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Russia making military advances as Ukraine insists on “Christmas” propaganda while refusing to negotiate

By Uriel Araujo | December 28, 2024

A recent Newsweek story comments on the advances Russia has made across the border of the Moscow-controlled land, in the towns of Velyka Novosilka, Pokrovsk, Shevchenko, and Vuhledar, as reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think-tank. Russian forces took Dachenske around December 22, and, the next day, made advances in Novovasylivka and Ukrainka, which reportedly was seized on the 24th.

Russian strikes have been badly damaging the Ukrainian power grid, a problem which, as I wrote, is aggravated by Ukrainian corruption, which has been destroying its energy infrastructure. Besides that, we know there is an ongoing battle over numbers in Ukraine, with Zelensky disputing Western intelligence agencies death figures for Ukrainians amid a conscription crisis.

On December 24 Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko stated that Moscow is ready to seek some degree of compromise in negotiations with Ukraine, but that it will adhere strictly to the conditions laid out during the March 2022 Istanbul talks. The Istanbul talks, she added, “laid the very foundation, the basis of our approaches.” Earlier this month, the press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia is seeking not just a truce (in Ukraine) but rather peace – which can come “after our conditions are met.”

The Istanbul negotiations were of course the talks that “could have ended the war in Ukraine”, according to Samuel Charp (RAND Corporation scholar) and Sergey Radchenko (a Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Europe). The treaty being discussed back then would have declared Ukraine to remain a neutral state, and would put an end to NATO membership plans. We now know that by April 2022 those very negotiations were making a lot of progress when both the UK and the US pressured Zelensky into abandoning them, which he did, thereby aborting what could have been a successful peace plan.

The Western media in general has made so much about Christmas having “not prevented” Russia from continuing its aforementioned advances that it is worth delving into this issue, for it reveals other less mentioned aspects of the crisis. Biden, for one, has condemned an “outrageous” Christmas attack, and Zelensky talked about timing having been a “conscious decision” by Moscow. Such statements are part of a war of narratives, of course. Just two days earlier Ukraine struck residential buildings in a major drone attack in the Russian city of Kazan. In addition, recently, Ukraine intelligence services have admitted to being behind the terrorist attack that killed senior Russian General Igor Kirillov, by means of a bomb blast in a residential area in Moscow.

Still on the Christmas angle, most Westerns do not realize this, but it should be noted that in the predominantly Christian Orthodox Eastern Slavic world, Christmas is celebrated not on December 25 but rather on January 7. This is due to them adopting the Julian calendar for liturgical purposes rather than the Western Gregorian calendar: December 25 thus falls around two weeks later. This is so despite most Orthodox Slavic countries employing, outside of church cycles, the “international” Gregorian calendar for everyday civic life.

In fact, last year (2024) was the very first time Ukraine celebrated Christmas according to the Western Gregorian calendar, that is, on December 25, at least officially. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky changed the law in July of that same year, so as to further “abandon Russian heritage” – which does not make much sense, since the Julian calendar is also traditionally used by the Orthodox Churches in Greece, Romania, the Levant and most of Eastern Europe. In other words, the official holiday in Ukraine used to coincide with the date as observed in the Church.

Today, in practice, most Ukrainians just anticipate the Christmas commemorations, making it last until January 7 (which is December 25 on the Julian calendar). In his Christmas message last year, Zelensky said that (now for the first time) “we all celebrate Christmas together. On the same date… as one nation.” This is clearly a state attempt to interfere in religious life, as part of a cultural westernization campaign.

In line with that same spirit, the newly created independent church called the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) also changed its Christmas date to December 25 (of the Western Gregorian calendar). The OCU is a partially recognized Eastern Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which came into being (as an “autocephalous”, that is, independent church) in 2019.

The traditional Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) has been banned by the Ukrainian government, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations.” Even the US Commission on International Religious Freedom expressed its concern about the measure, with US Ambassador saying on 7 October that the US is concerned by the law’s potential to collectively punish entire religious communities which is rather ironic considering the role played by the US in the whole “autocephaly affair” from the beginning, the topic being a divisive issue within the Orthodox world.

The UOC, one of the largest denominations in the country, has indeed been the target of a crackdown, with holy sites having been seized (even years before 2022) and clergymen being judicially harassed. This is part of the very civil rights issue which relegates Russian minorities to “second class” status, according to Nicolai N. Petro, a professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island. All of that is hardly surprising considering the fact that neo-Nazism and the far-right have played a large part in the (US-backed) 2014 Maidan ultra-nationalist revolution in Ukraine. They still are major players in shaping national politics to this day, which often causes diplomatic problems with neighboring Poland.

The way the narrative about these issues is often pushed forward in the West (simply omitting the facts I mentioned above) can hardly be described as anything other than Western propaganda war and that pretty much is the case with regards to the Russian advances “on Christmas”.

Be it “on Christmas” or not, the fact is that a Ukrainian military victory remains a scenario outside of the realm of realistic options as Russia keeps on making further advances. When such is the case, peace talks and cease-fire talks must follow, for humanitarian reasons and out of pragmatic realistic decision-making. While the aforementioned civil rights issue (including religious persecution and the campaign against Orthodox churches) plus the matter of NATO expansion remain out of the subject of any talks, there will hardly be any progress in the political and diplomatic sphere.

Uriel Araujo, PhD is an anthropology researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts.

December 28, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

IOF storm Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, set fire to premises

Israel detonated explosive-laden robots, destroyed hospital facilities

Al Mayadeen | December 27, 2024

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) conducted Friday a harrowing assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, setting five of its sections on fire after raiding it, abducting patients and medical staff, and forcing them to strip.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the fire had begun spreading to all buildings of the hospital, adding that the occupation forces burned the operations and surgery sections, as well as the laboratory, maintenance, and emergency units.

In an alarming escalation, the IOF launched an airstrike in the vicinity of the hospital, after storming its premises and forcibly displacing 300 patients. Many of these patients, who were dependent on life-saving medical devices, were left in the open, exposed to the harsh cold, further endangering their fragile health.

IOF also thoroughly searched the patients and medical staff, adding to the trauma.

