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)
The interim Syrian government has promoted seven foreign fighters from extremist groups formerly linked to Al-Qaeda to the ranks of lieutenant and colonel as part of a series of promotions announced on 30 December.
The Syrian Defense Ministry announced the promotions in a letter signed by Ahmad al-Sharaa (previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani), who became Syria’s new de facto leader and commander-in-chief of the Syrian armed forces after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government earlier this month. Sharaa formerly led the Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front, which he founded in Syria under the direction of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2011. The Nusra Front later changed its name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
golani, idlib 2020
According to the US State Department, more than 40,000 foreign fighters from over 100 countries traveled to Syria to fight for UN-designated terror groups, including the Nusra Front and ISIS. Now, many are receiving high positions in the new Syrian army.
According to the letter, Jordanian citizen Abd al-Rahman Hussein Khatib has been promoted to lieutenant in the new Syrian army. Khatib, also known as Abu Hussein Jordani, is of Palestinian origin and has close relations with HTS leader Sharaa. He graduated from a medical college at the University of Jordan and came to fight in Syria in 2013. Khatib is responsible for monitoring conflicts between armed groups and currently serves on HTS’s military council.
Abd al-Aziz Daud Khudaberdi, also known as Abu Mohammed Turkistani, is a native of Turkistan and has been promoted to lieutenant. Omar Mohammed Ciftci, also known as Mukhtar Turki, is a Turkish national who has become a lieutenant. Abdel Samriz Bishari, an Albanian, has been promoted to colonel. Maulana Tirson Abdul Samad, a native of Tajikistan, became a colonel.
Ala Mohamed Abdul Baqi, an Egyptian, was promoted to colonel. Ibn Ahmad Hariri, a Jordanian, became a colonel. The decree was issued within the framework of the “process of development and renewal of the Syrian army and armed forces.”
Syrian nationals who fought with Sharaa and HTS have also received promotions. Murhaf Abu Qasra, who has been promoted to lieutenant, is currently serving as defense minister in the Syrian interim government until March.
Abu Qasra previously served as commander-in-chief of the HTS military wing. He was also one of the most prominent leaders of the Military Operations Directorate, which led the lightning assault to topple the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad earlier this month. He holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering from the University of Damascus.
Flashback 2020: US offers up to $10 million
for information on Syrian terrorist leader Al-Masdar News, 25-11-2020
The U.S. Justice Department issued a statement on November 24th, offering a reward for information on a Syrian terrorist leader.
Per the statement posted on their Arabic Twitter account, the U.S. Justice Department is offering up to $10 million (U.S.D) for information leading to the arrest of the founder of the Al-Nusra Front and current leader of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, Abu Mohammad Al-Joulani, who is believed to be in northwestern Syria.
“They pretend to care for Syria, but the people did not forget the crimes committed by the Al-Nusra Front (HTS) against them,” the tweet began.
“If you have information about him, you may get a reward of up to $10 million,” they said asking those with information to contact them via a number of platforms.
Al-Joulani has been the main leader of one of the largest jihadist groups inside Syria since the terrorist organization first entered the Syrian conflict.
The Al-Nusra Front, which he founded, has been accused of committing several crimes inside the country, while also being one of the primary opposition factions to fight the Syrian Armed Forces.
Flashback 2024: HTS names UN-designated 'terrorist'
as Syria's new intelligence chief The Cradle, 26-12-2024
The leader of the Nusra Front, Abu Mohammad Golani has appeared at a high level meeting with most of the leaders and fighters of the Front in Aleppo,promising of the birth of an Islamic Emirate that aims to apply the laws of God.
al nusra figthers 2014
Golani began his speech by praising the organization's fighters and urging them to continue their jihad and defence of the honor of Muslims, promising them to declare an Islamic Emirate in coordination with various Islamic factions and some Free Syrian Army battalions that have signed a charter to apply the laws of God.
Golani revealed that the emirate will not be composed of Nusra alone, but will include other factions that want to join. However, he said the main objective of the emirate is to apply the laws of God and fight against corruption.
Golani asked his fighters to cooperate and work hard on the establishment of the Islamic Emirate which will ensure the rights of all people and the trial of people according to Islamic law. Golani told his fighters that the Front has tremendous potential to achieve the emirate, urging them to remain steadfast against their enemies; Alawites, Kurdish PKK and the corrupt, as he described them, urging them to have no mercy towards their enemies.
Golani confirmed during the meeting that Aleppo will witness the birth of the first Islamic emirate, and that other regions will witness the establishment of similar emirates, which will seek to break the siege imposed by regime's forces and connect to each other.
Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah announced Friday that after the Quneitra operation Hezbollah was no longer concerned with the so-called "rules of engagement" with the Israeli enemy in any coming battle or assault, and clarified that the resistance will be responding to any violation in the time and place that it chose. "Thousands of "Nusra Front" fighters are present with their weapons in Golan. What is Nusra Front? It is the Syrian version of Al-Qaeda, the organization labeled as terrorist by the entire world and it has a wide military presence in the Golan. How come Netanyahu is not worried about that?...
How come Yaalon is not worried about that, and is instead protecting them, opening hospitals for them, and paying them visits?
Sayyed Nasrallah reassured that the armed Takfiri groups, specifically those in Golan, are allies to Israel and they are similar to Lahad Army that was in south Lebanon...
The head of al-Qaida's former Syrian branch, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, said the suicide attacks in third city Homs were a message for opposition figures engaged in peace talks in Geneva to "step aside".
In a rare video address released late Monday, the head of Fateh al-Sham Front reiterated his group's responsibility for the bombings, which killed dozens of people...
"This operation is a lesson to the defeated politicians in Geneva, and previously in Astana," said Abu Mohamed al-Jolani.
Fateh al-Sham has been excluded from the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), as well as previous talks in Astana between rebel groups and the government. Jolani said the deadly attacks in Homs were a message "to leave the war to our people, and to step aside." ... "These politicians... are handing the regime a victory without it having to win."
Fateh al-Sham Front split from al-Qaida in July 2016 from al-Qaida in a move analysts said was an abortive attempt to end its blacklisting by the United Nations and Western governments. In January, it joined forces with other hardline groups to form Tahrir al-Sham.
The U.S. needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the Islamic State group from reconstituting as a major threat following the ouster of Bashar Assad's government, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press.
American forces are still needed there, particularly to ensure the security of detention camps holding tens of thousands of former IS fighters and family members, Austin claimed...
According to estimates, there are as many as 8,000-10,000 IS fighters in the camps, and at least 2,000 of them are considered to be very dangerous.
If Syria is left unprotected, “I think ISIS fighters would enter back into the mainstream,” Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.... He was using another acronym for the Islamic State group. “I think that we still have some work to do in terms of keeping a foot on the throat of ISIS," he said.
President-elect Donald Trump tried to withdraw all forces from Syria in 2018 during his first term, which prompted the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. As the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, advanced against Assad last month, Trump posted on social media that the U.S. military needed to stay out of the conflict.
