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin about Israel’s war on Gaza, which he calls the “greatest historical scandal” of our time.
Dominique de Villepin spent three decades in public service. Since his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he has been an outspoken critic of Western military interventions around the world.
In this episode, he explains why he believes there will be no security in the region until a Palestinian state is recognised.
A top American diplomat in the Middle East is traveling to Damascus to meet with Mohammad Abu al-Julani. The trip is a sign that the US may lift sanctions on the al-Qaeda-affiliated rebel group that deposed former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
The Financial Times reports that President Joe Biden has deployed Barbara A. Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, to Syria to meet with Julani. Julani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has recently said he hopes Western countries will be willing to lift sanctions on Syria and remove HTS from the foreign terrorist organizations list.
British diplomats met with Julani earlier in the week. The meetings come as Julani continues to have a $10 million bounty from the State Department for his capture.
Following Assad’s ouster, Biden heralded Assad’s fall and Julani’s rise as a “fundamental act of justice.”
Politico explained that a furious debate broke out in the White House on the issue of removing HTS’s terrorism designation.
Julani, who fought for Al-Qaeda in Iraq during the Iraq War, has attempted to soften his image in recent years by giving friendly interviews to Western journalists, often appearing in a suit and with a trimmed beard to obscure his jihadist ideology. In one of his first addresses to the Syrian people, he declared the institution of Sharia law, according to Israel National News. He said that the morality police should enforce Islamic law through education rather than force. Julani noted violence was still an option, saying, “The jihad is obligatory for this reason.”
Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad released a statement that detailed his final movement in Syria before fleeing to Russia. Assad and his family left the country after al-Qaeda-affiliated forces overran Damascus.
“I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday, 8th December 2024. As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations.” The statement continues, “Upon arrival at the Hmeimim airbase that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen.”
Assad said the Russian base he was at came under attack, forcing him to flee the country.
The Syria War, beginning in 2011, has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrians as regional and global powers entered the conflict to achieve their own interests.
Since the fall of the Islamic State’s caliphate in 2019, the battlelines in Syria froze with Assad in control of major cities, the al-Qaeda affiliated forces under Turkish protection in the north, and the Kurdish forces under American protection in the East.
Additionally, Assad’s forces remained subject to frequent aerial Israeli and US bombardment. Washington placed a strict sanctions regime on Damascus as well, aimed at preventing the rebuilding of the war-torn nation and destroying the country’s economy.
Assad’s government, weakened by external forces and corruption, was unable to withstand an offensive launched by the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), aided by Turkey and Ukraine. It appears that Assad’s army was largely unwilling to fight and fled in the face of the terrorist forces. HTS was able to conquer many of Syria’s largest cities in less than two weeks.
The Cradle, 16 december 2024
Statement by former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
on the circumstances leading to his departure from Syria:
"As terrorism spread across Syria and ultimately reached Damascus on the evening of Saturday 7th December 2024, questions arose about the president's fate and whereabouts. This occurred amidst a flood of misinformation and narratives far removed from the truth, aimed at recasting international terrorism as a liberation revolution for Syria.
At such a critical juncture in the nation's history, where truth must take precedence, it is essential to address these distortions. Unfortunately, the prevailing circumstances at the time, including a total communication blackout for security reasons, delayed the release of this statement. This does not replace a detailed account of the events that unfolded, which will be provided when the opportunity allows.
asma assad (2012-2014)
First, my departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed. On the contrary, I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday 8th December 2024. As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations.
Upon arrival at the Hmeimim airbase that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen.
As the field situation in the area continued to deteriorate, the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes. With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base's command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday 8th December.
This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all remaining state institutions.
At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, nor was such a proposal made by any individual or party. The only course of action was to continue fighting against the terrorist onslaught.
assad 2013-2016
I reaffirm that the person who, from the very first day of the war, refused to barter the salvation of his nation for personal gain, or to compromise his people in exchange for numerous offers and enticements is the same person who stood alongside the officers and soldiers of the army on the front lines, just meters from terrorists in the most dangerous and intense battlefields.
He is the same person who, during the darkest years of the war, did not leave but remained with his family alongside his people, confronting terrorism under bombardment and the recurring threats of terrorist incursions into the capital over fourteen years of war.
