Orientul Mijlociu

Syria Today – Israeli Strikes on Damascus; Iran Denies Reducing Forces in Syria

Two Israeli airstrikes struck Damascus and its suburb Qudsaya on Thursday, killing at least 15 people and injuring 16, as reported by AP via SANA, coinciding with Iranian official Ali Larijani’s visit to the capital. Israel stated the strikes targeted Islamic Jihad’s infrastructure, allegedly involved in recent conflicts with Israel. These airstrikes reflect escalating tensions, especially given the Syrian regime’s claims of civilian casualties and property damage in Mazzeh and Qudsaya. Meanwhile, Syria TV and SANA reported further Israeli operations on Hezbollah’s smuggling routes in Al-Qusayr, impacting supply chains into Lebanon and emphasizing Israel’s broader campaign against Iranian influence in Syria. Iran, denying reports of force reductions in Syria, reaffirmed its presence through senior advisor Ali Asghar Haji. This came after Russia’s envoy Alexander Lavrentiev clarified that Moscow opposes Israeli actions in Syria and denied the use of Russia’s Khmeimim base for weapons transit to Hezbollah. The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington published a report highlighting U.S.-led sanctions’ unintended effects, reinforcing Iran’s foothold in Syria and increasing Gulf-U.S. policy divergences. The report outlines regional frustration over sanctions that have deepened Syria’s economic crisis without shifting political conditions. In a separate development, CNN reported UN concerns over Israel’s activities along the Golan Heights buffer zone, where IDF excavation has breached a demilitarized area. The UN’s warning underscores the risks these operations pose to the longstanding ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Syria, maintained since 1974.

The Hamas-Hezbollah-Iran-UN Axis Of Evil – OpEd

Incredibly few Palestinian civilian casualties in Israel’s war of survival – yet only Israel is condemned

On October 7, 2023, Hamas butchered 1,200 innocent people, maimed 5,400, kidnapped 250, and drove tens of thousands out of southern Israeli towns. The next day, to show solidarity with Hamas, Hezbollah began launching rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel, driving 80,000 from their homes.

Britain’s secret defence plan with Israel

The UK secretly developed a defence plan with Israel, Declassified can reveal.

According to leaked documents, the British project was codenamed HEZUK and designed to counter the “destabilising regional activity of Iran and Hizballah”.

Galant’s dismissal and changes in the management of the war

The dismissal of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant came at a delicate time, coinciding with polling day in the US elections, between the supposed end of the war in the Gaza Strip and the beginning of another war in Lebanon, and after the security leaks crisis that toppled officials from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

An Old Lebanese Habit

As with Lebanon’s other sects, has Hezbollah’s hubris brought devastating sectarian nemesis?

One of the questions emerging from the war in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel is what lessons this can provide for sectarian relations in the country. The reason is that what we are witnessing today, we have seen before during the 1970s and 1980s.

Israel’s Smotrich calls for annexation of occupied West Bank: What we know

Israeli far-right minister and long-time supporter of Israeli settlements Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that he had ordered preparations for an Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that Donald Trump’s election opens up an opportunity for an Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank and that he has already ordered his department to prepare for this annexation.

In a press conference before a meeting of his Religious Zionism Party in the Knesset, Smotrich said that “the time has come to apply [Israeli] sovereignty to the settlements in Judea and Samaria (the biblical term by which some Israelis refer to the occupied West Bank).”

Smotrich is the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism Party and — per a February 2023 agreement with former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — maintains a ministerial role in Israel’s Defense Ministry, in which he has significant authority over the Civil Administration and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, effectively supervising Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

2025: The year of the West Bank

“The year 2025 will be the year of sovereignty in the West Bank. I have instructed the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration to begin comprehensive, professional groundwork to prepare the necessary infrastructure for applying sovereignty,” he said.

In late October, Smotrich made similar comments regarding Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza to show “the entire world that a Palestinian state will not be established.” He added that Palestinians should retain limited, local self-rule “devoid of national characteristics.”

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, while roughly 3.3 million Palestinians live there. The international community considers the settlements illegal, in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and several other UN resolutions.