After forcibly displacing the patients and hospital staff, the IOF abducted the patients, along with residents from surrounding areas, and gathered them in the yard of al-Fakhoura School amid harsh weather conditions.

The move has been condemned as a grave violation of international humanitarian law, highlighting the Israeli military’s disregard for the sanctity of medical facilities and the welfare of the vulnerable in Gaza.

Inevitable fate of northern Gaza people will be death

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Gaza noted that with the targeting of Kamal Adwan Hospital, all hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip have gone out of service.

On his part, the director of hospitals in the Gaza Strip underlined that “the free world must intervene immediately to stop the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip,” pointing out that medical staff are being subjected to abuse by Israeli forces in various hospitals across the strip that they are storming.

The suspension of services at Kamal Adwan Hospital deprives the people of northern Gaza of medical care, the director said, warning that under the current situation, the inevitable fate of the people in the area will be death.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, received a clear threat from the occupation that he will be arrested this time.

Hamas condemns the attack as a war crime

In response to the latest Israeli assault, Hamas condemned the actions as a “war crime” added to a growing list of atrocities committed by “Israel” against the Palestinian people. The group slammed the international community for its continued inaction on protecting civilians and medical facilities.

It further accused the US of complicity in the ongoing aggression, calling the Israeli military’s actions “Zionist war crimes” committed amid global silence.

The movement held the Israeli occupation and the US administration fully responsible for the lives of patients, the injured, and the medical staff working in the hospital. This follows their complete isolation from means of communication and reports of abuse, the arrest of several individuals, and their transfer to an unknown location.

Hamas urged the international community, including the United Nations, to break its silence and take immediate action to halt the Israeli ongoing genocide in Gaza. The group called for measures to ensure accountability for the Israeli entity’s atrocities, demanding that Israeli officials face justice for their crimes against humanity.

IOF target al-Awda Hospital with direct gunfire

In yet another attack on hospitals in Gaza, IOF fired on the al-Awda Hospital and its surrounding areas in northern Gaza earlier today. The bombardment followed the detonation of a remote-controlled explosive device near the facility in the early morning hours.

Concurrently, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has confirmed the death of Dr. Ahmed al-Zaharneh, a physician at the European Gaza Hospital, who passed away due to the extremely cold conditions in Gaza, with his body discovered in his tent in the Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Over 10 Palestinians killed in ongoing Israeli airstrikes

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that more than 10 Palestinians have been killed, with at least 30 others injured, most of them women and children, in a series of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since the early hours of Friday morning, amid intensified attacks on the northern part of the Strip.

Among the targeted areas was the Halawah land in Jabalia al-Balad, northern Gaza, where several Palestinians were injured. Additionally, Israeli forces targeted a home in the al-Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, killing five Palestinians and injuring three others.

In the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, another home was hit. However, Civil Defense teams were unable to reach the site to rescue the injured, as the occupation had previously and categorically refused any coordination with the Red Cross.

The scale of destruction and loss of life continues to escalate as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens, with medical and civilian facilities increasingly under attack.

December 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | 2 Comments

In America It’s Another Week to be Proud of!

By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • December 26, 2024

Something good happened in Washington last week, suggesting that the year might actually end on a high note without Joe Biden starting World War 3 and opening up all the country’s prisons for the on-the-street rehabilitation of the inmates where they will undoubtedly learn new skills. The good thing was the signing by Biden of a bill, perhaps with a little bit of help from his friends to make sure he spelled his name correctly, to make the Bald Eagle the official bird of the United States of America. The Eagle has been around the American Republic virtually since its foundation, appearing on the Great Seal and on various documents and even on currency, but it has never been officially dubbed the national bird.

All honor of place is due to the great bald eagle, but one might recall that Benjamin Franklin once suggested that the best choice for the national bird would be the wild turkey. And Biden still has time for mischief, including possibly ennobling turkeys or even the issuance of a pardon to himself for ignoring the United States Constitution for four years. And Joe might well choose to go preemptive by pardoning Hillary Clinton for all those classified emails and other documents that somehow disappeared from her home and office ten years ago. But apart from that, it is somehow reassuring to be able to keep repeating “only three more weeks of Biden and Harris” even though the potential for more damage to the Bill of Rights remains enormous.

Joe is well remembered for his open borders invitation which has produced huge crowds of happy American voters who were clearly not delighted to share the burden of millions of uneducated and unskilled foreigners who have demonstrated their ability to burn to death women sleeping on subway trains in New York City just to see what a flaming human body looks like. Oh, and the new Americans have to be housed and fed by the existing population as the process grinds on, but that is what the Democrats running nearly all the major US cities have come to expect from a cowed population that now understands that opposing government policies puts one on the FBI enemies list.

Joe and his stalwart band of liars have also connived in pulling together two wars in which the United States had no actual interest, arming and funding both Ukraine and Israel. Israel has said thank you by adroitly engaging in genocide against the Palestinian people while Kiev is somewhat clumsily occupied in trying to draw the US and NATO into open warfare against Russia, which would become a nuclear World War 3, so there is still time Joe! And then there is the new war going on in Syria where the US armed and trained militias are fighting similarly armed and trained militias controlled by the Turks, who are poised to divide what once was a place called Syria with the Israelis. The Zionists have for many years been planning to exterminate Lebanese and Syrians as well as Palestinians to create a Greater Israel.

But Joe and his buddies apparently are not satisfied with having started two wars when there are so many other places that need a stern dose of the old “rules based international order” to get their houses in order. China is number one on the list as it is outperforming the United States and the Europeans economically. And one can always use the excuse that it is threatening good old Taiwan to crank up a shooting war. And then there is Iran, everyone’s favorite when it comes to “who is next on the list?” Israel has eliminated Hezbollah and Syria, with US connivance and approval, to open the door to destroying the Iranian non-existent nuclear weapons program. Both Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been openly discussing that option as it would mean bombing Iran’s military bases as well as its technical research facilities. Donald Trump has been involved in similar discussions with Netanyahu.

