President al-Assad: China’s Key Role in the World is Based on Partnership, Not Hegemony

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° 

Western sanctions have been imposed against Syria since a civil war broke out there in 2011. It has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. How can the country restore its former glory and return to pre-war growth and prosperity? How can China help revive and boost Syria’s economy? In this edition of Leaders Talk, CMG’s Zou Yun sat down with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to discuss the country’s reconstruction and its return to the international field. On his visit to China, al-Assad attended the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games. He also held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a bid to end more than a decade of diplomatic isolation under Western sanctions. Both presidents jointly announced the establishment of a China-Syria strategic partnership. Al-Assad pins hopes on Xi’s global initiatives and on the Belt and Road Initiative, saying that China calls for a new type of international relations and rejects hegemony. He also commends the Chinese people for their patriotism and cultural confidence.

29 September، 2023
Beijing-SANA

President Bashar al-Assad stressed that China is a great power that plays a very important role in the world basing on partnership that is far from hegemony.

His Excellency delivering an interview to China Central Television (CCTV) said that China politically stood with Syria through its significant role in the UNSC and other international forums.

President al-Assad went on to say that it is natural to have a broader dialogue with China in light of the circumstances the world is going through and the harsh Western economic blockade that aims to starve the Syrian people.

President al-Assad highlighted that the Syrians are capable of rebuilding their country when the war stops and when the blockade be ended, indicating that our region faces the danger of modern Western liberalism that was originated in the USA and the danger of extremism.

19 Years ago we visited China, there are so large leaps that I can’t make a comparison between that time and now. At the time it was said that China was called the world’s merchandise factory, but today I can say that it is the factory of innovation and creativity, President al-Assad stated.

President al-Assad underscored that the most important thing that has not changed in China is culture. It is the belonging to the homeland, to society, to Chinese customs and traditions. This is the greatest success. Many countries can develop technologically, economically, and in various scientific fields, but few of them can maintain their identity, and the Chinese identity today is as crystal clear as it was twenty years ago.

When the Chinese audience in the stadium cheered for the entry of the Syrian team, this moment was enough to say that China and Syria, at the popular level, are close to each other. But specifically with regard to the opening itself, I want to say that the message that we received through the opening and through social media sites conveys the pride of great China along with the humility of Chinese people at the same time,President al-Assad recalled.

President al-Assad added that there must be joint projects and exchanging expertise between the two states in projects of an industrial economic nature. Firstly, because China’s conditions a few decades ago were similar to the circumstances of many Third World countries. Secondly, because social and value concepts play a fundamental role in the development process.

The Belt and Road Initiative is the most important implementation for the three Initiatives of Global Development, the Global Security and the Global Civilization, but it is necessary to search for institutions that carry out these aspects and interact with other institutions. All of these initiatives with institutions form a network in order to turn into reality at the world level,President al-Assad noted.

Regarding the the northeastern region of Syria, president al-Assad said “it is occupied by terrorists and Americans. So the issue is not only theft, but rather a partnership in sharing profits. It is a second problem for a superpower to partner with terrorists. This is the reality in Syria, so we in those areas lose oil and wheat. We were a country that exported wheat. Now we have only a little wheat and with electricity that is less than the minimum standard for life.

About reconstructing the country, his Excellency said “If rebuilding process takes place, Syria has a very great future. I am not speaking from hopes or expectations. I am speaking based on the situation before the war. Before the war, Syria’s growth was at its best, close to 7%, which is a very high percentage for a country whose capabilities are limited. We did not have debts. We were not a debtor country. We used to take a loan and repay it directly. We had a sufficient amount of wheat, we exported vegetables and fruits, and we were developing our industries. Therefore, I can say with full confidence that stopping the war and rebuilding Syria will make the country much better than it was before the war.

Talking about his visit to China, President al-Assad stated “we invested in the great role that China has played over the past ten years with economic development, with political and development initiatives, and with the role of President Xi Jinping in order to reach a visit that I can say is very fruitful, by all standards”.

RELATED

Syria Caesar’s Law: Who Does it Target, and How Will it Affect President Assad?