Furthermore, the person who has never abandoned the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, nor betrayed his allies who stood by him, cannot possibly be the same person who would forsake his own people or betray the army and nation to which he belongs.
with khamenei, 2019 - with lavrov - with putin 2020
I have never sought positions for personal gain but have always considered myself as a custodian of a national project, supported by the faith of the Syrian people, who believed in its vision. I have carried an unwavering conviction in their will and ability to protect the state, defend its institutions, and uphold their choices to the very last moment.
When the state falls into the hands of terrorism and the ability to make a meaningful contribution is lost, any position becomes void of purpose, rendering its occupation meaningless.
This does not, in any way, diminish my profound sense of belonging to Syria and her people, a bond that remains unshaken by any position or circumstance. It is a belonging filled with hope that Syria will once again be free and independent."
Egypt and Iran are likely to reopen their embassies soon, signalling a significant step forward in their bilateral relations, Mehdi Sanaei, advisor to the Iranian president, said Thursday.
According to Iran's Fars News Agency, Sanaei highlighted the two nations' commitment to restoring diplomatic ties after more than 40 years of hiatus.
“Iran and Egypt have not had political relations for more than four decades, but better interaction has been established in the past year,” he noted.
The Iranian official highlighted Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's previous meeting with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian during the BRICS summit in Russia in November.
“Good dialogue was held between the heads of the two countries in November, and political talks and appropriate actions have started,” Sanaei said.
In addition, he affirmed both countries’ will to resume relations, expressing hope that — with ongoing efforts — Cairo and Tehran will reopen their embassies in the future.
On Wednesday, the Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Cairo to attend the 11th Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) Summit, marking the first visit by an Iranian President to Egypt in over a decade.
On Thursday, the Egyptian and Iranian leaders held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the D-8 summit to discuss recent developments in the region and exchange views on ways to restore peace in the Middle East.
met on Thursday with the nominee for US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
The two spoke about the expected new era under President Trump. After that, Huckabee addressed an event for the Binyamin Regional Council in cooperation with the One Israel Fund to raise funds for projects in the Binyamin Region.
Ganz is currently in the US and has been meeting with senior US officials to promote the future of Judea and Samaria, as well as with friends of the Binyamin region who contribute to the development of the communities.
Ganz said that the meetings with the US officials are very important and that he senses a spirit that has been missing in the White House for a while: "hese officials are true partners of the State of Israel and the settlement movement, and many of them have visited us in Binyamin in recent years. We are managing to reflect the challenges and the reality on the ground to them directly and they appreciate this and connect to it."
Regarding the meeting with the incoming Ambassador, he stated: "I wished him great success in the position. The land of the Bible, the state of the Jewish people, and the entire world are looking forward to a new era under the incoming administration.
They can advance a policy based on the truth that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel and the axis of evil must be eradicated from every place. This road passes through the strengthening of Judea and Samaria, and the State of Israel."
The Israeli military has almost completely destroyed the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, once one of the most densely populated places on earth, turning it into a “ghost town,” Haaretz reported on Sunday.
First established in 1948 as a refuge for Palestinians driven from their homes by Zionist militias during the establishment of the modern state of Israel, the Jabalia refugee camp has been under a total siege since early October as part of a new ethnic cleansing campaign to move all Palestinians in northern Gaza to the south.
The IDF estimates that it has completely destroyed 70% of the buildings in the camp, and the ones that remain are damaged. “During a brief visit to the camp Friday afternoon, I could see that even the few buildings that are still standing were badly damaged,” wrote Haaretz reporter Amos Harel.
According to IDF data, the Israeli military has forcibly driven 96,000 Palestinian civilians out of the Jabalia refugee camp. The IDF also says it killed 2,000 Palestinians during the operation, claiming most were armed, but there is a significant amount of evidence that the IDF kills unarmed civilians and counts them as “terrorists.” The IDF says 35 Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in the camp since early October.
Everything is gone’:
how Israeli forces destroyed Jabaliya refugee camp The Guardian, 18-12-2024
A chronicle of Jabaliya’s destruction, using eyewitness accounts, satellite imagery and video footage
By Peter Beaumont, Malak A Tantesh in Gaza and Kaamil Ahmed.