In a surprise announcement, the Defense Department disclosed in December that the U.S. have more than doubled the number of American troops in Syria to support the fight ISIS, an increase that predates the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The U.S. has now about 2,000 troops in Syria to counter IS, up significantly from the 900 forces that officials said for years was the total number there.
U.S. forces have worked with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on operations against IS, providing cover for the group that Turkey considers an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it identifies as a terror organization.
The SDF “have been good partners. At some point, the SDF may very well be absorbed into the Syrian military and then Syria would own all the (IS detention) camps and hopefully keep control of them,” Austin said. "But for now I think we have to protect our interests there.” The US military has occupied Syrian sovereign territory since 2014, preventing Damascus from accessing its own oil and wheat fields.
[Peter Ford served in the UK Foreign Ministry for many years including being UK Ambassador to Bahrein (1999-2003) and then Syria (2003-2006). Following that, he was representative to the Arab world for the Commissioner General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency. He was interviewed by Rick Stering on Jan 6, 2025.]
-- Rick Sterling: Why do you think the Syrian military and government collapsed so rapidly?
-- Peter Ford: Everybody was surprised but with hindsight, we shouldn’t have been. Over more than a decade, the Syrian army had been hollowed out by the extremely dire economic situation in Syria, mainly caused by western sanctions. Syria only had a few hours of electricity a day, no money to buy weapons and no ability to use the international banking system to buy anything whatsoever. It’s no surprise that the Army was run down....
Syrian soldiers are mainly conscripts and they suffer as much as any ordinary Syrian from the really dreadful economic situation in Syria. I hesitate to admit it, but the Western sanctions were extremely effectively in doing what they were designed to do: to bring the Syrian economy down to its knees.
So we have to say, and I say this with deep regret, the sanctions worked. The sanctions did exactly what they were designed to do to make the Syrian people suffer, and thereby to bring about discontent with what they call the regime. Ordinary Syrians didn’t understand the complexities of geopolitics, and they blamed the Syrian government for everything: not having electricity, not having food, not having gas, oil, high inflation. Everything that came from being cut off from the world economy and not having supporters with bottomless pockets.
Syria was being attacked and occupied by major military powers (Turkey, USA, Israel). Plus thousands of foreign jihadis. The Syrian army was so demoralized that they really were a paper tiger by the end of the day.
-- RS: What’s is the current situation, a month after the collapse?
-- PF: There are skirmishes here and there, but broadly, the Islamists and foreign fighters are ruling the roost. There are pockets of resistance in Latakia where the Alawite are literally fighting for their lives. Much of the fighting is about the attempts by HTF, the present rulers to confiscate weapons. The Alawites are resisting and there are pockets of resistance in the South where there are local Druze militias.
-- RS: What are you hearing from people in Syria? \
-- It is not a pretty story. HTS and their allies have been parading showing their dominance, flying ISIS and Al-Qaeda flags. They have been bullying, intimidating, confiscating and looting. Surrendering Christian as well as Alawite soldiers have been given summary justice, roadside executions being the norm. Christians in their towns and villages are just trying to hunker down and pray. Literally. I’m sorry to say the senior Christian clerics, with one or two noble exceptions, have opted for appeasement and effectively betrayed their communities. The senior leadership at the Orthodox Church, in particular Greek Catholic church, have had themselves photographed with dignitaries of the jihadi regime.
It’s quite a contrast with the Alawite. But they have no choice. You may remember that the slogan of the jihadi armies during the conflict was, “Christians to Beirut, Alawite to the grave.” HTS is going through the motions of having meetings with clerics and making soothing noises. All the while their henchmen are driving around in trucks flying ISIS flags. What I’m hearing is very depressing.
-- RS: Western media have demonized Bashar al Assad and even Asma Assad. What was your impression of Bashar and Asma when you met them? What do you think of accusations they accumulated billions of dollars?
-- PF: The accusations are completely spurious. I know some members of the Assad family, some of them have lived for many years in Britain. They lived in very modest personal circumstances. If Assad had been a billionaire, like they’re saying, some of that would’ve trickled down. I can guarantee you that has not been the case. These accusations also go against the impressions that I picked up when I was seeing the Assads when I was an ambassador there. They appreciated the good things of life the same as everybody else, but they didn’t come across as the Marcos type. Nothing at all like that. It is all lies, made up to serve the deeper agenda. The media kicking of Bashar and Asma is really distasteful... To beat up on him as the media are doing is really distasteful and pointless.
It is akin to this new genre of political pornography, Assad porn, the torture stories, the hyped up narrative about prison and graves being opened up. Actually, by the way, most of those graves are war dead. They were not people who’d been tortured to death as the media pretends. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the conflict over more than a decade, and many of them were buried in unmarked graves. But the western media are reveling in this new genre of Assad porn. This is all being whipped up to make Western audiences more accepting of the way the West is getting into bed with Al-Qaeda.
The more they demonize Assad and harp on the misdeeds of the Assad regime, and the more likely we are to swallow and be distracted away from the hideous atrocities being carried out right now.
Western leaders are kissing the feet of a guy who has been a founder member of ISIS for God’s sake, as well as a founder member of Al-Qaeda in Syria. It is morally distasteful and shaming. Joulani needs the west desperately now. Otherwise, he will face the same fate as Bashar Asad.
-- RS: What are your hopes and fears for Syria? What’s the nightmare scenario and what’s the best possible?
-- PF: I’m very pessimistic. It is very hard to see a silver lining in what has happened. Syria has been taken off the table as a Middle East player. The old Syria has died effectively. Syria was the last man standing among the Arab countries that supported the Palestinians. There was no other.
There were militias like Hezbollah plus Yemen but there were no states other than Syria. Syria is now gone, and the jihadis are saying, telling the world they don’t care...
The best hope for the Syrian people is that they may get some respite. It is possible to imagine a scenario where the Syrian people are able to recover, at least economically... So it is possible to imagine a scenario where Syria loses its soul, but gains more hours of electricity. That is possibly the most likely scenario.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with President Biden on Sunday and thanked the American leader for his “lifelong support” for the state of Israel, the White House said in a readout of the call.
“The Prime Minister thanked the President for his lifelong support of Israel and for the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense,” the White House said.
President Biden, who has repeatedly described himself a “Zionist,” has been a staunch supporter of Israel throughout his political career and provided an unprecedented amount of military aid to Israel since October 7, 2023, which enabled the genocidal war in Gaza and other escalations across the region. From October 7, 2023, to October 7, 2024, the Biden administration provided Israel with more military aid in a single year than any other US administration in history. Despite the massive support, Netanyahu had repeatedly complained that the US was shipping weapons too slowly.
During the call on Sunday, which came just eight days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, Biden and Netanyahu also discussed the prospects of a hostage and ceasefire deal...
