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US to send 1,500 troops to Syria and Iraq

The Cradle | January 15, 2024

The US is set to send 1,500 soldiers to Syria and Iraq, ostensibly in order to join the fight against ISIS, CBS Philadelphia reports on 14 January. 

The soldiers will be sent from the New Jersey Army National Guard in its largest deployment of soldiers to the area since 2008. 

“We have the people we need. We have the training that we need. We have the equipment that we need to fight and win,” Lt Colonel Omar Minott, who is among the 1,500 to be deployed, said. 

The deployment of troops to Syria and Iraq falls under Operation Inherent Resolve, the US military campaign against the Islamic State across Iraq, Libya, and Syria, which calls for combating ISIS and defending US bases against resistance groups in the region. 

The military operation caused a large number of US personnel deployments to the region this year. 

Within the latter half of 2023, the US sent a wave of 2,500 soldiers to Syria and deployed over 900 soldiers to Iraq on two separate occasions. The deployment of these soldiers was to protect US interests against “Iran-affiliated forces.”

According to Axios, the US military presence in the region reached about 45,400 as of October 2023. The majority is in Kuwait, with 13,500; followed by Bahrain at 9,000; and Qatar at 8,000. 

The US deployment into Syria and Iraq to combat ISIS raises questions. According to the US State Department, ISIS attacks in Syria have decreased by 68 percent and 80 percent in Iraq when comparing 2023 to 2022. 

The Cradle’s Robert Inlakesh has said that this push by the US is to keep hold of its dominance in the region. 

“To maintain the dominance of the collective west over the region, the immediate hurdle is overcoming the influences of Iran and Russia. This is why the occupation of roughly a third of Syrian territory by the US and its proxies, along with the imposition of deadly sanctions on Damascus, has become crucial in undermining the strength of its adversaries,” Inlakesh said. 

Iranian and Russian forces in Syria have been coordinating with the specific aim of forcing Washington’s troops to eventually withdraw from the country.

Meanwhile, various Iraqi resistance forces have said they will continue to fight the US until they withdraw from their nation’s borders. 

Kataib Hezbollah spokesman Abu Ali al-Askari has previously said that the group’s operations against the US occupation will continue until the last soldier is removed from Iraq.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Militarism | , , , | 4 Comments

Two More U.S. Murders

By Jacob G. Hornberger | FFF | January 9, 2024

The last thing the Founding Fathers wanted for our country was omnipotent government — that is, a government that wields totalitarian-like powers. Thus, when the U.S. Constitution called the federal government into existence, it expressly restricted its powers to those enumerated in the Constitution. If a power wasn’t enumerated, it could not be legally exercised.

The powers enumerated in the Constitution were few and limited. The Constitution’s enumerated powers did not include the power to murder people. That’s because our American ancestors did not want to live under a government that had the power to murder people.

Americans were leery about the enumerated-powers concept. They were concerned that federal officials would ignore the concept and exercise totalitarian-like powers anyway, including the power to murder people.

That’s why the Bill of Rights was enacted. It expressly prohibited the federal government from exercising totalitarian-like powers that would destroy the fundamental, God-given rights of people. The Bill of Rights made it clear that our American ancestors were concerned about the power to murder people. Thus, the language of the Fifth Amendment is clear and unequivocal: “No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law.”

Notice that the term “person” is used. Not “American” but rather “person.” Our ancestors did not want the federal government to wield the power to murder anyone.

What is “due process of law.” It is a term stretching all the way back to Magna Carta. It requires a formal criminal charge and a trial before the federal government can kill someone. In other words, the Fifth Amendment prohibits federal officials from murdering people.

Why do I bring all this up? Because a few days ago the Associated Press reported that the Pentagon conducted an airstrike in central Baghdad, Iraq, that intentionally murdered two Iraqi citizens and injured five more.

No formal criminal charges. No trial. Just outright murder. Permit me to repeat the express restriction of the Fifth Amendment: “No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law.”

Notice that it doesn’t say: “except when it’s the Pentagon or the CIA that is doing the killing.” It also doesn’t say “except when the person is a citizen of Iraq.” It says “No person.”