How the attacks on Iran might play out is interesting to contemplate and might follow something like the model of what happed to Syria. Recent reports indicate that something unexpected took place during an Israeli bombing attack directed against a Syrian strategic military site located near the city of Tartus. Israel has been bombing Syria constantly since the government of Bashar al-Assad fell and it has particularly targeted any sites or weapons warehouses that the new government can use to defend itself or establish its territorial integrity. The bombing in question used what many suspect to be a tactical nuclear weapon in an effort to completely obliviate the Syrian military installation that houses scud surface-to-surface missiles among other high-level ordnance. A huge explosion was noted on seismographs located five hundred miles away, as far as Iznik in Turkey. The blast might have been caused by the detonation of the many weapons stored in the facility, but the suspicion grows that Israel, protected as always by Washington even when it commits mass murder or defies international conventions on banned weapons, continues to believe that it can do and get away with anything.

Even if Biden does not open any new doors to further deploy the US military, there is considerable danger that he will succeed in locking new President Donald Trump in the conflicts currently going on. Trump is not averse to using force when it is what he considers the best option. He has lately said some ridiculous things, arguing that the United States considers the “ownership and control of Greenland” to be an “absolute necessity” for maintaining American “national security” and “freedom throughout the world.” This has naturally riled the people who actually live in Greenland who now are wondering how they are blocking freedom globally.

The statement on Greenland came after Trump in a conversation at Mar-a-Lago demoted Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada by giving him the title of “Governor”, calling Canada the 51st State of the United States “union,” which would “save on taxes and military protection.” Trump also has threatened to take over the Panama Canal and tweeted “we’ll see about that!” in response to the President of Panama’s declaration that every inch of the Panama Canal belongs to Panama. Trump then posted up a graphic on his website featuring “Welcome to the United States Canal!” above a picture of the American flag flying over a lock in the Panama Canal. Trump has also allegedly privately considered invading Mexico in order to combat the drug cartels on the US border and using American soldiers to block illegal immigrants seeking to cross.

Trump’s ignorance over who is doing what in the Middle East is astonishing but largely derives from his own personal and family attachment to Zionism and more particularly to his reliance on billionaire Jewish donors. The serial appointments of pro-Israel nominees to the key cabinet posts where decisions impacting Israel will be made for the next four years both will shape policy and guarantee that Trump stays on track with Israel, just as Joe Biden did when surrounded by his own Jewish neocons. Trump has already vowed that there will be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if the remaining Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip are not released by his January 20th inauguration.

Likewise, Israeli government officials, including Netanyahu, cannot wait for current Secretary of State Antony Blinken to be replaced by Florida congressman Marco Rubio. Blinken has been a complete tool of Israel but he projects a certain timidity. Rubio shows no such restraint and is very clear on what he believes to be true. He recently called Hamas “animals” and made clear that they are “100% to blame” for everyone killed in Israel and in Gaza during the current war. The moment he assumes control, there will be the “maximum pressure” that Trump often cites on Hamas to surrender or face the consequences. The Trump administration will supply Israel with bunker-busting bombs and whatever else is needed to kill anyone perceived to be an enemy of the Jewish state. Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said, “If you love America, you should love Israel.” He will back that up by delivering on Israel’s military needs as defined by Netanyahu.

So there you go! The old year is ending on both a bang and a whimper. Joe Biden still has plenty of opportunity to raise hell and tie Trump to certain policies, particularly when it comes to continuing “useless” wars. Trump for his part will enter office owned by Israel and led by the nose by his belligerent cabinet. The actual needs and interests of the American people will be, as usual, invisible to the politicians and lost in the shuffle.

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.

December 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , | 1 Comment

Alawites Are Syrians Too

By Peter Ford | 21st Century Wire | December 27, 2024

Alawites in their towns and villages in the Tartous and Lattakia provinces of Syria are being subjected to hideous pogroms under the new Islamist dispensation in Syria. And the world turns its back. The Alawites are just too inconvenient for the emerging preferred narrative.

While Christians, Kurds, Armenians and women have their vocal champions in the West, Alawites have no-one. Abandoned by Asad, the Russians and even the Iranians, the Alawites are all alone.

Historically despised in Syria for poverty, backwardness and ‘superstition’, not accepted until recently even by Shia as fellow Muslims, the Alawites are now anathematised for having allegedly been the backbone of the fallen Assad ruling system.

Ravening wolves descend on Alawite villages

Since Day 1 of the new jihadi era Alawites have been hounded, intimidated, beaten up, killed, mutilated, raped and pillaged. Gangs of gunmen have rounded up surrendering Alawite soldiers for roadside executions. Alawite judges have been murdered. Alawite householders have been expelled from their houses to make way for jihadi families. Thousands have been put to flight into the mountains or across the Lebanese border. Shrines have been desecrated. Armed gangs roam the streets flaunting ISIS and Al Qaida flags.

If any of this gets reported at all in Western or Middle Eastern media it is always alongside claims by the new HTS junta in Damascus that these incidents are aberrations and that perpetrators are being called to order. But they are not. The instances multiply. And how unsurprising is that when the slogan of the so-called Islamist revolution was “Christians to Beirut, Alawites to the grave”? What the world would see if it would just open its eyes is visceral bloody sectarianism. This goes way beyond the score-settling that inevitably occurs when one side wins a conflict. It is in the DNA of the fundamentalist pro tem winners.

Myths about Alawite power

Some of the hatred of Alawites arises from the myth that the Alawites ruled Syria in the Assad era. It is true that the Alawites as a community saw their position in Syrian society improve after the Alawite general Hafez Al Asad became President. Young Alawite men from impoverished families had since the days of the French mandate seen career opportunities in the army when other communities with opportunities in business or elsewhere in the state spurned such careers. A cadre of Alawites made their way up the ladder, culminating in Hafez Al Asad’s coup.

But Alawites never dominated Assadist Syria as much as was alleged. The business sector remained firmly in the hands of Sunnis and Christians. Alawites rarely held key positions in government cabinets. In the army, while a disproportionate segment of officers were Alawites, the top generals were almost always Sunnis. As were most of the rank and file. Alawites held key positions in the security apparatus, but even there the pinnacle was usually occupied by Sunnis.

