“Palestinians don’t exist.” (https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/03/paris-israels-smotrich-says-palestinian-people-dont-exist-calls-them-fictitious) This was the recent statement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that made shocked headlines around the world. And, of course, he meant it as an affirmation of Jewish nationalism, the right of Israeli Jews to dispose of all Palestinians from the Jordan to the Sea. Sounds kind of like the Nazis, no?
The Russia-Ukraine war is unlikely to end on the battlefield and will instead come to a conclusion at a negotiating table, predicts a top U.S. general.
A Business Insider report — Top U.S. general says it will be really hard and cost a lot of ‘blood and treasure’ for Ukraine to ‘kick out every single Russian’ invader, March 21, 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/costs-ukraine-blood-treasure-kick-russia-invaders-out-us-general-2023-3 — said:
U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines because he was unhappy with the level of support provided by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed.
A review of the 10 countries that yielded the most individuals affiliated with ISIS found varying levels of commitment to repatriation and prosecution.
In the two years since the self-declared Islamic State lost its last physical stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, thousands of ISIS foreign fighters, along with their wives and children, have remained in limbo, mostly in Iraqi custody or in Kurdish detention camps in northeastern Syria.
Introduction: The Islamic State’s Sahelian Affiliate
The Islamic State Sahel Province (IS Sahel) is a salafi-jihadist militant group and the Sahelian affiliate of the transnational Islamic State (IS) organization. It is primarily active in the border areas between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger — known as the tri-state border area, or Liptako-Gourma — but it has also engaged in sporadic activity in Algeria, Benin, and Nigeria. The group’s composition reflects the social fabric in the areas where it is active. Its members belong to the Fulani, Arab, Tuareg, Dawsahak, Songhai, and Djerma ethnic groups, although its core leadership was historically composed of Western Saharan militants.
The Indian government is in touch with Oman after reports of the Gulf nation hosting the controversial “fugitive” preacher Zakir Naik, an external affairs ministry spokesperson said on Friday.
“Zakir Naik is an accused in numerous cases in India. He’s a fugitive from justice. We have taken up the matter with the Government of Oman, with Oman authorities and we will continue to take all necessary measures to bring him to face justice in India,” ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during a weekly media briefing.
Serbia is negotiating with partners from Azerbaijan on the amount and prices of gas that will be received through the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnection, the Ministry of Mining and Energy confirmed for Demostat .
The US military said it struck Iranian-affiliated targets in eastern Syria in response to an earlier drone attack.
The US military sustained a rocket attack on a compound in Syria on Friday following the airstrikes that Washington launched on Thursday in the war-ravaged country. The US strikes came in response to an “Iranian origin” drone assault that killed one US contractor.
President Joe Biden on Friday warned Iran that the United States would “act forcefully” to protect Americans, after the U.S. military carried out air strikes against Iran-backed forces in retaliation for an attack in Syria.
Visits to Oman and the UAE in recent weeks mark another step in the Syrian president’s rehabilitation within the region, and the weakening of Western influence.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received red carpet treatment on his second official visit to Abu Dhabi on March 19, a week after he had visited Oman, showing that his isolation on the Arab stage may come to an end. Though the process began with humanitarian aid after the devastating February earthquakes that struck the northwest region, the Assad case is but a symptom of much deeper change in the Middle East.