Smotrich praised Trump’s first term as US president and said that it resulted in positive developments for Israel, referencing the transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of the annexed Syrian Golan Heights as Israeli territory, and the administration’s declaration that Israeli West Bank settlements were not inconsistent with international law. Smotrich added that the US’ current Biden administration “unfortunately chose to intervene in Israeli democracy and personally not to cooperate with me.”

“I have no doubt that President Trump, who showed courage and determination in his decisions in the first term, will support the State of Israel in this move.”

Smotrich, a far-right nationalist, said that the “only way to remove” the “threat” of a Palestinian state “is to apply Israeli sovereignty over the entire settlements in Judea and Samaria.”

“The new Nazis have to pay a price in the territory that will be taken from them forever both in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank),” Smotrich said, presumably referring to Hamas.

Smotrich regularly makes extremist and inflammatory comments. In August, Smotrich — referencing the ongoing war in Gaza — said that “no one in the world will allow us to starve 2 million people [in Gaza], even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages,” referencing Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas for over a year. On another occasion in March 2023, he called on Israel to “erase” the Palestinian village of Hawara, and later that month he said that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.”

During Trump’s first term in office, Israel formulated a plan to annex Area C of the West Bank — which is one of three regions established under the 1993 and 1995 Oslo Accords — yet the plans never materialized. Area C of the West Bank is already wholly under the control of the Israeli military and makes up roughly 60% of West Bank territory. In Areas A and B, respectively, constituting 18% and 21% of the territory, the Palestinian Authority has limited governing authority, as external security affairs are still run by the Israeli military.

Israel’s new foreign minister, Gideon Saar, was asked in a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday about Smotrich’s remarks. “A decision has not been made on the issue,” he replied. “The last time we discussed this issue (on the annexation of the West Bank) was during the first term of President Trump … and so let’s say that if it will be relevant, it will be discussed again also with our friends in Washington.”

Condemnations

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned Smotrich’s comments, saying that plan to annex the West Bank would serve as an enforcement of Israel’s “racist expansion strategy.”

Rudeineh also said that the plan “defies the international community and its resolutions, particularly the United Nations General Assembly resolution concerning enforcing the International Court of Justice’s decision.”

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced Smotrich’s statement in a Monday release, saying that it “condemns in the strongest terms the racist, provocative and extremist statements made by the extremist Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich.” Smotrich’s call for annexation, the ministry said, is “in flagrant violation of international law and the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent sovereign state.”

Iran Update, November 12, 2024

Newly-appointed Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reaffirmed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will continue its operation in Lebanon until it accomplishes its mission.[i] Katz made these comments during a meeting with the IDF General Staff. Katz replaced Yoav Gallant as defense minister on November 8 and was formerly foreign minister.[ii] Katz affirmed that Israel would “continue to hit Hezbollah with full force” to capitalize on past successes like the killing of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and “realize the fruits of victory.”[iii] He stressed that Israel would not agree to any ceasefire agreement that does not “guarantee Israel’s right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own,” in addition to other war aims of disarming Hezbollah, forcing a Hezbollah withdrawal north of the Litani River, and returning northern Israeli residents safely home.[iv] Katz’s vision is largely consistent with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said that Israel needs to push Hezbollah north of the Litani River “with or without an agreement” and that any agreement must include measures to prevent Hezbollah’s reorganization and rearmament.[v]

Turkey’s role in the European defense pillar

Despite calls for Europe to play a bigger role in transatlantic security, Brussels has been reluctant to embrace NATO ally Turkey as a closer partner in its defense.

Two major disruptions are now reshaping the European security paradigm. First, Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine shattered the prevailing wisdom of the 1990s that confrontation in Europe was a thing of the past and that peace was the new normal. Quite the opposite: war is back on the continent.

Understanding Türkiye’s Entanglement With Russia

As the transatlantic allies adapt to Europe’s new geopolitical realities, maintaining unity against Russia will be critical. Türkiye will have a pivotal role to play in this long-term effort.

During the Cold War, Türkiye presented itself as the steadfast guardian of Europe’s southern flank against the Soviet threat. It stood in lockstep with its Western allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and few, if any, questioned Ankara’s foreign policy trajectory or its commitment to NATO.