Elijah J. Magnier In mid-June, the US sanctions against Syria will escalate, with the enactment of “Caesar’s Law“, sanctions designed to “pursue individuals, groups, companies, and countries that deal with the Damascus government.” This law – purportedly named after a Syrian army officer who smuggled out thousands of photos of…June 11, 2020

• Al-Assad: US Has Close Partnership with Takfiri Terrorists
• Al-Assad’s Vow and Syria’s Comeback
• President Assad’s Interview with Phoenix Television

Sayyed Nasrallah to Sheikh Naboulsi: We Will Pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque on Your Behalf

 August 3, 2023

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah on Thursday lamented the loss of the key cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Afif Naboulsi.

Addressing the mourning service of Sheikh Naboulsi in Beirut’s Dahiyeh, Sayyed Nasrallah renews his condolences to the family of the late cleric and reiterating sharing the same pain of loss.

Sayyed Nasrallah identified the role of Sheikh Naboulsi in the context of the historical background of the Shia in Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader indicated that, before the 1960s, the Shia in Lebanon used to miss the organizational frameworks despite the presence of key figures.

Sayyed Nasrallah said that the 1960s and 1970s period was titled by the Islamic Action, adding that young clerics studied in Iraq during that epoch.

“Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Baqer Al-Sadr taught many of those clerics.”

Sayyed Nasrallah added that those young clerics caused a major change in the Shiite society in Lebanon, leading an elite segment at that time and founding establishments.

This socioeconomic change established the infrastructure suitable for confronting the Israeli occupation era planned to eradicate the existence of Lebanon, Sayyed Nasrallah indicated.

Sayyed Nasrallah recalled that Sheikh Naboulsi and the former Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Abbas Al-Moussawi studied at Tyre religious seminary and moved to Iraq’s Najaf where they were both taught by Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Baqer Al-Sadr.

“Sheikh Naboulsi was also influenced by Sayyed Moussa Al-Sadr who referred him to Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Baqer Al-Sadr that, in turn, referred him to Imam Khomeini.”

Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that those religious scholars contributed to the Lebanese Shia interaction with the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

The emergence of the Lebanese resistance in face of the Zionist occupation in 1980s was based on the previous period’s infrastructure, Sayyed Nasrallah said, adding that the invasion plotters bet that the Shia would support the occupiers.

Sayyed Nasrallah noted that Sheikh Naboulsi had contributed to the establishment of the Resistance, and paid the price of his stance during 2006 War, adding that his eminence fully supported the Resistance military intervention in Syria.

Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that the main woe of the region and Lebanon is the US intervention in everything as well as the culture of obeying the American will.

Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that the US administration has been preventing the Lebanese government from importing the Jordanian power and the Egyptian gas and causing the agonies of all people in Lebanon.

“ US embassy in Beirut force the Lebanese authorities to adopt or avoid certain policies. The Lebanese government must abide by the national interests’ requirements away from the US interventions.”

Hezbollah Leader also noted that the US siege on Syria and plunder of Syrian oil has caused the socioeconomic crisis in that country.

The US sanctions on Iran have prevented Iraq from paying the costs of the Iranian oil, Sayyed Nasrallah said, adding that Washington plots to let the Iraqis say Tehran is behind their power shortage crisis.

Sayyed Nasrallah drew the conclusion that the US administration has been behind all the woes of the Arab and Muslim nations, adding that getting rid of the US interventions pave the way to the Umma victories.

Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that the families of Beirut Port blast martyrs must know that who politicized investigation against Hezbollah obliterated the truth of the explosion.

Competent authorities sent me messages that confirm Hezbollah innocence, Saytyed Nasrallah said, stressing that the criminals behind Beirut Port blast must be revealed and tried.

Similarly, Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that trivial media outlets and politicians are accusing Hezbollah of being behind Ain Al-Hilweh battle.

“A Party chief met with the US ambassador Dorothy Shea and, then, accused Hezbollah of being behind Ain Al-Hilweh clashes.”

Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized Hezbollah opposes the clashes in Ain Al-Hilweh camp and calls for an immediate ceasefire, adding that the clashes are unfortunate and painful.

Hezbollah Secretary General also hailed the firefighters attempting to extinguish the fire devouring fabrics factory in Beirut’s Dahiyeh, praising the martyr Mohammad Al-Didi and condoling his father.

Finally, Sayyed Nasrallah voiced his gratitude to Sheikh Naboulsi, thanking his soul for all his love and support.