In their heartlands of coastal Syria Alawite social life was much like that of the related Alevi community just up the coast in Turkey: more liberal, more emancipated than predominantly Sunni areas.

For this, and for their links to Assad, the Alawites are now being punished. Even those links to Assad were often strained: Alawites, perhaps because they were less likely to be accused of disloyalty, were often more vocal in their criticisms of the government and the security services than others. Alawites suffered as much as anybody from the impoverishment brought on by the war and by Western sanctions, blocking of reconstruction and deprivation of the oil and gas in the US/Kurdish area.

Persecution of Alawites doesn’t fit the narrative

Western powers and media look away from the vile torment of the Alawites. They can hardly disguise their glee at having had their Christmas come early with the toppling of Assad and the discomfiture of Russia and Iran. They prefer to revel in the new genre of ‘Assad porn’: stories, rarely fact-checked, of mass burials of political prisoners (mostly war dead, in fact), increasingly sensational claims about the notorious Sednaya Prison, as well as fake prisoners stumbling out of torture chambers, ‘liberated’ by CNN star reporters, and of course – chemical weapons somehow not quite yet found etc, etc.

Western governments and UN agencies lose all dignity rushing to kiss the feet of the erstwhile terrorist now moderate new Sultan of Damascus. They mouthe platitudes about the need for ‘inclusion’ as though all that was at stake was a corporations’ DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) score, rather than very lives of terrified Alawites and others, just over the hill. They want to lift sanctions and get on with cementing the new regime into the Western system. Human rights come way down the list of priorities now that the West has what it wants.

The new Badlands

But the Alawites are brave. They are fighting back. They are resisting the Islamist gangs who come to confiscate their weapons, without which they and their families fear they will be butchered. And how is this presented in the media? Ah, these are ‘Assadist forces’.

Well let me tell you this. The new jihadi overlords may rule but they will not have control in areas like the Alawite and Kurdish heartlands, where they fail to respect communities and try to impose their jihadi system out of the barrel of a gun. These will be the jihadis’ Badlands, just as the Eastern areas bordering Iraq were the ISIS-spawning Badlands for the Assad government.

Author Peter Ford is a geopolitical and global affairs analyst, and former British Ambassador to Syria (2003-2006) and Bahrain (1999-2002). See more of Peter’s work here.

December 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Convicted US spy worked on ‘genetic screening’ of Russians – FSB

RT | December 27, 2024

US national Eugene ‘Gene’ Spector, who was found guilty of espionage earlier this week, had been collecting “biomedical” data in the country, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said. The authorities believe these materials could have been used by the US government to develop a genetic screening system for analyzing Russia’s population.

Over the past several years, there have been a number of high-profile cases in which Russian security services have accused American citizens of espionage. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Moscow and Western nations have also increasingly expelled each other’s diplomats, claiming they are spies.

In a press release on Friday, the FSB alleged that the “American national, acting in the interest of the Pentagon and a commercial organization affiliated with it, gathered and handed over to a foreign party various biotechnological and biomedical data, including classified materials, with the aim of creating a high-speed genetic screening system of Russia’s population by the US.”

On Monday, a court in Moscow sentenced Spector to 15 years in prison as well as a 14 million-ruble ($135,000) fine.

The former chair of the board of Russia’s Medpolymerprom Group, a supplier of disposable medical items, was handed the punishment in conjunction with his previous sentencing for acting as an intermediary in a bribery case. In 2022, the US citizen of Russian origin was sentenced to 3.5 years behind bars after being found guilty of providing an aide to former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich with free trip vouchers from 2015 to 2016. The judge ruled at the time that Spector had thus remunerated the woman for promoting the products of several pharmacy companies.

Last August, a court separately ordered his arrest on suspicion of espionage, though the details of the case were not made public.

Earlier this year, Russia and the US exchanged a total of 26 individuals held in several countries, in the largest prisoner swap of this kind since the end of the Cold War. Among those sent to the US were Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan – both of whom had been convicted of espionage in Russia. In return, ten Russian nationals who Washington accused of being intelligence agents and cybercriminals were sent to Moscow.

In September, Moscow declared six British diplomats persona non grata, claiming that their activities in the country “showed signs of intelligence and subversive work.” The UK Foreign Office dismissed the accusations as “completely baseless.”

December 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Iran FM: China visit marks ‘new chapter’ in strategic ties, heralds ‘golden’ era

Press TV – December 27, 2024

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says his visit to China will open a “new chapter” in strategic cooperation between the two countries and herald a “golden” era for bilateral relations.

Araghchi made the remarks in an article published by China’s official People’s Daily newspaper on Friday, on the day that he was to head to Beijing at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

“The next golden 50 years of Iran-China relations will demonstrate that this visit marks the beginning of a new chapter of strategic cooperation between the two countries,” he wrote.

The top Iranian diplomat also noted that Iran and China have long engaged in “practical cooperation” to promote multilateralism and develop indigenous values, adding that both sides have defended each other’s fundamental interests in international forums.

He also hailed “pragmatic” Iran-China ties, citing close political and defense coordination, exchange of high-level delegations, as well as cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the BRICS group of emerging economies, and the Beijing-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia in March 2023.

“Iran and China share common interests and concerns not only at bilateral and regional levels, but also at the trans-regional and international levels,” he emphasized.

“While firmly believing in the significance of multilateralism and the benefits of joint cooperation towards the prosperity of human society, both countries keep cooperating closely in multilateral mechanisms, including the SCO and the BRICS.”

China is Iran’s largest trade partner. Both states are subject to different levels of illegal sanctions imposed by the US.

The two countries signed the long-term strategic partnership deal in March 2021 to reinforce their long-standing economic and political alliance.

In his article, Araghchi said that West Asia is facing numerous challenges, the core of which is the Palestine issue.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza, caused by the Israeli genocide and supported by some world powers, has been exacerbated by the inaction of the international community and irresponsible behavior of some parties, he noted.

Iran and China believe that an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid are now the most important priorities, he said.