In these difficult times, the voice of the late Palestinian-American scholar, Edward Said is ever present, “Writing is the final resistance we have against the inhuman practices and injustices that disfigure human history.”
For more than fourteen painful months Israel has passed off its inhuman actions against the people of Gaza as “defensive.”
We are to believe that the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians and attacks on its Arab neighbors are somehow Israel’s “right.”
Championed by the Biden administration, Tel Aviv has grown ever more bold and barbaric in its efforts to crush the resistance and expand its “undeclared” borders; simply, because it can...
Edward Said, Gamel Abdar Nasser Quotes
"Edward Said: No common purpose"
Underlying most of the findings in the much cited 2002 UNDP Arab Human Development Report is the extraordinary lack of coordination between Arab countries.... It's always the same thing, factionalism, disunity, the absence of a common purpose for which in the end ordinary people pay the price in suffering, blood and endless destruction.
Even on the level of social structure, it is almost a commonplace that Arabs as a group fight among themselves more than they do for a common purpose.
We are individualists, it is said by way of justification, ignoring the fact that such disunity and internal disorganisation in the end damages our very existence as a people. (Al-Ahram Weekly 2002)
The Philosophy of the Revolution
Pragmatic and logical approach
Gamal Abdel Nasser wrote a short personal book titled “Egypt’s Liberation: The Philosophy of the Revolution” about his ideas and dreams. It reveals a sweeping yet deeply analytical mind and acute observer of human behavior whose periods of disillusionment and exhilaration were intense. First published in 1955, his book was all but ignored by the world. (Rompedas blog, 23-7-2009)
DOROTHY THOMPSON: Abdul Nasser was looking for constructive ideas, for men ready to subject their personal ambitions, interests, and hatreds to a concentrated and consecrated effort for the renaissance of the nation.
"We needed order but we found nothing behind us but chaos. We needed unity . . . we found dissension. We needed work . . . we found indolence and sloth. . . . Every man we questioned had nothing to recommend except to kill someone else. Every idea we listened to was nothing but an attack on some other idea. If we had gone along with everything we heard we would have killed off all the people and torn down every idea, and there would have been nothing to do but sit down among the corpses and ruins..
We were deluged with petitions and complaints . . . but most of these cases were no more or less than demands for revenge, as though a revolution had taken place in order to become a weapon in the hand of hatred and vindictiveness."
A strategic cooperation agreement is poised to deepen the partnership between Iran and Russia, a development welcomed by insiders and despised by those who hope to decouple the two challengers of Western hegemony.
A 20-year strategic agreement signed in 2001 marked the first major cooperation pact between Tehran and Moscow, establishing collaboration in areas such as industry, technology, security, energy, and nuclear energy. Extended for five years in 2020, this initial agreement is now being replaced by a new pact.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian with Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelev, in Tehran, Iran, December 23, 2024. (Reuters)
At a press conference on Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, revealed that both parties are consulting to identify the optimal time to sign the agreement. “We hope that the deal will be finalized and signed by the end of January,” he stated.
Baghaei's remarks were quickly validated when a high-ranking Russian diplomatic delegation arrived in Tehran hours later for meetings with President Masoud Pezeshkian. Word has come that the new strategic cooperation agreement between Iran and Russia will be signed during Pezeshkian’s long-anticipated visit to Moscow next year.
What’s a strategic cooperation agreement?
A strategic cooperation agreement between two countries is a high-level, long-term pact designed to foster deep and enduring collaboration across multiple areas of mutual interest. These agreements establish a framework for broad cooperation, often encompassing political, security, defense, economic, technological, cultural, energy, and educational sectors.
The most significant and widely reported strategic agreement Iran has signed recently is the 25-year Cooperation Program with China in March 2021. The deal has been described as a “cooperation road map” by former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who oversaw its signing. Zarif is now back as the Vice President for Strategic Affairs under Pezeshkian’s government.
The upcoming strategic cooperation agreement will be similar to the one Iran signed with China, said Mahmoud Shouri, a Russia expert and director of the Institute of Iran and Eurasia Studies. It will, however, be more expansive than the 2001 pact with Moscow.