But wait a minute! Did that Associated Press article actually say that these killings took place in Iraq? Isn’t that the nation that the Pentagon and the CIA invaded after the 9/11 attacks, where they killed, injured, tortured, and abused countless Iraqi people in the process of installing a pro-U.S. regime? Given such, what in the world is the Pentagon doing murdering Iraqi citizens in the middle of Baghdad?

The Pentagon says that it is retaliating against militias in Iraq who are attacking U.S. military bases in Iraq. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, if the Pentagon didn’t have U.S. soldiers based in Iraq, there would be no attacks in U.S. military personnel in Iraq and, therefore, no need to murder people in Baghdad.

An obvious question arises: Why do people in Iraq want to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq? I thought that their “Operation Iraqi Freedom” invasion was supposed to cause the Iraqi people to love the U.S. government. The reason for the widespread anger is because people in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East are extremely angry over the U.S. government’s unconditional military and financial support for the Israeli government and its brutal and deadly military campaign in Gaza. Question: Where in the Constitution is the U.S. government authorized to deliver taxpayer-funded military and financial aid to any foreign regime, including the government of Israel?

In any event, here you have a classic example of how one U.S. intervention — i.e, the unconditional U.S. support of the Israeli government — ultimately leads to another intervention — i.e., the cold-blooded murder of people who are suspected of targeting U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq. Of course, the operative word is “suspected” given that there was never a formal criminal charge or trial accorded to the murder victims, as the Fifth Amendment expressly requires.

The recent U.S. murders in Baghdad reveal how the conversion of the U.S. government to a national-security state has resulted in the type of government our American ancestors feared and opposed: one that exercises omnipotent powers with impunity, including the power to murder people.

January 9, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , | 1 Comment

Iraqi PM says plans underway for withdrawal of US-led coalition

The Cradle | January 5, 2024

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced on 5 January that the Iraq-US bilateral committee, established late last year, has started the process of scheduling the withdrawal of the US-led “international coalition” from the country.

“We are in the process of setting a date for the start of the dialogue through the bilateral committee that was formed to determine the arrangements for the [withdrawal of foreign troops,” Sudani said during a ceremony commemorating the fourth anniversary of the US assassination of the Deputy Chairman of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, and Iranian Quds Force Commander General Qassem Soleimani.

“We affirm our firm and principled commitment to ending the presence of the international coalition as the justifications for its existence have ended,” the Iraqi head of state stressed, referring to Washington’s allegations of keeping troops and heavy weapons in Iraq to help the country “fight ISIS.”

“[This] is a commitment that the government will not back down from, and we will not neglect anything that would complete national sovereignty over Iraq’s land, sky, and waters,” Sudani added.

The premier also lambasted the US for launching a drone strike on the Baghdad headquarters of the PMU, located meters away from the Interior Ministry complex, killing a top leader of the Nujaba Movement.

“Iraq has a strategic partnership agreement and diplomatic relations with the US, and in this way, the main principles of international relations and what was stipulated in the UN Charter regarding equality of sovereignty between countries and the prohibition of the use of force in international relations were violated,” Sudani said.

He then highlighted that the PMU – also known as the Hashd al-Shaabi – represents “an official presence affiliated with the state, subject to it, and an integral part of our armed forces.”

“We have repeatedly emphasized that in the event of a violation or transgression by any Iraqi party, or if Iraqi law is violated, the Iraqi government is the only party with the right to follow up on the merits of these violations … The government is the body authorized to impose the law, and everyone must work through it, and no one has the right to infringe on Iraq’s sovereignty,” the prime minister stressed.

The PMU was formed in 2014 in response to the ISIS invasion of northwest Iraq, including Mosul. Ali Sistani, the top Shia cleric in Iraq, called for the establishment of the PMU to protect Baghdad and defeat the US-proxy terror group in Mosul.

The PMU was established with support from Iran, most notably General Soleimani, and was later incorporated into the Iraqi government as part of its armed forces.

Following the 2020 assassination of Soleimani and Muhandis, the Iraqi parliament voted on a law to withdraw permission for the US to operate on Iraqi soil.