The Iranian foreign minister further referred to the recent developments in Syria, urging respect for the country’s unity, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

Tehran, he pointed out, believes that the Syrian people should decide the future of their country without destructive intervention or external imposition.

“We are witnessing unprecedented changes in the world that have simultaneously created complex “opportunities” and “challenges” and put countries at a historical crossroad, where they must choose between confrontation/cooperation, exclusion/inclusion, closeness/openness, chaos/peace,” he said.

“Some states are trying to restrict and force others to choose their desired values ​​and interests by distorting the facts, falsely dividing the world into democratic and non-democratic, and resorting to sanctions, pressure and double standards. However, Iran and China will always stand on the right side of history and by the side of development, prosperity, cooperation, and friendship between the countries of the Global South in a bid to counter unilateralism and bullying.”

December 27, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

A Palestinian year in review: Genocide, resistance and unanswered questions

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | December 26, 2024

The story of the Israeli war on Gaza can be epitomized in the story of the Israeli war on Beit Lahia, a small Palestinian town in the northern part of the Strip.

When Israel launched its ground operations in Gaza, Beit Lahia was already largely destroyed due to many days of relentless Israeli bombardment which killed thousands.

Still, the border Gaza town resisted, leading to a hermetic Israeli siege, which was never lifted, even when the Israeli military redeployed out of much of northern Gaza in January 2024.

Beit Lahia is largely an isolated town, a short distance away from the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel. It is surrounded mostly by agricultural areas that make it nearly impossible to defend.

Yet, a year of grisly Israeli war and genocide in Gaza did not end the fighting there. To the contrary, 2024 has ended where it started, with intense fighting on all fronts in Gaza, with Beit Lahia, a town that was supposedly ‘conquered’ earlier, still leading the fight.

Beit Lahia is a microcosm of Israel’s failed war in the Strip, a bloody grind that has led nowhere, despite the massive destruction, the repeated ethnic cleansing of the population, the starvation and the genocide. Every day of Israel’s terrible war on the Palestinians serves as a reminder that there are no military solutions and that the Palestinian will cannot be broken, no matter the cost or the sacrifice.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, remains unconvinced. He entered the new year with more promises of ‘total victory’, and ended it as a wanted criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The issuing of an arrest warrant for the Israeli leader was a reiteration of a similar position taken by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the start of 2024.

The ICJ’s position, however, was hardly as strong as many had hoped or wanted to believe. The world’s highest court had, on 26 January, ordered Israel “to take action to prevent acts of genocide”, but stopped short of ordering Israel to halt its war.

The Israeli objectives of the war remained unclear, although Israeli politicians provided clues as to what the war on Gaza was really all about. Last January, several Israeli ministers, including 12 from Netanyahu’s Likud party, took part in a conference calling for the resettlement of Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. “Without settlements, there is no security,” extremist Israeli minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, said.

For that to happen, the Palestinian people themselves, not merely those fighting on the ground, had to be tamed, broken and defeated. Thus, the ‘flour massacres‘, a new Israeli war tactic that was centered around killing as many Palestinians as possible while waiting for the few aid trucks that were allowed to reach northern Gaza.

On 29 February, more than 100 Gazans were killed while queueing for aid. They were mowed down by Israeli soldiers, as they desperately tried to lay their hands on a loaf of bread, baby milk or a bottle of water. This scene was repeated, again and again in the north, but also in other parts of the Gaza Strip throughout the year.

The aim was to starve the Palestinians in the north so that they would be forced to flee to other parts of the Strip. Famine actualized as early as January, and many of those who tried to flee south were killed, anyway.

From the early days of the war, Israel understood that to ethnically cleanse Palestinians, they must target all aspects of life in the Strip. This includes hospitals, bakeries, markets, electric grids, water stations, and the like.

The Gaza hospitals, of course, received a large share of Israeli attacks. In March, once more, Israel attacked the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City with greater ferocity than before. When it finally withdrew, on April 1, the Israeli army destroyed the entire compound, leaving behind mass graves with hundreds of bodies, mostly medical staff, women and children. They even executed several patients.

Aside from a few statements of concern by western leaders, little was done to bring the genocide to an end. Only when seven international aid workers with the charity, the World Central Kitchen, were killed by Israel, a global outcry followed, leading to the first and only Israeli apology in the entire war.

Desperate to distract from its failure in Gaza, but also Lebanon, and keen on presenting the Israeli public with any kind of victory, the Israeli military began escalating its war beyond Gaza. This included the strike on the Iranian Embassy in Syria on 1 April. Despite repeated attempts, which included the assassination in Iran of the head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, on 31 July, an all-out regional war has not yet come to pass.

Another escalation was taking place, this time not by Netanyahu but by millions of people around the world, demanding an end to the Israeli war. A focal point of the protests were student movements that spread across US campuses and, ultimately, worldwide. Instead of allowing free speech to flourish, however, America’s largest academic institutions resorted to the police, who violently shut down many of the protests, arresting hundreds of students, many of whom were not allowed to return to their colleges.

Meanwhile, the US continued to block international efforts aimed at producing a ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council. Ultimately, on 31 May, US President Joe Biden delivered a speech conveying what he termed an “Israeli proposal” to end the war. After some delay, Hamas accepted the proposal, but Israel rejected it. In his rejection, Netanyahu referred to Biden’s speech as “incorrect” and “incomplete”. Strangely, but also unsurprisingly, the White House blamed the Palestinians for the failed initiative.

Losing faith in the American leadership, some European countries began changing their foreign policy doctrines on Palestine, with Ireland, Norway and Spain recognizing the State of Palestine on 28 May. The decisions were largely symbolic but indicated that western unity around Israel was faltering.

Israel remained unfazed and, despite international warnings, invaded the Rafah area in southern Gaza on May 7, seizing control of the Philadelphi Corridor – a buffer zone between Gaza and the Egyptian border that extends for 14 kilometers.

Netanyahu’s government insisted that only war can bring their captives back. There was very little success in that strategy, however. On June 8, Israel, with logistical support from the US and other western countries managed to rescue four of its captives held in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. To do so, Israel killed at least 276 Palestinians and wounded 800 more.