"The agreement will be broader in scope," he explained, "encompassing defense, security, and political aspects, while also including new areas of cooperation such as medical, customs, and novel economic fields."
According to Shoaib Bahman, an expert in international affairs and head of the Institute of Contemporary International Studies in Tehran, the forthcoming Iran-Russia cooperation agreement will come under attack by a Western propaganda campaign, but he predicts it will be more fruitful than the agreement with China.
He attributed the challenges with China to sanctions, which have impeded the practical implementation of many deals. "Sanctions have been a constant obstacle for collaboration between Iran and China," he noted. In contrast, he believes that Iran and Russia will have more freedom in future agreements because "Russia is already subject to extensive sanctions and won't be negatively impacted by those aimed at Iran."
On 26 December, Syria's de facto authorities appointed former Al-Qaeda commander and Nusra Front co-founder Anas Hassan Khattab as the head of the country's general intelligence agency.
Khattab, also known as Abu Ahmed Hudood, was blacklisted as a “terrorist” by the UN Security Council in September 2014 for his close association with Al-Qaeda.
According to the listing, for several years, he was involved “in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of” and “otherwise supporting acts or activities of” the Nusra Front. This Al-Qaeda offshoot was rebranded as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017
Khattab served as the administrative emir of the Nusra Front as of early 2014 and was part of its shura council by mid-2013. He was also tasked with selecting personal bodyguards for HTS leader and Syria's de facto ruler Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who dropped his nom de guerre earlier this month and now goes by his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa.
According to Syria TV, Khattab has a history of working in security and intelligence and moved to Iraq at a young age during the US invasion in 2003, before he assumed command of the borders with Syria in what was then the Islamic State in Iraq, earning him the nickname of ‘Abu Ahmed Hudood’ (hudood meaning borders in Arabic).
He later joined the Jabhat al-Nusra in 2012, which is how HTS, and came to be a close acquaintance of al-Sharaa. He communicated periodically with Al-Qaida in Iraq leadership to receive financial and material assistance /
In recent years, Khattab oversaw general security operations in Idlib. His involvement in intelligence gathering dates back to the period when HTS consolidated control over northern Syria with Turkish support; during this time, he managed surveillance of covert networks along the borders of HTS-controlled areas.
Khattab is the latest HTS authority to be granted a top post in the so-called “transitional government” following the success of the Turkish and US-backed coup against the government of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Last week, the General Command of the Armed Opposition Factions appointed Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, a founding member of Al-Qaeda in Syria, as the new caretaker foreign minister. This was followed by the appointment of Murhaf Abu Qasra, a top HTS leader known by his assumed name Abu Hassan 600, as defense minister.
On December 16, British diplomats including Ann Snow, London’s special representative for Syria, convened a summit with Jolani and other HTS leaders in Damascus.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, aka Mohammad al-Jolani, head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),
with Stephen Hickey and Ann Snow.
The UK’s embrace of HTS represents the culmination of a long and secretive process which began when the group’s leadership was still closely aligned with Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, Jabhat Al Nusra, and even the Islamic State.
While British intelligence once embarked on a campaign to undermine HTS in opposition-controlled areas of Syria, while cultivating supposedly “moderate” factions, leaked files reviewed by The Grayzone reveal the clandestine efforts wound up strengthening Jolani’s organization, helping pave its path to power. More troublingly, these documents suggest that, contrary to mainstream accounts of the group’s split from Al Qaeda, the pair remain close collaborators in Syria. One file dated 2020 notes Al Qaeda’s local affiliates peacefully “coexist” with HTS in the country’s north west, which “provides space” for the “explicitly Salafi-Jihadist transnational group” to “maintain an instability fuelled safe haven in Syria, from which they are able to train and prepare for future expansion” outside the country.
With Assad’s fall, however, British diplomats seem to have cast these assessments to the wind as they rush to Damascus to embrace Jolani...
Israeli soldiers stormed Gaza's last functioning hospital on Friday and forced semi-naked Palestinian medics and patients to leave on foot to an unknown destination, according to videos and eyewitness testimony shared with Middle East Eye.
According to one video sent to MEE, several Israeli tanks could be seen stationed outside the bombed-out Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, whilst dozens of men stripped to their underwear were being directed to an area off screen....
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