During previous rounds of negotiations, Netanyahu sabotaged the chances of a deal by adding new demands. While reports say that a deal is now close, Netanyahu has also made clear he doesn’t want a permanent ceasefire.
Yuli Novak criticizing Israel's right wing government
Yuli Novak: “As an Israeli, it is my duty and right to firmly demand an end to the occupation and the replacement of the apartheid regime with a democracy. This is the only way to ensure the human rights of everyone living in this land. More and more people, Israelis and others, understand today that democracy and occupation cannot coexist and that there is no democracy under apartheid. My commitment, our commitment, is to continue driving this understanding forward at home and abroad, with honesty, devotion and determination.” (B'Tselem website info)
The House passed a bill on Thursday to sanction International Criminal Court officials – in response to the court issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The ICC’s targeting of Netanyahu has sparked backlash from Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The GOP-led Senate is expected to next take up the bill.
The ICC issued arrest warrants last year for Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and a senior Hamas official, accusing them of war crimes during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel.
The legislation calls for the warrants against the Israeli officials to be “condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
And, according to the legislative text, the measure would impose sanctions with respect to the court over “any effort to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute any protected person of the United States and its allies.” The sanctions include prohibiting US property transactions and blocking and revoking visas. The House passed the ICC sanctions bill in the last session of Congress by a vote of 247 to 155, with 42 Democrats joining Republicans in support, but it was not brought to a vote in the Senate, which was then under Democratic control. Congressional Republicans are bringing it back up now that they control both the House and the Senate.
US - News: Letter to Representative Jared Golden
Representative, it is Shameful that you Voted to Sanction
the Justices of the Int’l Criminal Court Hugh J. Curran (juancole.com) 01/14/2025
Jared Forrest Golden (born July 25, 1982) is an American politician and a Marine Corps veteran serving as the U.S. representative for Maine's 2nd congressional district since 2019. A Democrat, he represents a district encompassing the northern four-fifths of the state.
Dear Representative Jared Golden, your decision to vote in favor of sanctioning the International Criminal Court of Justice, (ICC) which had ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza, was dismaying.
This recent vote to sanction the ICC by Representatives of Congress erodes the ability of the high court to adhere to the principles of “International Humanitarian Law.
The legislators passed this so-called “illegitimate Court Counteraction act” by a vote of 243-140, mostly supported by 198 Republican legislators. The intent of the legislation was to sanction anyone who assists the ICC in its attempts…to prosecute a citizen of an allied country” (ie Israel). The question is why you, Rep Golden, felt it necessary to join this charade in support of a far-right regime in the Israeli Knesset..
The Israeli military (IDF) is being urged on by the extremist leadership in the Knesset in a process of “ethnic cleansing”.
Israeli historians have taken note of the attempt to exterminate a population, such historians as Avi Shlaim, an Oxford University scholar raised in Israel, Shlomo Sand who teaches in Tel Aviv University and has written books including “The Invention of the Jewish People”; Ilan Pappe, an historian teaching at Reading University in the UK who has written “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”. It is shameful that you take the part of a right-wing cabal, led by a man totally lacking in empathy, not only for the thousands of children being killed by the IDF bombing, but also, until recently, for his unwillingness to negotiate in good faith, for the release of Israeli captives.
An aerial view of Palestinian residents conducting a search and rescue operation amidst the rubble of destroyed buildings after Israeli army attacked Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of Gaza Strip, Gaza on November 07, 2024. [Ali Jadallah - Anadolu Agency]
Tens of millions of tonnes of rubble has been left in Gaza as a result of Israel’s destruction of neighborhoods, cities and housing complexes since October 2023, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing has said.
The report indicated that clearing this rubble is a critical first step towards the reconstruction of Gaza. This process involves not only dismantling hazardous structures but also reinforcing damaged buildings and ensuring the safety of surrounding areas during demolition operations.
Following a comprehensive assessment of the aftermath caused by the Israeli aggression, officials stressed that local machinery is insufficient for debris removal since much of it has been damaged or destroyed during air strikes targeting government, municipal and civil facilities. As such, there is an urgent need for the entry of heavy machinery into the Strip to facilitate cleanup efforts.
As more than 1.9 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by Israel during its bombing campaign, the ministry proposed two key interventions to help with the housing crisis; providing temporary shelters through mobile units (caravans) placed near existing residential areas alongside essential infrastructure services like water supplies and sanitation facilities.
The Government Media Office in Gaza recently revealed that the Israeli aggression has fully destroyed over 161,600 housing units while partially damaging another 194,000 structures; approximately 82,000 homes have been rendered uninhabitable.
Overall destruction across Gaza has reached an unprecedented level, with an estimated at 88 per cent of the Strip in ruins; a direct economic loss of approximately $37 billion.
People inspect the tents damaged in the Israeli army's attacks on the coastline of Deir Al Balah city in the central Gaza Strip on January 14, 2025 [Anadolu Agency]
While Gaza is being obliterated, entire families erased from civil records, children deprived of food and medicine, with doctors and patients detained and bodies left for dogs to scavenge, the world stands by in silence.
This harrowing scene unfolds daily in Gaza, where the occupation perpetrates the most heinous forms of genocide and ethnic cleansing, all amid a disgraceful international silence.
Meanwhile, we witness a global outcry and swift action in response to other crises, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the wildfires in Los Angeles, highlighting the blatant double standards in the international community’s response to humanitarian crises...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that a deal to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip has been reached.
The announcement came a day after Netanyahu's office said there were last minute snags in talks to free hostages in return for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu said he will convene his security Cabinet later on Friday and then the government to approve the ceasefire agreement.
Under the deal expected to begin Sunday, 33 hostages are set to be released over the next six weeks, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The remainder, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second phase that will be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
President-elect Donald Trump said the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas better be finalized before his inauguration on Monday and said his involvement was crucial for the negotiation.
"We changed the course of it, and we changed it fast, and frankly, it better be done before I take the oath of office," he said in a podcast interview with Dan Bongino.
Trump also said "we shook hands, and we signed certain documents, but it better be done." He claimed Biden hadn't done anything.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if a long-awaited ceasefire agreement halts the war, but many will find there's nothing left. And it's unclear when — or even if — much will be rebuilt.
Two-thirds of structures in Gaza have been destroyed The full extent of the damage will only be known when the fighting ends and inspectors have full access to the territory.
Using satellite data, the United Nations estimated last month that 69% of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including over 245,000 homes.
Before anything can be rebuilt, the rubble must be removed — a staggering task in itself. The U.N. estimates that the war has littered Gaza with over 50 million tons of rubble. That's roughly 12 times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. With over 100 trucks working full time, it would take over 15 years to clear the rubble away.
The debris also contains huge amounts of unexploded ordnance as well as human remains. Gaza's Health Ministry says thousands of people killed in Israeli airstrikes are still buried under the rubble.
All this will require billions of dollars and the ability to bring construction materials and heavy equipment into the territory — neither of which are assured.