In August, another heart-wrenching massacre took place, this time in the Al-Tabaeen school in Gaza City, where 93 people, mostly women and children, were murdered in a single Israeli strike. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, women and children were the main victims of the Israeli genocide, accounting for 70 per cent by 8 November.

An earlier report by the Lancet Medical Journal said that if the war stopped in July, “186,000 or even more” Palestinians would have been killed. The war, however, went on. The rate of genocide in Gaza seemed to maintain the same killing ratio, despite the major regional developments including the mutual Iranian-Israeli tit-for-tat strikes and the major Israeli ground operation in Lebanon.

In October, Israel returned to the policies of targeting or besieging hospitals, killing doctors and other medical staff, and targeting aid and civil defence workers. Still, Israel would not achieve any of its strategic goals of the war. Even the killing of Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar, in battle on 16 October  would not, in any way, alter the course of the war.

Israel’s frustration grew by leaps and bounds throughout the year. Its desperate attempt to control the global narrative on the Gaza genocide largely failed. On 19 July, and after listening to the testimonies of over 50 countries, the ICJ issued a landmark ruling that “Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal.”

That ruling, which expressed international consensus on the matter, was translated on 17 September to a UN General Assembly resolution “demanding an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine within the next twelve months”.

All of this effectively meant that Israel’s attempt at normalizing its occupation of Palestine, and its quest to illegally annex the West Bank was considered null and void by the international community. Israel, however, doubled down, taking its rage against West Bank Palestinians, who, too, were experiencing one of the worst Israeli pogroms in many years.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, by 21 November, at least 777 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October 2023, while thousands more were wounded and over 11,700 arrested.

To make matters worse, Smotrich called, on November 11, for the full annexation of the West Bank. The call was made soon after the election of Donald Trump as the next US President, an event that initially inspired optimism amongst Israeli leaders, but later concerns that Trump may not serve the role of the saviour for Israel after all.

On 21 November, the ICC issued its historic ruling to arrest Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The decision represented a measure of hope, however faint, that the world is finally ready to hold Israel accountable for its many crimes.

2025 could, indeed, represent that watershed moment. This remains to be seen. However, as far as Palestinians are concerned, even with the failure of the international community to stop the genocide and reign in Israel, their steadfastness, sumoud, will remain strong until freedom is finally attained.

December 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , , , | 2 Comments

Massive Israeli attacks pummel Yemen’s main airport, Sanaa pledges ‘response in kind’

Al Mayadeen | December 26, 2024

The Israeli occupation launched a large-scale attack on Yemen while the leader of the Ansar Allah movement, Sayyed Abdul Malik al-Houthi, was delivering his speech.

A source told Al Mayadeen on Thursday that the Israeli aggression on Sanaa and Hodeidah targeted civilian facilities and was carried out with the US and UK’s coordination and support.

The source also said that targeting civilian facilities is evidence of the occupation’s failure to have a clear target list within the country, stressing that this “will not change the course of the war and will be met with a similar response.”

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent, in turn, also confirmed that the Israeli occupation’s aggression targeted a gathering of travelers, including patients, at the Sanaa International Airport terminal, and also targeted airport control towers.

Significantly, sources told Al Mayadeen, that the Israeli aggression on Sanaa International Airport took place during the presence of two UN personnel in the airport: the WHO’s Director and the UN’s resident coordinator.

Moreover, the sources reported that the UN airplane’s co-captain had been injured and was transported to a hospital after the Israeli aggression on the airport, adding that two other airport employees were also killed as a result of the attack.

The source emphasized that the Israeli entity should “not lie in wait for a response from Sanaa because its military operations will continue.”

Al Mayadeen’s correspondent then added that the Israeli airstrikes hit Sanaa International Airport in the northern part of the capital, as well as two airstrikes on the Hiziz Central Power Plant south of Sanaa.

The correspondent further noted power outages in parts of Hodeidah Province due to the Israeli attack on the Ras Kathib Central Power Plant in the northern part of the coastal city on the Red Sea in western Yemen.

Additionally, our correspondent underscored that the Israeli occupation’s aggression on Hodeidah was executed with the US Navy’s participation through their warships.

Yemen likely to intensify operations against ‘Israel’: Israeli media

Meanwhile, Israeli media outlets reported that officials in “Israel” expect an increase in attacks from Yemen, especially after this assault.

Channel 14 confirmed that the attack targeted three central sites: Sanaa Airport, a power plant in Sana’a, and the Hodeidah port, noting that “this is not an ordinary attack, but the opening of a battle that could be prolonged.”

Israeli Channel 14’s correspondent also mentioned that Israeli aircraft disabled Sanaa International Airport by destroying the control towers and also disrupted the Hodeidah seaport.

According to Israeli Channel Kan, this was “Israel’s” fourth attack on targets in Yemen, adding that the United States had been informed of the operation.

In response, Ansar Allah’s spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, condemned the targeting of Sanaa International Airport and other civilian infrastructure, describing it as a Zionist crime against the entire Yemeni people.

He pointed out that if the Zionist enemy thinks its crimes will stop Yemen from supporting Gaza, it is mistaken, affirming that Yemen will not abandon its religious and humanitarian principles.

December 26, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , | 1 Comment

Lavrov warns Israel against ‘sowing a storm’ in Syria

RT | December 26, 2024

Israel should refrain from solving its geopolitical problems at the expense of war-torn Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has cautioned. Reckless actions by the Jewish state could erode the security framework in the Middle East, he warned, during an online press conference on Thursday.

Lavrov stressed that Russia insists on Syria remaining an independent country following the demise of former President Bashar Assad, reiterating that Moscow maintains contact both with Damascus and other regional partners. “The disintegration of Syria must not be allowed,” he said.

In light of this, the minister urged Israel, which has established a so-called ‘buffer zone’ in internationally recognized Syrian territory, “to understand its responsibility in these collective [stabilization] efforts and refrain from ensuring its security at the expense of others.”

“One cannot expect to destroy all military facilities in a neighboring country and then live in peace and harmony forever. This is like sowing a storm that will inevitably come back to haunt those who engage in such actions.”