Sayyed Nasrallah confirmed that Hezbollah will pursue the will of Sheikh Naboulsi in order to achiever more victories.

“Your Hezbollah sons and lovers will liberate Al-Quds and pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque on your behalf.”

Source: Al-Manar English Website

Related Videos

The most prominent of what came in Sayyed Nasrallah’s speech at the memorial ceremony of Sheikh Afif Al-Nabulsi

Related Articles

• Sayyed Nasrallah: Lebanon must Get Rid of US Hegemony  
• Ceasefire Proportionally Succeeds in Ain Al-Hilweh, Hamas Chief Pleads Sayyed Nasrallah to Intervene 
• Iran-Syria Cooperation Shows Victory of Resistance Movement: President Raisi

Nasrallah: Muslims must punish those who desecrate the Quran

 July 29, 2023

Source: Al Mayadeen

Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaking on the tenth of Muharram. (Screengrab) 

By Al Mayadeen English

In his speech during the commemoration of the day of Ashura, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, touches on the desecration of the Holy Quran, the blockade imposed on Syria and Yemen, the presidential file in Lebanon, as well as the recent events on the Lebanese-Palestinian border.

On the anniversary of the commemoration of the tenth of Muharram, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said, “The slogan of our rally is to defend two valuable things, the Book of God and Ahl al-Bayt.”

With regard to the Holy Qur’an, Nasrallah added, “The Swedish and Dutch governments and the whole world must understand that we are an Ummah that does not tolerate any attack or desecration of its sanctities.”

He added that for hundreds of years, the nation has been built culturally, spiritually, and emotionally to reject grievance, humiliation, and aggression. That said, he stressed that the “insistence that took place over the past few days on the desecration of the Quran in Denmark is an attack on Islam and a billion Muslims.”

Speaking on the day of #Ashura, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah denounced the repeated desecration of the #Quran by #Sweden and #Denmark, calling on Islamic countries to assume their responsibilities in taking a stand to defend Islamic sanctities.

The leader of the #Lebanese Resistance… pic.twitter.com/lGTUIIK49A

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 29, 2023

The Secretary-General believes that the countries part of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation should convey a strong and resolute message to these governments that such attacks will be met with a diplomatic and political boycott. He continues, however, that “if Islamic countries fail to act [in defense of the Quran], then Muslim youth must act in accordance with their responsibility and punish the desecrators and await no one to defend their religion.”

Nasrallah warned that if nations don’t take such an action, then the brave and zealous Muslim youth in the world must punish those who desecrate the burning of the Qur’an in defense of their religion and should not wait for anyone to defend it for them. 

He added that the Muslim youth in the world will act freely if the two governments do not stop such attacks, and the world will witness their zeal and readiness to sacrifice in defense of the Qur’an,” revealing that this year’s slogan is: “Labaik (At your service), O’ Quran, Labaik, O’ Hussein, Labaik, O’ Mahdi.”

‘We support Palestine with everything we own’

Regarding the repeated desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by barbaric Zionists, the enemy must see a definite stance by all Muslims.

Nasrallah stressed that this region will not rest until the “cancer [“Israel”] is removed,” and stressed that the Palestinian people are now walking in the path of resistance.

Nasrallah pointed out that “the Palestinian people today believe more than ever in the resistance, place their hopes on it and on the axis of resistance in the region, offering martyrs and striving with knives, explosive devices, pistols, and stones.”

Likewise, Nasrallah affirmed in his speech that, “Hezbollah and the resistance stand by the Palestinian people with everything they own.”

Nasrallah warns the Zionist entity

In the same context, Nasrallah touched on the recent events regarding the Lebanese southern border with occupied Palestine and stressed that “Lebanon is the aggressor, and the enemy entity is still occupying parts of our land.”

He recalled that the Israeli enemy had reoccupied part of the town of Ghajar in the past weeks, “and brazenly talks about the resistance’s provocations on the borders.”

Nasrallah addressed the occupation Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and entity leaders saying: “Beware of any foolishness,” because the resistance in Lebanon “will not be complacent and will not abandon its responsibilities of protection or deterrence, and will be ready to face any mistake or act of foolishness.”

‘Opening doors for serious talks regarding the presidential file in Lebanon’

Regarding the presidential elections in Lebanon, Nasrallah said, “It is clear that everyone will wait for September, and we believe that opening the door to serious talks may open up prospects in the presidential file.”