US troops first entered Iraq in 2003 to topple the government of Saddam Hussein under false pretenses. Washington initially withdrew its forces in 2011 when the White House failed to secure a new Status of Forces (SOFA) agreement with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

However, US troops returned to the Ain al-Asad base under the pretext of training Iraqis to fight ISIS six months after the extremist group invaded and occupied Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in June 2014.

On 18 December 2021, the Iraqi government announced that “no combat forces of the international coalition or NATO” remained inside the Ain al-Assad base. However, at least 2,500 US troops remain in the country – many at the Ain al-Asad base – in a “training and advisory role.”

Their continued presence is part of an agreement reached between Washington and Baghdad in July 2021 that was meant to see the complete withdrawal of US troops – similar to their exit from Afghanistan.

January 5, 2024 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas: Meshaal did not say we will recognise Israel

MEMO | December 29, 2023

An official source in Hamas yesterday denied statements attributed to the movement’s former head, Khaled Meshaal, on the possibility of recognising Israel.

“The journalist in the French Le Figaro newspaper, Georges Malbrunot, included a set of his personal opinions and his own comments regarding the recognition of Israel, during an interview with Meshaal,” the source said in a statement on Wednesday.

The source added that Malbrunot’s article is far from Meshaal’s clear and specific statements, in which he affirmed “the refusal to recognise the Zionist entity”.

Hamas attached the text of Meshaal’s statements.

“Our clear position is not to recognise the legitimacy of the occupation; we took a lesson from the Oslo Accords,” Meshaal said in the text, adding: “In 1993, the PLO leadership recognised Israel, which did not give it anything in return.”

“Through the 2017 document, Hamas confirmed its position in national consensus with the Palestinian factions regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return and without us recognising Israel. As for the issue of the truce, it is negotiable,” he added.

December 29, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Fake News, Illegal Occupation, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , , , | 1 Comment

Al-Qassam Brigades: We destroyed 825 Israeli military vehicles

Palestine Information Center – December 28, 2023

GAZA – Spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida said in a new audio recording that the Battle of Aqsa Flood paved the way for the collapse of the “occupation entity”, reflecting on the struggles and aspirations of the Palestinian people after 83 days of battle.

“We have been fighting for decades, leading up to the Aqsa Flood Battle, for the sake of our people.”

“We dealt the Israeli occupation the blow of the century and told the world that we are a people demanding rights and freedom.”

He further pointed out that the Palestinian resistance remains steadfast, fighting in every corner of Gaza.

“We continue to fight because we know our rights are being taken away.”

“Since the start of the war on October 7, our fighters of Al-Qassam Brigades have destroyed 825 Israeli military vehicles, including tanks, personnel carriers, and bulldozers, among other vehicles,” he said.

Abu Obeida also stated that “the Israeli aggression will break soon, and our people will rise with their heads held high.”

“The Battle of al-Aqsa Flood has put Israel on the path to extinction.”

On the other hand, Abu Obeida stressed that there will be no prisoner exchanges without a full ceasefire.

“Our priority is to stop the Israeli aggression against our people, and no priority comes before that.”

“There are no deals that we can accept before the aggression against our people stops completely.”

Denouncing the international community’s silence towards Israeli crimes, Abu Obeida said that “the world is divided between being unjust criminals or helpless spectators.”

December 29, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | Leave a comment

Moscow Calls for Leveraging All Accumulated Experience for Solving Middle East Crisis

Sputnik – 29.12.2023

MOSCOW – Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday called for leveraging all the accumulated experience for solving the Middle East crisis under a Russia-proposed new mechanism of external support that would involve the regional countries.

In November, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed the creation of a mechanism of external support to ensure the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that it should be representative and involve the regional nations, which the Quartet on the Middle East had failed to do.

“A special updated mechanism is needed. You ask why is the Quartet not enough? I will quote Sergey Lavrov as saying that it has failed to represent the regional countries … The entire basis that has been built up should and can be leveraged,” Zakharova told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

The experience accumulated in the field includes, in particular, the results of special conferences, resolutions of the UN Security Council and meetings of the Quartet on the Middle East, the spokeswoman added.