The ceasefire and hostage deal doesn't say whether Israel and Egypt will lift a blockade on Gaza they imposed when Hamas seized power in 2007.
International donors are unlikely to invest in an ungoverned territory that has seen five wars in less than two decades, which means the sprawling tent camps along the coast could become a permanent feature of life in Gaza.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threated on Thursday night to leave the government if Israel approves a ceasefire, but said his party would rejoin the government if fighting in Gaza continued. Ben-Gvir said the ceasefire was "reckless" and would "destroy all of Israel's achievements." A settler leader, Ben Gvir has become one of Israel's most influential politicians, reflecting a rightward shift in the Israeli electorate that brought his religious, ultranationalist ideology into the mainstream and diminished hopes for Palestinian independence.
On Wednesday night, after the hostage deal was announced, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (member of the "Religious Zionism" party) condemned the deal and stressed that his party would only remain in the government if Israel would fully return to the fighting after the deal concludes.
Palestinian leaders who administer the occupied West Bank are getting ready in case they're tasked with running critical services and setting up an interim government in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa met with top officials to discuss plans for reintegrating government institutions in Gaza, including the territory's health care, education, water and power sectors, as well as coordinating a surge of humanitarian aid.
Israel has said it will work with local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. But it's unclear if such partners exist, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with Israeli forces.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he "fully" expects the ceasefire deal in Gaza will be implemented as expected on Sunday...
Blinken and other members of the Biden administration have faced criticism for the civilian casualties and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as for not imposing meaningful restrictions on sending arms to Israel...
Russia's Foreign Ministry voiced hopes Thursday that the long-awaited agreement to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip will help secure lasting stability in Gaza.
Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova praised "the patient and persistent work of Qatari and Egyptian mediators" who helped broker the agreement and noted that "at the final stage, representatives of the new American administration also joined the negotiating marathon."
"We expect that the implementation of the agreement reached now will contribute to the sustainable stabilization of the situation in Gaza and create conditions for the return of all internally displaced persons ... and allow Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners released as a result of the deal to join their families," Zakharova said at a briefing.
"We believe that the conclusion of this agreement will contribute to the formation of the necessary conditions for establishing a process of a comprehensive political settlement of the Palestinian problem on a generally accepted international legal basis," Zakharova added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also welcomed the deal. Any settlement that would result in a ceasefire and end the suffering of the people of Gaza while helping ensure security of Israel can only be welcomed," Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Thursday that Beijing welcomes the ceasefire deal and hopes it can be "effectively implemented so a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza can be achieved." China will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza and make "positive efforts" for post-war reconstruction, he added.
Transition from President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration to the Republican administration of President-elect Donald Trump will be marked by the last-minute Gaza ceasefire deal and the pending issues in the Middle East. The deal relieved Trump from unwelcome burden he did not want to carry over from his predecessor as he sought optics of triumph in his inauguration. The 15-month war in the enclave will however continue to dog Biden.
“Gaza will be the legacy (of Biden),” said Mike Casey, a former State Department official who was among those who resigned in protest of US policy during the war. “They’re going to find bodies in rubble. People are going to continue to die from disease … It’s always going to come back to him.”
Trump and his fellow Republicans have accused Biden of weak resolve which caused the war to expand to the rest of the region while he refused to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. His stance divided the Democratic party’s ranks, which contributed to Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat in the November election.
The diplomatic breakthrough in Doha was widely seen by regional players as less a result of Biden’s diplomacy than Trump’s warnings of “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by the time of his inauguration.
David Khalfa, an expert on Israel at the Jean Jaures Foundation in Paris, said that wariness about Trump’s unpredictability might have pushed Hamas to reach for an agreement.
The US president-elect said on Wednesday he would use the Gaza ceasefire deal as momentum to expand the Abraham Accords.
He must bear in mind the change of mood in the region, including the Gulf, about Israel as feelings have soured towards Israel as a result of the Gaza war. “The death and destruction in Gaza have soured attitudes toward Israel in the region,” recently wrote former US Middle East Negotiator Dennis Ross.
As the long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Sunday morning, thousands of displaced Palestinians rushed to return to their homes.
For many, the return was a bittersweet journey marked by shock, loss and uncertainty. What they have returned to is mostly flattened homes and, at best, half-standing structures.
"I was so happy with the ceasefire, so I left the tent and moved east of Khan Younis towards my home," said Ahmad Agha, a Palestinian originally from Khuza'a town in eastern Khan Younis. However, upon arrival, the reality was far worse than he expected.
"I was shocked to find it completely levelled. A three-storey home was destroyed," Agha told Middle East Eye. "The last I heard is that it was partly destroyed and could be habitable. But I was surprised to see it completely gone." His once-thriving family home, which houses 10 people, was now nothing more than rubble.
Many shared similar stories with MEE. For them, the ceasefire has brought little relief. With their homes gone, the uncertainty of what lies ahead looms large...
President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran and Russia stand steadfast in mutual “sensitive, pivotal and strategic” relations.
Pezeshkian made the remark in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday ahead of a ceremony to sign a long-awaited comprehensive strategic partnership agreement.
“Iran and Russia are strengthening relations on a daily basis in bilateral, regional and international aspects as well as in the economic and trade sectors,” he said.
The president added that the comprehensive agreement can help the two countries improve relations in all economic, cultural, trade, security and communications areas. He said that Tehran and Moscow signed new agreements on the construction of a new power plant in Iran.
Pezeshkian said that Iran believes that regional issues should be resolved by the countries in the region. “There is no need for others from the other side of the world to come here and disrupt the region and implement their own policies,” the Iranian president emphasized.
Russian president Vladimir Putin recalled that Moscow and Tehran had been working on the document for a long time:
"I am very pleased that this work has been completed. It is important, because it will open up an opportunity to give an additional impetus to practically all areas of our cooperation," Putin added.
Iran and Russia are both subject to illegal Western sanctions. They have over the past years deepened their cooperation in various sectors.
Based on the treaty, the two countries will cooperate in important and large-scale joint projects, including the development of nuclear power plants and the energy sector.
For decades the Israeli regime has pursued specific military and strategic goals in Syria.
Following the illegal occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights in 1967 and annexing two-thirds of the territory in 1981 (a move not recognized under international law), the regime had always sought to destabilize Syria.
Under former Presidents Hafez and Bashar al-Assad, Syria, with a strong army, served as a staunch supporter of Hezbollah and the Palestinian resistance movement in Gaza. Former Syrian governments also refused to sever ties with the anti-Israeli resistance groups despite many Western offers to do so. The collapse of the Syrian army in December 2024 following a decade-old battle with terrorists and foreign-armed militant groups, coupled with U.S. occupation and sanctions have provided a golden ticket for the Israeli military to expand the domains of its occupation of Syria.
The new government in Syria, a mix of armed groups that battled the former Syrian Arab Army, has shown little appetite to issue statements to condemn Israel’s expanding occupation and aggression in Syria, let alone resist the occupiers. That has raised major question marks about Israel’s long-term intentions.