After Assad’s removal and subsequent asylum in Russia, Israel has launched multiple airstrikes across the border, targeting Syrian airbases, weapons depots, and other military facilities to prevent arms from reaching “the wrong hands.” West Jerusalem claimed to have destroyed 70-80% of its neighbor’s strategic military capabilities, with the Syrian navy essentially being eliminated as an operational force.

According to Lavrov, another facet of Syria’s well-being hinges on the situation in the oil-rich eastern part of the country. The US, the minister charged, has “illegally occupied a significant part of the territory, including areas with major oil fields and fertile lands,” adding that revenues from the export of these resources is being funneled to “separatist structures” that the Americans have created in the country.

He also addressed remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently vowed to “bury” Kurdish militants – whom Ankara considers terrorists – in Syria if they fail to lay down their arms. “We understand the legitimate concerns of the Turkish leadership… regarding security along the border,” Lavrov said, adding that Türkiye’s “legitimate security interests must be ensured in a way that preserves Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity.”

Earlier media reports claimed that Türkiye and the new leadership in Damascus were considering a joint military operation to expel Kurds from border areas if they failed to integrate with the Syrian military. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not rule out that Ankara could proceed with such an action, while urging both sides to resolve their differences peacefully.

December 26, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , , | Leave a comment

The future of the West Bank hangs in the balance

Despite concentrated efforts to eliminate resistance strongholds, ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, and escalation of violence, will the West Bank witness a Third Intifada?

By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | December 25, 2024

On the cusp of West Bank annexation and a settler-militia war on Palestinian civilians, the future of the territory will ultimately be determined by the course of grassroots resistance to Israeli conspiracies. While the Zionist Entity will likely soon see a territorial gain, its project could tremendously backfire.

As the Genocide in Gaza, the war on Lebanon, and regime change in Syria have stolen the headlines over the course of the past 14 months, the West Bank has also experienced a period of hardship that may soon land it top news story status.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation army and its allied settler militants have murdered over 720 Palestinians across the West Bank, making it the deadliest period there since the Second Intifada (2000-2005). In addition, hundreds of thousands of jobs have disappeared in the territory, as the local economy has continued to decline.

Making things even worse is the fact that Israeli settlers have established over 60 new settlement outposts on Palestinian lands, while they also worked alongside the occupation army to ethnically cleanse at least 26 villages and communities. Settler violence is at a historic high, as the Israeli regime continues to arm their extremist militias, has set up the Desert Frontier settler extremist military unit as part of their army, and allowed for continual assaults against Palestinian property, farmlands, and lives.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has installed hundreds of new roadblocks, walls, and gates, while maintaining a more imposing presence throughout the territory and adopting a very aggressive posture towards West Bank civilians. This has meant that traversing even small pockets of the territory has become more dangerous and challenging for Palestinians.

Palestinians now must act with great caution at checkpoints and makeshift roadblocks that are set up for them, where they could be randomly robbed of various items, deprived of the ability to travel to work, or worse, face arbitrary detainment, humiliation, beatings, and execution. Civilians have grown increasingly cautious about traveling at night due to the high likelihood of random settler attacks, against which they receive no protection.

Palestinians living in the West Bank endure financial, physical, and psychological torment, compounded by a heightened sense of horror over the events unfolding nearby in the Gaza Strip.

Many West Bank residents have remained relatively quiet during the Genocide in Gaza, driven by a sense of hopelessness and fear – a situation influenced by various factors that are poised to change dramatically.

So far, the refugee camps in the northern West Bank have proven to be the real centers of resistance and revolutionary action. The Jenin Camp, Nour al-Shams Camp in Tulkarem, and refugee camps like Balata and al-Ain in Nablus, have been isolated islands of armed resistance. However, without popular action, their capabilities remain confined to defensive maneuvers within their camps.

With US support, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is intensifying its crackdown on the Jenin Brigades resistance groups, signaling a concerted effort to eliminate resistance strongholds in the West Bank. This crackdown coincides with a critical moment for the PA, as it faces an existential threat from “Israel’s” looming pledge to annex the territory.

The Zionist regime seeks to conquer areas C and parts of area B, inside the West Bank, aiming to establish de jure governing control over these regions, placing around 70% of the territory under their civil control.

If this scenario unfolds, the Palestinian Authority will be confronted with three viable options: dissolve itself entirely, transform into a resistance movement, or attempt to strike some sort of deal that would keep it afloat as a mere contractor that manages the major Palestinian enclaves.

As the PA currently enjoys recognition at the United Nations as the representative of the State of Palestine and is poised to play a role in any post-war Gaza scenario, it still retains some relevance. Yet, without the ability to pave the way to a Palestinian State in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza through negotiations, it will face the inevitable challenge of pursuing armed resistance as its only option, which the PA has denounced for now.

Israeli annexation will inevitably destabilize the West Bank and the PA’s President Mahmoud Abbas has already named a transitional-phase successor, indicating that his old age will soon prevent him from fulfilling his duties. If Hamas succeeds – through a prisoner exchange – at liberating senior figures of the Fatah movement, which rules the Ramallah-based PA, it is possible that they could play a constructive role in unifying the Palestinian movement from abroad and pave an alternative path forward.

Another factor could be the potential unrest that could occur within Jordan, along with the unpredictable emergence of Palestinian resistance groups from the volatile climate inside Syria.

However, the Israelis understand well all of these elements and will seek to prevent any regional developments from working in the favor of the Palestinian people. Therefore, these possibilities should be acknowledged, but the primary focus here must be placed upon the inevitable response of the West Bank’s population at large.

With a severely weakened PA, escalation of violence, ethnic cleansing of villages, and inevitable mass displacement of civilians, amidst Israeli annexation, the people of the West Bank could be forced into a predicament that necessitates a Third Intifada. If the PA collapses altogether, this will force the Israeli army to deploy into the major Palestinian cities, which will lead to daily conflicts on a much larger scale than has been witnessed for decades.

