Author: M Barbu

It’s killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. And its future lies in its past. We break it down.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced many millions of people and has its roots in a colonial act carried out more than a century ago.

With Israel declaring war on the Gaza Strip after an unprecedented attack by the armed Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday, the world’s eyes are again sharply focused on what might come next.

What is the Dahiya Doctrine?

The Dahiya Doctrine is an Israeli military doctrine that calls for the use of massive, disproportionate force and the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The New Arab looks into the accusations that Israel has used depleted uranium, as well as what the substance is and why it’s so dangerous.

Israel has been accused of using bombs containing depleted uranium in its bombardment of Lebanon.

“The extent of destruction and the penetration of buildings and ground by dozens of meters is evidence of the use of bombs containing depleted uranium, which has tremendous penetrating power,” the Syndicate of Chemists in Lebanon (SCL) said in a statement released on Monday.

Repeating its strategy of the 2006 summer war, Israel has already flattened wide areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs and elsewhere in Lebanon

Swathes of Beirut’s southern suburbs have been reduced to rubble because of the Israeli military’s near-daily bombardment of the area.

Iran appeared to be taking preparations in anticipation of a potential Israeli strike on its oil facilities, despite US warnings to Israel regarding this.

Iran is anticipating an Israeli attack after it launched ballistic missiles against Israel earlier this month, and appears to be taking steps in preparation for this, notably at its oil facilities.

Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal said the Palestinian group would rise “like a phoenix” from the ashes despite heavy losses during a year of war with Israel, and that it continues to recruit fighters and manufacture weapons, Reuters reported.

One year after the Hamas attack that triggered the war, Meshaal framed the conflict with Israel as part of a broader narrative spanning 76 years, dating back to what Palestinians call the “Nakba” or “catastrophe,” when many were displaced during the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel.

Hamas political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh thanks the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Aal-Thani, for his country’s support for Hamas. (Source: qudspress.com)

For decades, Qatar has, directly or indirectly, provided economic and political support for all the extremist Islamic terror organizations: the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, and even ISIS-linked groups. Muslim Brotherhood leader Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, one of the leading Islamic jurists who was known for his extreme antisemitism and his justification of the annihilation of the Jews in the Holocaust, operated for many years in Qatar, under the state’s protection. Qatar also sheltered leaders of other jihad organizations. Its education system is saturated with preaching to jihad and suicide attacks. Its state-run media, the Al-Jazeer channel, is rife with antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The destabilizing actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its armed proxy groups, known as the Axis of Resistance, threaten vital US interests in the Middle East and beyond, ranging from the security and stability of US allies to the free flow of energy and maritime commerce—and deterring Iran from becoming a nuclear-weapons state requires urgent attention. How the United States should approach Iran will remain one of Washington’s primary foreign policy challenges for years to come. This report aims to provide a comprehensive strategic plan that can guide US executive branch leadership, members of Congress, the military, diplomats, and others who have roles in shaping US foreign policy toward Iran for the next four years, with an eye toward the next two decades.

Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, said in an October 5, 2024 interview on Channel 1 (Iran) that Israel will not back down unless it is faced with force and power, therefore, he suggested that it is time to increase Iran’s military deterrence. He said that Iran’s solution for a Palestinian state is a referendum with the participation of the Palestinian refugees, and this will “ultimately wipe out Israel.”