Apart from capturing the entire Golan Heights and expanding its occupation to southern parts of Syria, the Israeli regime is looking to consolidate and prolong its grip on the Syrian territory.
This is while Israel has maintained an aggressive military posture bombing 80% of Syrian military assets.
The prolonged instability in Syria has aligned with Israeli interests to ensure the Arab state remains fragmented and unable to pose a threat to Tel Aviv or support the resistance groups against the regime.
netanyahu 2019
Another objective for Israel is to expand settlements in the Golan. The absence of a strong central Syrian authority has provided the regime with an opportunity to accelerate settlement construction in the occupied Golan Heights.
By integrating the Golan further into Israeli economy and infrastructure, Israel could solidify its de facto control, making any future negotiation over the territory increasingly difficult.
Without a unified government in Damascus to resist the ever-growing occupation, the Israelis could exploit a weaker Syria to strengthen its deterrence strategy and expand its military footprint, not only in the Golan but potentially in other strategically important areas in southern Syria.
Israeli ambitions in Syria are also shaped by the positions of its staunchest ally, Washington. The United States has historically supported illegal Israeli actions in Syria. Washington’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights further emboldens Israeli plans to entrench its occupation...
Donald J. Trump in his second inaugural address left little doubt that he will seek to expand America’s global empire and reverse what he sees as its recent decline, boldly declaring that a “golden age” of U.S. supremacy had begun.
Trump has been seen before ripping the mask from America’s true global intentions and on Monday made clear the U.S. has been an empire for centuries, which he aims to enforce in a super-charged, imperial presidency.
“America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on Earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world,” he proclaimed. “America will soon be greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before,” he added. Challenges the U.S. face will be “annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing in the United States of America.” “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”
As though he couldn’t have made the point about U.S. primacy any clearer, he declared: “Above all, my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization. […]
The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons.” [..]
He then launched into a riff on “American exceptionalism,” recounting the building of an empire from “our American ancestors [who] turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic” by pushing “thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness,” without mentioning the people who already lived there and were soon annihilated.
“Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation,” he said. “And right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other.”
“We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but by the wars we end and more importantly the wars we never get into,’’ he said in his inaugural address from inside the Capitol rotunda. He wants to be seen as a “peacemaker” he said. [..]
Trump sees what appears to be a megalomaniacal role for himself in furthering U.S. imperial might. In speaking of his survival from an assassin’s bullet, he said: “My life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
US President Donald Trump has canceled an executive order that slapped sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers involved in violent attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. On Monday, Trump revoked February 2024's Executive Order 14115, which was signed by his predecessor Joe Biden to authorize the imposition of sanctions “on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank,” the White House announced.
Biden's executive order designated 17 far-right Israeli settlers and 16 entities, blocking them from accessing all US property, assets and the American financial system.
Trump's move came hours after armed Israeli settlers, shielded by the occupation troops, went on a rampage in several West Bank areas.
They torched Palestinian homes and shops in the villages of al-Funduq, Jinsafut, and Masafer Yatta, and vandalized vehicles near the town of Dura and the Fawwar refugee camp, calling for the murder and the forced displacement of Palestinian people.
Settler violence has escalated significantly since October 7, 2023,
Additionally on Monday, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Palestine said it was “alarmed” by a new wave of violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers and forces in the occupied West Bank following the Gaza ceasefire.
In a statement, it said the settler violence was accompanied by reinforced Israeli restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees must end operations and leave all its premises in Jerusalem by January 30, Israel's UN ambassador said Friday, affirming timelines set out in controversial Israeli legislation.
Defying international concern, Israeli lawmakers have passed legislation that bars the agency, UNRWA, from operating in Israel and east Jerusalem. Israel, without evidence, has claimed that a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza-based employees were involved in the Hamas offensive on 7 October 2023. In a letter addressed to United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, Ambassador Danny Danon said "UNRWA is required to cease its operations in Jerusalem, and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city, no later than 30 January 2025."
UNRWA is considered the backbone of humanitarian operations for Palestinians. It provides aid to some six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
While east Jerusalem has long been an administrative hub for the agency, it also runs schools and health clinics in the sector. Israel has also passed a law that prohibits contact between Israeli officials and UNRWA, but its parliament has not technically banned the agency from operating in Gaza or the West Bank.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned that preventing the agency from operating "might sabotage the Gaza ceasefire, failing once again hopes of people who have gone through unspeakable suffering."
"The work of UNRWA must continue in Gaza + across the occupied Palestinian territory," he said on social media platform X late Friday.
A US-designated terrorist group still remains the current de facto ruling entity in Damascus and over Syria. But for the West, all that matters is that al-Qaeda linked Jolani is not Assad.
A decade-plus long proxy war in pursuit of regime change finally overthrew the secular Baath government early last month, and resulted in the hardline Islamists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) controlling most of the country.
The West appears to be fully embracing the new rulers which we previously referred to as al-Qaeda in suits. This week we have been treated to the spectacle of a HTS representative speaking on the main stage at Davos. He's come a long way from Idlib and its black flags... straight to the red carpet jet-setting champaign-sipping insider atmosphere of world elites.
Syria's new HTS-appointed Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani told the World Economic Forum on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia is now the exemplar for Syria to follow.
"Where do we see inspiration for the new Syria? We have the Vision 2030 of Saudi Arabia," Al-Shaibani said during a conversation with former UK prime minister Tony Blair.
"We need Syria to be a place of peace, to be a place of development, a place free of war," the top HTS diplomat added.
On top of the irony of an AQ-linked official being invited to Davos (and merely within less than two months after HTS took power), there's the added irony that Tony Blair - one of Bush's key allies who pushed the 2003 invasion of Iraq - was hosting the Davos main stage discussion with Al-Shaibani.
Former leaders like Blair, in overthrowing Saddam Hussein, are responsible for having overseen the sectarian and Islamist nightmare which gripped Iraq and the region in the aftermath. The rise of ISIS would not have been possible if it weren't for the US/UK 'shock and awe' regime change operation, for example.
Later, the West and Gulf states funded the Syrian insurgency, during which time Al-Qaeda in Iraq jihadists poured across the border into Syria. HTS was born out of this West-backed anti-Assad jihad (it was known as Nusra Front in the beginning).
Julia Sebutinde stood alone in rejecting South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Now the court’s president, the Ugandan judge suggests her motives for protecting Israel can be found in the Old Testament.
With new countries joining South Africa’s case accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, and a ceasefire potentially enabling war crimes investigators to gather fresh evidence of Israeli atrocities, a leadership shakeup at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) threatens to undermine the campaign for legal accountability.
The ICJ’s President Nawaf Salam resigned on January 14, 2025 to become Prime Minister of Lebanon, and was succeeded by Justice Julia Sebutinde of Uganda.