He also said that the caretaker government in Lebanon must “continue to shoulder its responsibility, especially the complications of people’s lives,” stressing that the “parliament must not be disrupted.”

Nasrallah renewed his statement that “Hezbollah’s position is to defend Lebanon, its people, and its oil, gas, and water from looting”, in rejection of “humiliation, submission, and surrender”.

‘Yemen demonstrated legendary steadfastness’

At the end of the Ashura day rally, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah stated, “The Yemeni people believed in the resistance, Karbala and its culture, and presented this legendary steadfastness in the face of aggression.”

Following eight years of war, the Yemeni people have the right to “lift the blockade imposed on Yemen, stop the aggression against it, and take the appropriate decision and choice.”

‘Caesar was imposed to subjugate Damascus after US military failure’

As for Syria, Nasrallah said that the US Casar Act is an “unjust” law designed to subjugate Damascus “after its political and military failure.”

He believed that “every free and honorable person must strive to break this siege.”  

Sacrilege… What punitive policies deter these practices? | 2023-07-29

Imam Khamenei talks about the demise of the occupation entity

Related Stories

• S. Nasrallah Warns ‘Israel’ Against Any Folly, Delivers Transnational Address On Ashura
• Will rally on Saturday in defense of Quran, all oppressed: Nasrallah
• Sayyed Nasrallah calls for public outcry against Quran burning
• Nasrallah calls for protests against Quran desecration in Sweden
• Call For Readiness And Resistance: Yemeni Leader’s Address On Ashura Anniversary
• Lebanon.. Mass rallies in commemoration of Ashura
• Sayyed Nasrallah: ‘Unofficial’ Truce in Yemen Not Sufficient
• A major women’s march in the capital, Sana’a, to commemorate Ashura, under the slogan…

US Terrorists Blow up a Bus in Homs Killing and Injuring 14

JUNE 18, 2023

 SAFAA SYRIA

US-sponsored terrorists blew up a bus carrying passengers near a main checkpoint in Homs countryside earlier this morning killing and injuring 14 people.

The terrorist attack occurred at the Al Mushrefa town checkpoint 13 kilometers to the northeast of the city of Homs in a military bus taking soldiers to their work in the early morning while students were also heading to their high school final exams on the same road.

Initial reports said there were 3 martyrs one of them is a soldier and 2 civilians, and 11 were injured, 5 of them at least suffering severe wounds and remain in intensive care by the time of this report, some of the casualties were from civilian cars passing by.

US-sponsored ISIS blow up a bus in Homs killing and injuring many

The names of the martyrs:

1. Ali Ahmad Aqil/ military
2. Mohammad Fayez Amin/ civilian
3. Ahmad Horieh/ civilian

The names of the injured:

1. Wassim Al Dhyab
2. Samer Balloul
3. Hafez Ismail
4. Tha’er Shaaban
5. Haidar Ali
6. Yarub Al Solaiman
7. Mosaab Al Ali
8. Lieutenant Colonel Danial Al Khatib
9. Aziz Al Solaiman
10. Ahmad Sammouni
11. Duraid Al Ahmad

The casualties were rushed to the hospitals in Homs.

This terrorist attack comes 5 days after US-sponsored terrorists, believed to be from ISIS assassinated a ranking Syrian Arab Army officer, Brigadier Jaafar Ali Al Akhras, in the southern neighborhood of Al-Iddikhar in the city of Homs by blowing up his car.

Brigadier Al Akhras commanded Syrian Arab Army (SAA) units in a number of Syrian cities and was known for his outstanding courage, especially in close combats with Al Qaeda and its ISIS (ISIL – Daesh) offshoot, he was in the front of liberating Daraya city south of Damascus about 7 years ago.

Obviously, the USA and its camp of evil Zionist Nazis and evildoers especially of the NATO ‘defensive’ alliance and their regional stooges, mainly Qatar and terrorist groups are upset about the recent rapprochements with Syria taken by a number of Arab and non-Arab states despite its tedious efforts to block these rapprochements without achieving its main goal of the war of terror and attrition on Syria.