The Middle East Quartet, comprised of the UN, the United States, the European Union, and Russia, was established in Madrid in 2002 to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The Quartet’s activities aimed to develop the Palestinian economy and empower its institutions, as well as promote a two-state solution to the conflict.

In June 2023, Lavrov said that “collective diplomacy to facilitate the Arab-Israeli settlement has stalled,” mainly due to the decision of the US and the EU to “unilaterally suspend the activities of the Middle East quartet.”

On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip, while its fighters breached the border, opening fire on the military and civilians. As a result, over 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza and launched a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 21,300 people have been killed so far in Gaza as a result of Israeli strikes, local authorities said.

On November 24, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire was extended several times and expired on December 1.

December 29, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Biden’s plan to ‘revive Palestinian Authority’ fizzles out: Report

The Cradle | December 26, 2023

The US government has run into a significant hurdle in its campaign to “revitalize” the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) as possible successors to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, failing to convince Israel to unblock funds necessary to prevent the PA from total collapse.

“Even if we agreed [to take over for Hamas in Gaza], how can we implement it? The policy of Israel is to weaken the authority, not strengthen it,” PA Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh told the Washington Post. “We cannot even pay the salaries of our soldiers, our employees,” he added.

Despite round-the-clock visits to the heavily fortified PA headquarters in Ramallah and meetings with Israeli authorities, US officials have made little progress in securing the release of millions in Palestinian tax money that Israel has blocked since 7 October.

Two months ago, the Israeli finance ministry – led by Jewish supremacist official Bezalel Smotrich – froze the transfer of tax revenues amounting to some $188 million monthly to the PA.

“The PA didn’t see fit to distance itself from these barbarian actions, and officials in the authority even expressed support for the awful massacre […] Furthermore, the PA is acting against Israel at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice,” Smotrich said on 30 October.

The tax revenues – known in Palestine as maqasa – are collected by the Israeli government on behalf of the PA on Palestinian imports and exports. Israel earns a commission of 3 percent of collected revenues.

On Friday, the European Commission said it was preparing a $130 million aid package to help plug the gap.

According to Sabri Saidam, a member of the central committee for the Fatah party and close adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, plans for Palestinians to receive their tax revenue have “collapsed.”

Besides finding ways to avert the financial collapse of the PA, US officials have also been pushing for “changes and new faces in key positions” in a last-ditch effort to improve the public image of the deeply unpopular organization.

According to a recent poll from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 88 percent of Palestinians want Abbas to resign as PA President, up 10 points from three months ago.

Meanwhile, the popularity of Hamas has soared in the occupied West Bank, from 12 percent to 44 percent.

“It’s always this colonizing mentality, whereby, ‘We decide your leadership, we are the ones basically designing your strategy for the day after, we tell you how to live, we tell you how to breathe, and we tell you how to run your land,’” Saidam told the Washington Post.

The PA was established in 1994 based on the first Oslo Accords (1993) between Tel Aviv and the now-defunct Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It was initially established as a temporary governing body to lay the foundation for an independent Palestinian state.

However, after decades of corruption allegations, collaboration scandals, and a poor human rights record, the PA was in a state of “total inertia” before the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation unfolded on 7 October.

Complicating matters further for Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is staunchly opposed to a PA-controlled Gaza.

“Expectation that the Palestinian Authority will demilitarize Gaza is a pipe dream,” Netanyahu says in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Monday.

“[The PA] has shown neither the capability nor the will to demilitarize Gaza,” the premier added, claiming that Ramallah “currently funds and glorifies terrorism […] and educates Palestinian children to seek the destruction of Israel.”

“For the foreseeable future, Israel will have to retain overriding security responsibility over Gaza,” Netanyahu stressed.

December 26, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Senate Blocks Resolution Calling for Removal of US Forces From Syria

Sputnik – 07.12.2023

WASHINGTON – The US Senate on Thursday blocked a joint resolution introduced by Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul directing the Biden administration to remove US military forces from Syria within 30 days.

Senators rejected a motion to advance the resolution in a vote of 13 members in favor and 84 opposed.