Many observers were stunned when Sebutinde voted “no” on all six resolutions introduced by South Africa in January 2024, placing herself in opposition to all ICJ judges, including her Israeli colleague, Aharon Barak.
The Ugandan judge not only rejected the court’s call for the Israeli military to halt deliberate assaults on civilians, end its policy of forced displacement, and cancel its planned invasion of Rafah, but insisted that Palestinians had not been subjected to any military occupation whatsoever. Sebutinde concluded that, in fact, Israel may have the right to maintain a permanent presence in the West Bank and the whole of Jerusalem on the basis of purely biblical claims.
Sebutinde’s dissenting opinion opened with a lengthy history of the Israel-Palestine conflict that blended well-worn Zionist propaganda with the Old Testament. In rejecting her colleagues’ ruling declaring Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal, she resorted to accounts of the Jewish presence in the biblical land of Israel, omitting any mention of UN resolutions or international law.
“There is substantial evidence that Jewish people lived in the region of ancient Israel between 1000-586 BCE. This period corresponds to the era of the United Monarchy under Kings Saul, David, and Solomon, and the subsequent divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The evidence includes archaeological findings in the City of David…” Sebutinde insisted.
“The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) offers detailed accounts of the history, culture, and governance of the Israelites during this period. While these texts are religious in nature, many scholars consider them valuable historical documents.”
Her opinion was so extreme, and so shot through with theological commentary, it prompted Uganda’s ambassador to the United Nations, Adonia Ayebare, to declare her “ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine.”
US President Donald Trump has proposed a controversial plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, suggesting that Egypt and Jordan accept them as part of a broader initiative to achieve “peace” in the Middle East.
The plan, described by Trump himself as a way to “cleanse” Gaza, has received immediate backing from Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Trump, who referred to Gaza as a “devastated place,” claimed to have discussed the idea with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and planned further talks with Egypt’s President Abdelfattah El-Sisi.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said, “You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing”.
Trump continued by saying that over the centuries, this area has seen many conflicts, and that “something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now.”
“Almost everything’s demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change,” he said.
He added that the transfer could be temporary or long-term and hinted at building housing elsewhere for displaced Palestinians.
Far-right Israeli ministers openly expressed their support. Ben-Gvir praised Trump’s plan, calling for Israel to encourage the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians. Smotrich echoed this, describing the mass displacement as a “great idea” and committing to work toward its implementation. Both have long advocated for the ethnic cleansing and forced removal of Palestinians from Gaza.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism Party) responded this morning (Sunday) to US President Donald Trump's proposal to relocate part of the Gaza population to other countries to allow for the reconstruction of the coastal enclave.
"After 76 years in which most of the Gaza population was forcibly held in difficult conditions in order to preserve the ambition to destroy the State of Israel, the idea of helping them find other places to start a new good life is a great idea," said Smotrich.
According to him, the residents of Gaza, who have lived for years under a reign of terror and the sanctification of destruction, will be able to start a new and good life in other places." Smotrich criticized the traditional solutions that have been proposed over the years, such as dividing the country and establishing a Palestinian state, which, he said, have only jeopardized Israel's security and led to unnecessary bloodshed and suffering.
The United Arab Republic (UAR) was a short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria, embodying the aspirations of Pan-Arabism at its peak during the mid-20th century. This ambitious union symbolised a bold experiment in regional integration, challenging both colonial legacies and Cold War rivalries with a lasting impact on the two countries’ national identities.
What: The formation of the United Arab Republic
When: 1 February, 1958 (proclamation); 22 February, 1958 (official ratification)
Where: Cairo, Egypt, and Damascus, Syria
What happened?
In the aftermath of World War II, the Arab world experienced a surge of nationalist movements aiming to unify various Arab nations under a single political entity. Following the 1952 Revolution, Egypt under the charismatic leadership of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, emerged as the figurehead of Pan-Arabism.
Spurred on by the nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1956, Abdel Nasser advocated for Arab unity and independence from colonial influences.
Concurrently, Syria faced internal political instability, with its government experiencing frequent changes and increasing influence from both Western and Soviet blocs during the Cold War. The rise of the Syrian Communist Party and concerns over potential communist dominance prompted Syrian leaders to seek unification with Egypt, viewing it as a means to stabilise the country and strengthen its position in the Arab world.
On 1 February, 1958, Egypt and Syria announced their intention to merge into a single sovereign state, the UAR.
This proclamation was followed by nationwide referendums in both countries, culminating in the official ratification of the Union on 22 February, 1958 when Abdel Nasser and his Syrian counterpart, President Shukri Al-Quwatli, signed the union charter at Cairo’s iconic Qasr El-Qubba. Abdel Nasser was declared the President of the UAR, with Cairo as its capital.
Following the formalisation of the Union, Nasser made a surprise visit to Damascus on 24 February to co-sign the union agreement where he was greeted by massive crowds celebrating the newly formed republic. This was his first time visiting Syria during which he paid homage to the tomb of Salah Al-Din as part of a tour Quwatli gave him of the ancient capital.
Info: Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi (d. 1193), also known as 'Saladin' the West, is one of the most celebrated figures in both Islamic and world history. He was the legendary Muslim leader who, in 1187, liberated and recaptured Masjid Al-Aqsa, Al-Quds (Jerusalem), and Palestine after 88 long years of Crusader occupation. (Liberator of Palestine)
The UAR was envisioned as the first step toward a broader Pan-Arab state, aiming to serve as a model for future Arab unity.
The Union was structured as a centralised government, with Nasser implementing policies to integrate the political and economic systems of Egypt and Syria. However, this centralisation led to tensions, as many Syrians felt marginalised in the decision-making processes, while Abdel Nasser’s socialist economic reforms were met with resistance from Syrian business communities.
These issues culminated in a military coup in Syria on 28 September, 1961, resulting in Syria’s secession from the UAR and the re-establishment of the Syrian Arab Republic.
Egypt continued to use the name United Arab Republic until 1971, when it was officially changed back to the Arab Republic of Egypt.
As for theflag of the UAR, featuring two green stars representing Egypt and Syria, it was readopted by Syria in 1980 to signify its commitment to Arab unity. This flag remained in use until the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
Following Assad’s ousting, Syrians reinstated the independence-era flag, a tricolour of green, white, and black with three red stars, which had been used by the opposition during the civil war.
After the Union’s formation, Iraq also expressed interest in joining the UAR, envisioning a tripartite Union. A new flag was proposed, featuring three stars to symbolise the inclusion of Egypt, Syria and Iraq in the Union. Although this plan was never realised, Iraq adopted a similar flag with three stars, representing its aspiration to join the UAR. The Federation of Arab Republics (FAR), formed in 1972 between Egypt, Syria and Libya, was a later attempt to revive the spirit of Pan-Arab unity, much like the UAR before it.
The FAR was a looser confederation, allowing member states to retain their own governments while cooperating under a unified framework. Libya’s late leader, Muammar Gaddafi, inspired by Abdel Nasser, spearheaded the initiative, but unlike the UAR, it never functioned as a unified state.