Officials from the USA, the European Union, and some Arab states have explicitly vowed to increase the economic siege on Syria and threatened to impose sanctions on countries and businesses dealing with Syria, at the same time, allowing ISIS terrorists to flee from its ‘high-security prisons’ and from the ISIS breeding camps of Al Hol and Rukban in the northeast and southeast of Syria it runs with the help of its Kurdish SDF separatist terrorists.

Today’s explosion has all the fingerprints of ISIS, the US-created, sponsored, trained, armed, funded, and commanded offshoot terrorist group from Al Qaeda, the original US-created, sponsored, trained, armed, funded, and commanded terrorist group founded in Afghanistan and spread wherever the USA wants to invade to ‘combat terrorism’ as its officials claim.

ISIS affiliate Maghawir Thawra thanking the USA for the new gear in the Syrian Al Tanf

US Army Held a ‘Military Drill’ with an ISIS Affiliated Group in the Syrian Al Tanf

The Pentagon Threatening to Revive ISIS

Syria News is a collaborative effort by two authors only, we end up most of the months paying from our pockets to maintain the site’s presence online, if you like our work and want us to remain online you can help by chipping in a couple of Euros/ Dollars or any other currency so we can meet our site’s costs.

You can also donate with Cryptocurrencies through our donate page.
Thank you in advance.

• Syrian Army Kills Al Qaeda Landmines Commander in Aleppo
• Syrian Police Officer Shot Dead by US-sponsored ISIS in Daraa
• Helicopter Incident ‘Takes Out’ 22 US Soldiers in Syria

مقاربات ما بعد الزلزال: الإمارات أثبتُ «المُصالحين»

 الخميس 16 شباط 2023

اللافت هو الموقف الأميركي غير المُتشدّد، أقلّه راهناً، إزاء الانفتاح العربي على سوريا (أ ف ب)

مصطفى شلش  

عادت سوريا، عقب الزلزال المدمّر الذي ضربها وتركيا في السادس من شباط، إلى واجهة الأحداث، لكن هذه المرّة على وقْع الخلاف حول كيفية إدخال المساعدات الدولية والأممية إلى البلد المنكوب، في ظلّ وجود مناطق خارجة عن سيطرة دمشق، والعقوبات الأميركية والأوروبية المفروضة على الأخيرة. وجدت واشنطن وبروكسل نفسَيهما، إثر ذلك، واقعتَين تحت ضغط الحاجة إلى التراجع عن حصارهما الخانق ضدّ سوريا، بينما بدأت مقاربات الدول العربية تتّخذ أشكالاً أكثر وضوحاً وثباتاً، بعدما هيمنت عليها، خلال عام 2022، الحرب الروسية – الأوكرانية، وأزاحت سوريا من قائمة أولوياتها (على عكْس الفترة الواقعة بين عامَي 2011 و2019)، وشغلتْها بمحاولة الموازنة بين الولايات المتحدة والاتحاد الأوروبي وروسيا والهند والصين.

وكانت المتغيرّات التي شهدها الإقليم منذ عام 2013، بدءاً من إطاحة حُكم «الإخوان المسلمين» في مصر، مروراً بنموّ التنظيمات الإرهابية وسيطرتها على مساحات واسعة في سوريا والعراق، لعبت دوراً في إعادة تشكيل التحالفات، حيث اضطرّت قطر وتركيا إلى إجراء تغييرات تكتيكية في دعْمها للجماعات الإسلامية، بينما بدأت بلدان أخرى مِن مِثل السعودية والإمارات وبشكل أقلّ الجزائر تستشعر خطراً متزايداً من تلك الجماعات. هكذا، تَقلّص تدريجاً الدعم المالي – الهائل – للمعارضة السورية المسلّحة التي سيطرت عليها في أغلبها تيّارات إسلامويّة مُتطرّفة، فيما لم تَعُد مسألة تغيير النظام السوري عبر العمل المسلّح ممكنة، خصوصاً منذ اقتحام روسيا الساحة السورية عام 2015. وعلى خطّ موازٍ، أصبحت البلدان الخليجية (السعودية والإمارات) ومصر – بشكل أقلّ – أكثر قلقاً على أمن الملاحة البحرية، ومن النفوذ الإيراني المُتزايد في العراق وسوريا ولبنان وحديثاً اليمن، بالإضافة إلى مخاطر الأمن السيبراني والإرهاب.
وبنتيجة كلّ تلك المتغيّرات، وعلى ضوء أداء الدول العربية في أعقاب الزلزال الكارثة، يمكن القول إن ثمّة مقاربتَين عربيتَين في التعامل مع القضية السورية، الأولى إماراتية – مصرية، والثانية سعودية. وإذ تشترك كلتاهما في هدف واحد هو إنهاء الصراع وعودة الاستقرار والأمن إلى البلاد، إلّا أنهما تختلفان في الوسائل والطُرق والخطاب الديبلوماسي.