“The American people have had enough of endless wars in the Middle East. Yet, 900 US troops remain in Syria with no vital US interest at stake, no definition of victory, no exit strategy, and no congressional authorization to be there,” Paul said in a statement on the resolution.

The resolution would direct the president to remove US troops from hostilities “in or affecting Syria” within 30 days of adoption, unless a declaration of war or other authorization for use of force was enacted by Congress.

Thursday’s resolution was the second time this year that anti-interventionist, pro-‘America First’ Republicans in Congress have attempted to force the Biden administration to pull US troops out of Syria. In March, the House of Representatives voted down a resolution put forward by Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz to remove American forces from the Middle Eastern country, with the lawmaker and his fellow pro-Trump Freedom Caucus Republicans getting a rare show of support from the Democrats’ Congressional Progressive Caucus, resulting in more than 100 lawmakers voting in favor of the bill (the measure ended up failing by a vote of 103 to 321).

US forces have occupied the oil and food-rich northeastern third of Syria since 2017, and have engaged in the smuggling of billions of dollars worth of Syrian oil out of the country to enforce a strategy by Washington to try to economically suffocate the government of President Bashar Assad into submission.

During his presidency, President Trump casually admitted on multiple occasions to the legacy media’s horror that US forces in Syria were in the country “only for the oil.” The Biden administration has insisted American troops are in the country only to prevent the resurgence of Daesh (ISIS), the Islamist extremist terrorist group vanquished from the region in 2017.

December 7, 2023 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Wars for Israel | , | Leave a comment

Russia: US played ‘destructive role’ in escalating Israeli war in Gaza

Press TV – November 29, 2023

Russia says the United States has escalated the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas by playing a “destructive role.”

Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Chumakov made the comment during a speech he delivered to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. He denounced Washington’s policies in West Asia.

“The policies of the US which meant that it kept turning a blind eye to the ongoing Israeli settlement construction in the occupied [Palestinian] territories and recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, have played a destructive role in the current escalation,” he said.

According to Gaza government health officials, over 15,000 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children, were killed by Israeli aggression during the 49 days of war. Many more are feared to be buried under the rubble.

“As a result, we are now witnessing a conflict of unprecedented scope, which may spread to the entire Middle East,” Chumakov warned.

Washington has supported Tel Aviv’s relentless attacks on the Palestinian territory as an instance of “self-defense,” and has provided the regime with thousands of arms consignments since the onset of the war.

A four-day Qatari-brokered ceasefire between Tel Aviv and Hamas went into effect on Friday and was extended for two more days on Monday following mediation from Egypt and Qatar.

So far, under the truce deal, Hamas freed 69 hostages in return for 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

US fully responsible for situation in Gaza: Moscow

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the US is fully responsible for the current situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, stressing that Washington’s policies have served as the primary sources of tension in the conflict zone.

“The entire current collapse on the territory [of the Gaza Strip], where a colossal tragedy related to the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation has unfolded, is completely and fully the responsibility of the United States, or, rather, I should say, [due to] the irresponsibility [of the US]. It is only they [who are responsible],” she said during an interview with the Sputnik radio station.

The Gaza health ministry says the Israeli regime keeps denying hospitals fuel for their generators in violation of the truce. The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has brought almost all vital infrastructure in the besieged strip to a standstill.

November 30, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | 1 Comment

UN General Assembly Denounces Occupation of Syrian Golan Heights, Demands Israeli Withdrawal

Sputnik – 29.11.2023

UNITED NATIONS – The UN General Assembly renewed its resolution demanding that Israel withdraw from Syria’s Golan Heights.

The resolution was renewed on Tuesday with 91 votes in favor, eight against and 62 abstentions.

The resolution says that United Nations member states are “deeply concerned that Israel has not withdrawn from the Syrian Golan, which has been under occupation since 1967, contrary to the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.”

The document also emphasizes “the illegality of the Israeli settlement construction and other activities in the occupied Syrian Golan since 1967.”

