Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raged against Israel in a speech given before a pro-Palestinian rally on Saturday in Istanbul. He said he is preparing to introduce Israel as a “war criminal” on a world stage, at a moment the debate over Gaza continues heating up at the United Nations.
Removing even just one oil refinery might also “send a message” and persuade Iran’s ruling mullahs to rethink their plans.
The Biden administration, it appears, has been funding both sides of two wars: Hamas’s invasion of Israel, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Le seul pays qui pourrait détourner l’Occident de l’Ukraine est Israël. Mais les États-Unis et leurs alliés tombent dans un piège existentiel s’ils pensent qu’une victoire au Proche-Orient sera plus facile à remporter qu’une victoire en Europe.
The atrocities witnessed today in Palestine are the consequence of decades of violent events, tragedies, unfulfilled promises, mushrooming illegal settlements and victimhood. Some acts that were committed contradict our Arab culture, as well as Islamic beliefs and values, and resulted in an escalation of violence and misery that brings no gain to anyone – only losses.
Gaza-based Qassam Brigades has been waging an armed resistance against Israeli occupation since its founding in 1992.
Hamas has been in the spotlight since October 7, when its military wing, the Qassam Brigades, launched an attack on Israeli territory, killing about 1,400 people and taking more than 200 people captives.
The current ominous lull might be an indication of a standoff between Israel’s civilian leadership and the military.
Nearly three weeks after the Hamas attacks in southern Israel, Israel has not yet responded with its promised ground invasion.
La réalité de la nécessité de la guerre pénètre largement la conscience du monde arabe et islamique.
Tom Friedman a lancé un terrible avertissement dans le New York Times jeudi dernier :
«Je pense que si Israël se précipite maintenant [unilatéralement] à Gaza pour détruire le Hamas, il commettra une grave erreur qui sera dévastatrice pour les intérêts israéliens et américains».
Les juifs, en tant que groupe ethnique, sont plutôt pacifiques et non violents. Ils sont essentiellement des Gitans alphabétisés et éduqués. Comme les Tsiganes, ils se trouvent rarement en grandes concentrations mais sont diffus au sein d’une population non juive, qu’ils appellent «goyim» (alors que les Tsiganes appellent les non-Tsiganes «gadje»). Comme les Tsiganes, ils s’intègrent aux non-juifs en leur fournissant divers services : les Tsiganes se concentrent sur la divination, les spectacles musicaux et diverses sortes de travaux manuels, qu’ils effectuent dans le cadre de communautés de travail et contre de l’argent ; les juifs, quant à eux, ont tendance à être avocats, médecins, dentistes, banquiers et ainsi de suite.
Interviews with faction leaders reveal anger with Hamas over starting a unilateral conflict, but also a determination to get involved if Hezbollah greenlights such a move and Israel invades Gaza.
Iranian-backed Iraqi armed factions are unlikely to participate directly in the Israel-Hamas war as long as it is solely led by the Palestinian militant group, amid a split in the decision to target US military bases in Iraq and Syria among these same factions, commanders of Iranian-backed armed groups told Al-Monitor.
Key points
After 12 years of civil war, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government has consolidated its power and defeated credible threats to its rule. The anti-Assad armed opposition, which once controlled half of Syria, is relegated to the northwestern province of Idlib.
While the Biden administration recognizes that Assad will likely remain in office, U.S. policy remains punitive, maintaining comprehensive sanctions on Syria until Assad negotiates political reforms with his opponents and agrees to free and fair elections.
This policy will not produce the desired results. Assad is firmly entrenched, benefits from the help of security partners in Iran and Russia, who prefer that he stays in power, and remains highly unlikely to comply with U.S. demands. The status quo amounts to collective punishment of the Syrian population.
Approximately 900 U.S. troops remain in eastern Syria, allegedly to train and advise the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS. But ISIS lost its territorial caliphate more than four years ago. The risk of keeping U.S. forces there in perpetuity which includes sporadic attacks on U.S. positions and escalation risks with various actors, outweighs any rewards.
Neither the sanctions nor the occupation of eastern Syria serves U.S. security interests. The former does no good, and the latter risks embroiling the United States in a mission without an end date.
The United States should withdraw its remaining forces and offload what is left of the counter-ISIS mission to local actors. The United States should also reduce if not end its failing sanctions regime.