While the UAR ultimately failed to achieve lasting unity, it remains an exceptional episode in the modern Middle East and arguably the most literal manifestation of Pan-Arabism put into practise, transcending borders put in place by the fateful Sykes-Picot Agreement.
In one of his rousing speeches from Damascus, Nasser would tell the excited crowd of not just Syrians and Lebanese but Arabs from across the region:
“As I see my brothers from sister Lebanon standing side by side with their brothers from the region of Syria and the region of Egypt, I feel I am witnessing the return of matters to their natural course. The artificial boundaries that have been put up between Arab countries by the imperialists cannot estrange us.”
Palestine and the Arab Nation Flag: it features Pan-Arab colors, emphasizing the country’s connection to the broader Arab world. Green symbolizes fertility (prosperity), white represents peace, red stands for bravery, and black signifies the defeat of enemies.
Israel News: 71% of Israelis oppose Palestinian state;
68% support sovereignty in Judea and Samaria David Isaac, Feb. 2, 2025, JNS
Seventy-one percent of Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria ('Palestine-West Bank'). Nearly 70% want to extend Israeli sovereignty over the area (i.e. annexation), according to a poll conducted on Jan. 29.
The survey asked respondents whether they would support a Palestinian state as part of an Israeli-Saudi peace deal. More than half said they would not even do so when attached to Saudi normalization.
Thirty-nine percent said they would support a Palestinian state linked to a Saudi agreement. Eight percent had no opinion.
The poll found that 80% of the Israeli public agreed with the idea floated by Trump on Jan. 25 that Arab nations, particularly Egypt and Jordan, take in more Palestinians from Gaza to “clean out” the enclave. Only 10% opposed the proposal. Another 10% had no opinion on the matter.
Sovereignty Movement, 20-1-2025:
“Our Father in Heaven: Send good advice to the President of the Unite States, Donald J. Trump, strengthen the spirit of love for your People Israel and give him the wisdom and power to stand strong against the evil of the world, the enemies of Your People, the House of Israel. May he know and be aware of Your promise to Avraham “And I will fulfill my covenant between Me and your seed after you, and I have given to you and to your seed after you the entire land of Canaan.."
The survey comes on the background of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure on Sunday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.
“The findings are public just in time for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit with President Trump. Bibi can now go to the president of the United States with a clear statement that this is the will of the people of Israel,” Avi Abelow, CEO of Pulse of Israel, which co-sponsored the poll, told JNS.
Netanyahu has remained mum on extending Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, though he, with Trump’s backing, attempted to do so over parts of the region during the U.S. president’s first term in 2020. Allies of both the president and the prime minister support the idea of Israeli sovereignty.
A prominent member of Netanyahu’s coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism Party, said in November that Trump’s election provides an opportunity for annexation.
Others pushing for Israeli rule over Judea and Samaria include groups such as the Sovereignty Movement, an Israeli NGO that also co-sponsored the new survey.
“The Sovereignty Movement is pleased with the results of the poll”, said the group’s co-chairs Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover. “The Israeli public now understands that only sovereignty is the plan that will bring security and regional stability.”
Donald Trump made an extraordinary proposal for the United States to "take over" the Gaza Strip, as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crucial talks on the truce with Hamas.
Trump also doubled down on his call for Palestinians to move out of the war-battered territory to Middle Eastern countries like Egypt and Jordan, despite the Palestinians and both nations flatly rejecting his suggestion.
"The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it," Trump told a joint press conference with Netanyahu.
Trump said the United States would get rid of unexploded bombs, "level the site" and remove destroyed buildings, and "create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area."
But Trump appeared to suggest that it was not Palestinians who would return there.
"It should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there," he said.
Trump predicted the war-ravaged Gaza Strip could become "the Riviera of the Middle East" after US take over it. "The Riviera of the Middle East. This could be something that could be so magnificent." He added that Gaza's two million inhabitants should instead "go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts."
Netanyahu hailed Trump as the "greatest friend Israel has ever had." He said the US president's Gaza plan could "change history" and was worth "paying attention to."
Egypt and Jordan have flatly rejected Trump's suggestion of moving Palestinians from Gaza.
The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations meanwhile said world leaders should "respect" the wishes of Palestinians. Gazans have also denounced Trump's idea.
In the US, opposition politicians quickly rejected Trump's idea, with Democratic Sen. Chris Coons calling his comments "offensive and insane and dangerous and foolish.” The idea “risks the rest of the world thinking that we are an unbalanced and unreliable partner because our president makes insane proposals,” Coons said,
Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
05 February 2025 (06 Sha'aban 1446)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is firm and unwavering.
His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, clearly and unequivocally reaffirmed this stance during his speech at the opening of the first session of the ninth term of the Shura Council on September 18, 2024.
He emphasized that Saudi Arabia will continue its relentless efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that.
He also reiterated this firm position during the extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit held in Riyadh on November 11, 2024.
He stressed the continuation of efforts to establish a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
His Royal Highness also urged more peace-loving countries to recognize the State of Palestine, and emphasized the importance of mobilizing the international community to support the Palestinian people's rights, as expressed in United Nations General Assembly resolutions, recognizing Palestine's eligibility for full UN membership.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also reaffirms its unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, land annexation, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.
The international community has a duty today to alleviate the severe humanitarian suffering endured by the Palestinian people, who will remain steadfast on their land and will not move from it.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasizes that this unwavering position is non-negotiable and not subject to compromises.
Achieving lasting and just peace is impossible without the Palestinian people obtaining their legitimate rights in accordance with international resolutions, as has been previously clarified to both the former and current U.S. administrations.
Palestinian leader 'strongly rejects'
Trump proposal to take over Gaza
Ahram Online , Wednesday 5 Feb 2025
"President Mahmud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership expressed their strong rejection of calls to seize the Gaza Strip and displace Palestinians outside their homeland," Abbas's office said in a statement, adding that "legitimate Palestinian rights are not negotiable".
Reading the statement on Palestinian public television, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina stressed that the Gaza Strip "is an integral part of the State of Palestine".
The Palestine Liberation Organisation, an alliance of factions headed by Abbas, also condemned Trump's proposal to relocate Gazans to Egypt or Jordan. It rejected "all calls for the displacement of Palestinia ns from their homeland", its secretary general, Hussein al-Sheikh, said.
"Here we were born, here we lived and here we will remain, and we appreciate the Arab position committed to these constants.
President Abbas welcomed the position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that supports and backs the rights of Palestinian people and their just cause.
He praised what was issued by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs this morning regarding the Kingdom's rejection of Israeli colonialism, calls for displacement and annexation...:
Trump, an American Stalin?
Massive Population Transfers were a Feature of Communist Dictatorship Juan Cole 02/06/2025
Trump’s proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its 2.3 million Palestinians constitutes a profound reversal of post-1945 U.S. norms, which condemned such mass relocations of indigenous populations. It is the sort of thing Soviet dictator Josef Stalin used to do, and Trump has to decide if he wants his legacy to be that of an American Stalin.