November 29, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | 1 Comment

There is no sharing in settler-colonialism, Josep Borrell, only land theft

By Ramona Wadi | MEMO | November 28, 2023

When the so-called humanitarian pause is over, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “We are returning full power to carry out our aims: destroy Hamas, ensure that Gaza won’t return to what it was, and of course to free all of our hostages.” No one ever doubted that, but the international community has descended into further disgrace with its silence over Israel’s next round of ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s agreement to the hostage deal served as relatively good publicity, of course: “These incredible images of people being reunited with their families — the humanity of it, the sense of accomplishment of that and the possibility and promise that more and, ultimately, all of the hostages will come home.” This was despite the fact that it is possible that not all Israeli hostages will be freed by the end of the pause.

Those who are left run the risk of becoming part of Israel’s “collateral damage” in the enclave.

Meanwhile, as the focus on Gaza and the pause continues, Israel is ramping up its arrests of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, ensuring that the number of prisoners it releases as part of the deal is negligible in comparison. Since 7 October, Israel has arrested 3,260 Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory.

On top of this, extreme far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is requesting funds for “security and security infrastructure” in the West Bank. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, was “appalled” by this, according to a post on X, in which he described settlements as “Israel’s greatest security liability.” Even so, according to Borrell, Israel and the Palestinians “both have equal and legitimate right to the same land, so they have to share it,” imparting colonialism in the most erroneous way possible.

If Israeli settlements are a liability, they always were, including the early colonial settlements that paved the way for Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. The UN’s differentiation of settlement expansion is merely an excuse to justify Israel’s colonial enterprise and the international community’s recognition of it as a state. For Borrell, and the rest of the EU, sharing the land is equal to enforcing the two-state paradigm, in which, hypothetically, Palestinians get some slivers of land while Israel owns and manages it all.

The scenario unfolding in Gaza should at least prompt Western leaders to reconsider their two-state rhetoric. Netanyahu has stated that Gaza will not return to what it was; that overt threat speaks of the next phase of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the enclave. The entire world has watched Israel kill thousands of Palestinians and displace most of the population of Gaza, while diplomats debated over pauses – “humanitarian”, of course – in accordance with the hypocritical politics they espouse. Is there any consideration in the West for Israel’s genocide about to resume after the pause? How many more Palestinians will Israel kill before it is determined that there is no humanitarianism in this lull which has the world focused on hostages and not the process of settler-colonisation?

Settler-colonialism is not a sharing concept; it is theft. So, when will Borrell and all diplomats and politicians who speak of the two-state compromise face any accountability for encouraging genocide by refusing to acknowledge the reality of Israeli settler-colonialism, which seeks to replace the indigenous population with settlers?

November 28, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | 1 Comment

Violent clashes break out in northeast Syria in response to US airstrikes

The Cradle | November 9, 2023

Local sources in Syria’s Deir Ezzor governorate report that intense clashes broke out between the US occupation army and its Kurdish proxy – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies stationed west of the Euphrates River in the morning of 9 November.

Attacks on the US-occupied territory east of the Euphrates started shortly after US jets bombed an alleged weapon storage facility the Pentagon says was used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Wednesday night that two F-15 jets bombed the facility, adding that attacks on US troops in West Asia “must stop.” According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least nine people were killed in the attack.

“If attacks by Iran’s proxies against US forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people,” Austin stressed.

As the clashes raged early on Thursday, missiles and drone strikes hit the US-occupation bases in Al-Omar and Conoco oil fields in Deir Ezzor. Earlier in the night, the Iraqi Resistance in Iraq (IRI) announced that a new round of airstrikes hit US troops stationed at the Al-Harir air base in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

The latest attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria happened mere hours after Yemeni resistance group Ansarallah announced they had shot down an advanced US MQ9 Reaper drone that was “carrying out hostile, monitoring, and spying operations in Yemeni territorial waters.”

According to the Pentagon, 45 US troops have been injured in drone and rocket attacks by regional resistance forces since the start of the Gaza-Israel war.

In response to the growing threat from the Resistance Axis, Washington has deployed nearly a dozen warships and thousands of troops to the region. Special forces from the UK, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands have also been deployed recently to provide support for Israel’s campaign of genocide in Gaza.

November 9, 2023 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Wars for Israel | , , | 1 Comment

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