A mass popular revolt from the West Bank will be needed to thwart Israeli plans at further land confiscation and ethnic cleansing, which will then plunge the entire territory into chaos. The main question is whether the Zionist Entity is capable of dealing with such a situation for a long period of time if a full-scale revolt occurs. Dealing with this scenario could require the deployment of army personnel, private security, border and police officers, totaling in the hundreds of thousands.

Not only would this be a massive financial burden, but it would also pose a potential security risk in the event that other fronts again activate in the future. As an example, at various points in the war against Gaza, the Israeli military had actually deployed more soldiers to the West Bank than it had been operating in the Gaza Strip.

The Zionist regime has never declared its borders for a reason, as it has always sought to further occupy territory at the expense of neighboring nations, a goal it is currently achieving at a rapid pace. While it is succeeding in the short term, the ultimate fate of this usurper project will be determined by the will of the masses.

December 25, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | 1 Comment

‘Israel’ Struggles to Deter Threat by Yemen’s Ansarullah

Al-Manar | December 24, 2024

Facing the escalating challenges from Yemen’s Ansarullah revolutionary group, the Zionist entity weighs its options, with no clear resolution yet to the significant threat posed by the intensified actions in support of Gaza over the past year.

Zionist officials and experts are deliberating strategies to counter these threats, with recent military responses proving ineffective at best, Al-Akhbar Lebanese newspaper reported on Monday.

Ansaruallah, having pledged its support to the Palestinian resistance, has disrupted maritime activity by targeting commercial ships heading to Israeli ports through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea. This strategy aims to pressure Israel to stop its genocidal war on Gaza.

Israel initially relied on US intervention, citing limited resources due to the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) spreading themselves thin across the northern and southern fronts.

However, US responses have remained tactical, with strikes limited to retaliation for disruptions to trade and supplies, their insufficiency as deterrence is highlighted by a recent friendly fire incident that destroyed one of their own jets.

Remarking on the US aggression, Yemen’s Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Al-Atifi warned Washington that the country was capable of sinking the US’s naval fleets, and was in possession of weapons yet to be revealed.

Despite Israeli airstrikes on Yemen, analysts agree these efforts have failed to deter Ansarullah, Al-Akhbar’s Yahya Dbouk wrote. The group has intensified its operations, reiterating its support for Gaza and vowing further action unless ‘Israel’ halts its genocide against Palestinians.

Israeli experts suggest alternative strategies, including targeting Yemeni leadership in Sanaa, weapon production facilities, and economic hubs such as ports and energy sites, as well as bombing Saada for its symbolism in the Yemeni public’s consciousness according to Dbouk, who added that proposals to strike Sanaa and Saada aim to weaken Ansarullah’s influence and mobilize opposition forces within Yemen.

As he considered that these measures are seen as unlikely to achieve decisive results, the Lebanese writer noted that Tel Aviv has also considered reviving the Saudi-Emirati led war against Yemen with Zionist support.

However, doubts remain about its feasibility, given the previous failures of the coalition to secure a military victory during the war waged by the Saudi-led coalition on the Arab impoverished country since March 2015, according to the author.

Another debated approach involves targeting Iran, viewed as Ansarullah’s so-called “primary supporter”, Dbouk reported, noting that this strategy, however, raises questions about the Zionist entity’s capacity to address broader regional threats in wartime.

On the other hand, a ceasefire in Gaza has been proposed as a potential solution to ease Yemeni attacks. Ansarullah themselves have said on multiple occasions that as long as the war on Gaza continues, so will the attacks from Yemen and the maritime trade disruptions.

Such option “seems likely to break quickly, due to a possible failure in the second phase of a potential swap deal between Gaza and ‘Israel’, which is widely believed in Tel Aviv will never see the light,” Dbouk wrote.

The Zionist entity continues to weigh its options, with no clear resolution yet to the significant threat posed by Ansarullah and its broader implications for regional security.

December 25, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Five Syrians injured by Israeli army gunfire in Quneitra countryside

By Ahmad Karakira | Al Mayadeen | December 25, 2024

Israeli forces have established new positions in the countryside of Quneitra in Syria, specifically along the axes of Rasm al-Rawadi, Umm al-Edam, and al-Mantara Dam.

The village of Swisah in the southern countryside of Quneitra witnessed a protest against the Israeli occupation forces that had advanced into the village, entering barracks within and around it, local sources told Al Mayadeen.

The Israeli forces, consisting of bulldozers and tanks, stormed a barracks in the center of the village, carrying out acts of vandalism and cutting down trees in its surroundings but without approaching residential homes, the sources indicated.

Subsequently, the occupation forces moved to a barracks west of the village, continuing their acts of destruction, which prompted residents to gather near the site in protest against the incursion and raise the Syrian flag.

The Israeli forces then opened fire to prevent the protesters from approaching, injuring five individuals.

According to the sources, the Israeli forces transported equipment, including bulldozers, to the al-Tallayn al-Homr area, where they have been stationed for some time.

IOF give Jubatha al-Khashab residents ultimatum to turn in weapons

In a related context, Israeli occupation forces have given the residents of the town of Jubata al-Khashab in the northern countryside of Quneitra a 48-hour deadline to hand over all types of weapons.

This has sparked appeals to the new administration in Damascus, which has yet to take any action.

In response to Israeli threats, the elders of the town indicated that they would only hand over weapons to the Syrian authorities.

They urged active officials on the ground to address their demands “so they would not later be accused of treachery, especially after the Israeli forces claimed responsibility for the area’s security and its arms.”

IOF establishing posts on top of Mount Hermon

A couple of days ago, local sources told Al Mayadeen that the Israeli occupation forces are combing the entirety of Mount Hermon’s peak, and are establishing a new post overlooking Damascus’ southwestern countryside.

According to exclusive sources, the Israeli army seized military equipment in the area, as well as the wreckage of an Israeli helicopter downed during the 1973 war.

Earlier, a local source told Al Mayadeen that Israeli tanks and armored patrols infiltrated the al-Hamidiyah axis in the countryside of Quneitra towards the provincial center in the town of al-Baath, southwest of Syria, coinciding with inspection campaigns carried out by Israeli forces, which targeted some homes and farms in the villages of the central countryside.

December 25, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

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