المقاربة الأولى (الإماراتية – المصرية)

الاتّصال الإماراتي – المصري مع دمشق، استند إلى التحوّل في أولويات السياسة الخارجية للبلدَين، وتقدير مصالحهما الاقتصادية والأمن القومي، وهو ما بدأ منذ عام 2013. آنذاك، توقّفت أبو ظبي والقاهرة عن تبنّي موقف الإدانة الحادّ والعلني ضدّ النظام السوري والدعم الكامل للمعارضة، كما كان سائداً بين عامَي 2011 و2012. بالنسبة إلى القاهرة، بقيت القنوات الديبلوماسية والاقتصادية والاستخبارية مفتوحة بشكل غير رسمي، فيما سُجّلت عام 2014 أوّل زيارة للرئيس المصري، عبد الفتاح السيسي، إلى سوريا، حيث أعلن أن الأخيرة هي العمق الاستراتيجي لمصر، ودعا إلى احترام وحدة أراضيها، محذّراً من تقسيمها أو تفتيتها، ومؤكداً أن هذه المسألة على صلة بالأمن القومي المصري. في السنوات الأخيرة، لم يتغيّر موقف القاهرة عملياً؛ إذ جدّد وزير الخارجية، سامح شكري، في عام 2020، التأكيد أن بلاده «مصمِّمة على عودة سوريا إلى مكانها الطبيعي على الساحتَين الإقليمية والدولية». لكن مصر ظلّت حريصة على إظهار نوع من التمايز في موقفها، وهي رعت اتّفاقَي تهدئة في الغوطة الشرقية وفي ريف حمص الشمالي، كما سمحت لأحمد الجربا، الرئيس السابق لـ«الائتلاف السوري» المُعارض، بأن يمارس نشاطه السياسي عبر ما يُسمّى «الغد السوري».

الروابط الإماراتية مع سوريا ستتعمّق تدريجياً وتتزايد فاعليتها

أمّا أبو ظبي فحسمت أمرها لاحقاً بالانفتاح على دمشق، خصوصاً مع تفاقُم التوتّرات الإقليمية في ملفَّي ليبيا واليمن بين عامَي 2015 و2018، وتوسُّع الحضور التُركي والإيراني على نحوٍ بات من وجهة نظرها بحاجة إلى تركيز جهود أكبر، بالإضافة إلى التوتّر داخل البيت الخليجي وقطْع العلاقات مع قطر. كذلك، لعبت المصالح المشتركة دوراً في التقارب بين سوريا والإمارات، ولا سيما أن الأخيرة كانت ثاني أكبر استثمار أجنبي مُباشر في الأولى قبل عام 2011. هكذا، استغلّت أبو ظبي قوّتها الاقتصادية في دمشق، واعتبرت أن الانخراط مع النظام سوف يأخذه بعيداً ولو بشكل تدريجي عن إيران، وأن تقديم حوافز له قد يؤدّي إلى إحراز تقدّم أفضل ممّا أفرزتْه فرضيات غير واقعية لم تنجح أبداً لأكثر من عقْد. وعليه، أضحت الإمارات «الشريك التجاري الأبرز لسوريا» بحسب وزير الاقتصاد الإماراتي، عبد الله المري، الذي أعلن أن التجارة غير النفطية بلغت 272 مليون دولار عام 2021.