During his first term, President Trump’s own diplomatic representative to the 57-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Chargé d’Affaires Harry Kamian, denounced Stalin for having forcibly transferred 230,000 indigenous Tatars from Crimea in 1944-47 to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Kamian said, “seventy-five years ago, over 230,000 Crimean Tatars suffered a terrible fate, when, on May 18, 1944, the Soviet government ordered their mass deportation from their Crimean homeland to Soviet Central Asia. Thousands of families were forcibly separated. Nearly half of those deported between 1944 and 1947 perished. This was part of a larger program of deportations within the Soviet Union.”
The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, to which the United States is a signatory, is pretty plain on the matter: “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”
Of course in the 19th century the US had been guilty of horrible such crimes against Native Americans. But after WW II a chastened Greatest Generation attempted to craft new and better norms for the post-war world, norms that we are now betraying most foully.
In short, that language was intended to forestall the tactics used by Nazis and other powers during WW II from being implemented again in the future by members of the United Nations. But I guess avoiding acting like Nazis or Stalinists is no longer an American value nowadays.
I grew up in an America full of revulsion for Stalinism, and even the few Communists I ever met were critics of it. Now, we have a new American Stalinism, as dismissive of individual and collective rights and liberties as Uncle Joe had been....
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) for targeting the United States and its ally Israel.
The order places financial and visa sanctions on unnamed individuals and their family members who assist in ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies.
The order comes after a visit to the White House by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the ICC over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza since October 2023. In the executive order, Trump wrote that the ICC "has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel," citing the arrest warrants issued in November for Netanyahu and his then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
"The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC," the order read.
The European Union has vowed to support the court: "The executive order could represent a serious challenge to the work of the ICC with the risks of affecting ongoing investigations and proceedings, including as regards Ukraine, impacting years of efforts to ensure accountability around the world," an EU spokesperson told Middle East Eye. Adam Keith, Director for Accountability at Human Rights First and former State Department official, denounced the order, saying: “This is an appalling misuse of sanctions and an affront to the survivors of war crimes around the world." “None of the ICC’s officials or the witnesses who have engaged with it should face sanctions for investigating war crimes, and US citizens, companies, and close allies should not have to risk fines or criminal charges for supporting the court's essential work," he told MEE.
In a short reaction on Friday, the ICC condemned the order as an attempt to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work.”
“The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all Situations before it,” a statement by the court read.
Turkey has taken complete charge of the situation in Syria following the downfall of former president Bashar al-Assad.
According to a well-informed source, who spoke to TAC on condition of anonymity, Turkey has become the ultimate decision-maker in Damascus. The source says that Turkish intelligence has effectively established a major hub in the heart of the Syrian capital, where it is overseeing and even intervening in the daily functions of the post-Assad Syrian state.
“The fourth floor of the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus is now in the hands of the Turkish intelligence,” he said. “They have transformed it into a major base for them in Damascus”.
Turkish agents, the source explained, were even involved in the day to day activities of president Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abou Mohammad al-Jolani, who had previously led the Al Qaeda–affiliated Nusra Front and has close ties with Turkey.
“Meetings with any foreign official or even Syrian figures from Jolani’s government take place upon the approval of Turkish intelligence officers; they play a direct role in planning and organizing meetings and talks between Jolani and domestic and foreign parties,” the source said.
What is most worrisome from a Western standpoint is that Ankara—as per the source—is also employing the services of extremists, some of whom were previously affiliated with ISIS: “A large number of Syrian and non-Syrian Takfiris [a term commonly used when describing Salafi-Jihadi groups like ISIS] have been transferred to Damascus by Turkish officers to help the Turks.”
These elements, the source explained, include “those who have a history as members of ISIS” and are being used to “take control of Damascus.”
That Turkey would employ former ISIS members is plausible; Ankara has flirted with the terrorist group in the past. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is said to have given his personal approval to seek the assistance of former militants from the terror organization against Syrian Kurds. Turkey’s border with Syria served as effectively a state-sanctioned transit route for those seeking to join the ranks of ISIS.
Flashback 2017: Salame talks to Security Council about Libya
At a time when official figures suggest that Libya is doubling its oil revenues, shocking statistics and figures are emerging about the rising poverty rate and the number of poor people in the country, raising questions about the fate of oil money and how it is spent in light of rivalry between two authorities, one based in the west and the other in the east. Abdul Hamid al-Fadhil., a professor of economics at Misrata University, revealed that poverty in Libya now affects 32.5 percent of the population.
A study in the Journal of Economics and Business Studies, issued by the Faculty of Economics at Misrata University, stated that the percentage of Libyan families below the poverty line reached 32.5 percent, of which 1.9 percent are below the extreme poverty line.
The National Institution for Human Rights in Libya said that the economic crisis affected the poorest and most needy groups; namely the displaced, the sick, those with limited income, the unemployed and those with retirement pensions and basic solidarity pensions. The Minister of Economy in the Government of National Unity Mohammed al-Huwaij, has officially acknowledged that about 40 percent of Libyans are below the poverty line.
Observers believe that oil and gas revenues go to corruption networks linked to political decision-making centres, warlords, militia leaders who control smuggling routes, monopolies, speculation and major deals.
Where has all this Islamic fundamentalism come from in this modern age? Most of it comes – trained, armed, financed, indoctrinated – from Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria.
During various periods from the 1970s to the present, these four countries had been the most secular, modern, educated, welfare states in the Middle East region.
In their first confirmed contact since Trump's return to the White House, the US president said he had held a "lengthy and highly productive" conversation with the Russian counterpart who ordered the bloody 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The move sparked concerns that Ukraine will be left out of talks on its own fate, after Donald Trump said Kyiv's wish to join NATO was not "practical" -- a key demand of Moscow.
Trump, who has been pushing for a quick end to the nearly three-year war, denied that Ukraine was being excluded from the direct negotiations between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.
"We expect that he'll come here, and I'll go there -- and we're going to meet probably in Saudi Arabia the first time," Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office about his plans to meet Vladimir Putin.
Trump said he expected it to happen "in the not too distant future" and added that Saudi Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- who played a key role in a Russia-US prisoner exchange this week -- would also be involved.
The Kremlin said the call lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours. The two leaders had agreed that the "time has come to work together" and that Putin has invited Trump to Moscow.
The Kremlin's statement said Putin "agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be reached through peace negotiations" but said he wanted to "address the root causes of the conflict," which Russian blames on western influence on Kyiv.
Trump later called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not included on the call with Putin.
Zelensky said afterwards that he had a "meaningful" call with Trump in which he had "shared details" of his talks with Putin. Trump said after the conversation that Zelensky "like President Putin, wants to make PEACE."
Zelensky is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday at the Munich Security Conference, after meeting US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Kyiv on Wednesday.
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