المقاربة الثانية (السعودية)

لا تريد السعودية رؤية سوريا مجزّأة خوفاً من تأثير ذلك غير المباشر على المنطقة، لكنها تتطلّع إلى تقليص نفوذ إيران قبل أيّ تطبيع سياسي أو اقتصادي مع دمشق، التي لم تنسَ بعد، من جانبها، انخراط الرياض القوي في دعم أقوى فصائل عسكرية مُعارضة للنظام (خصوصاً “جيش الإسلام” بقيادة زهران علوش). في نهاية عام 2021، وجّه ممثّل السعودية لدى الأمم المتحدة، عبد الله المعلمي، نقداً لاذعاً إلى سوريا، قائلاً: «لا تُصدّقوا إذا قالوا إن الحرب انتهت في سوريا، وما هو النصر الذي حقّقتْه دمشق إذا وقف زعيمهم على هرَم من الجثث؟». لكن هذا الموقف الحادّ لم يَعنِ عودة المملكة إلى دعْم العمل المُسلّح في سوريا، بل بدا متعلّقاً بالدرجة الأولى بموقف دمشق مِن الهجمات الصاروخية التي تشنّها حركة «أنصار الله» اليمنية ضدّ أهداف سعودية؛ إذ ظلّت الحكومة السورية ملتزمة الصمت إزاءها، فيما ظهرت، في تشرين الأول 2021، صورة للملحق العسكري لسلطات صنعاء، العقيد شرف الماوري، مع رئيس المخابرات العسكرية السورية، أثناء اجتماعهما في دمشق.
على هذه الخلفيّة، كما يبدو، لم تسهّل السعودية عودة سوريا إلى مقعدها في «جامعة الدول العربية»، لكن ذلك لم يمنع التعاون الاستخباري بين الرياض ودمشق؛ إذ تردّدت تسريبات، أواخر عام 2022، عن أن مدير المخابرات السورية، اللواء حسام لوقا، قام بزيارة سرّية إلى الرياض عبر مطار بيروت، استغرقت 4 أيام، بعدما كان شهد عام 2021 حدثَين مُهمَّين، هما:

اولا- اجتماع كشفت عنه مصادر مصرية بين لوقا، ورئيس المخابرات السعودية خالد الحميدان، في القاهرة، في ما بدا أقرب إلى محاولة مصرية لتقريب وجهات النظر من بوّابة الأمن القومي الداخلي والإقليمي.

ثانيا- مشاركة وفد من وزارة السياحة السورية برئاسة وزير السياحة، محمد مرتيني، في الاجتماع الـ47 لـ«لجنة منظّمة السياحة العالمية للشرق الأوسط» في العاصمة السعودية الرياض، حيث كانت تلك أوّل زيارة علنية لمسؤول سوري إلى المملكة منذ أكثر من عقد.

على أن ثمّة ملفّاً آخر يجعل الموقف السعودي أكثر تشدُّداً حيال سوريا، متمثّلاً في حركة تهريب المخدرات من الجنوب السوري إلى دول الخليج عبر الأردن، وهو ما تُفضّل عمّان معالجته عبر حلّ سياسي يعيد الاستقرار إلى البلاد، ويتيح مكافحة الميليشيات المُنفلتة والحدّ من تجارة المخدرات عبر الحدود. ويُضاف إلى ما تَقدّم الخلاف السعودي – السوري حول ملفّ «حزب الله»، ودوره السياسي في لبنان، حيث يحظى بدعم سوري مُطلق، فيما ترى المملكة إلى ضرورة تحجيم هذا الدور، خصوصاً أن السعوديين يَعتبرون لبنان منصّة «عدائية» ضدّهم في ما يتعلّق بالملفّ اليمني، سواءً لناحية تقديم الحزب دعماً عسكرياً مفترَضاً لـ«أنصار الله»، أو استضافتِه القنوات الإيرانية الناطقة بالعربية أو تلك اليمنية التي تبثّ ضدّ المملكة.

المستقبل السياسي للمقاربتَين

تلقّى الرئيس السوري، بشار الأسد، مكالمة هاتفية مِن كلّ من وليّ عهد أبو ظبي محمد بن زايد، والرئيس المصري عبد الفتاح السيسي، للتعزية بضحايا الزلزال، والتعهّد بتقديم الدعم اللازم لدمشق، في وقت حطّت فيه طائرة وزير الخارجية الإماراتي، عبد الله بن زايد، في سوريا، كأبرز مسؤول عربي يزور البلاد خلال الكارثة التي حلّت بها. في المقابل، لم يتمّ الإعلان عن أيّ تواصل رسمي مِن قيادات المملكة مع دمشق، في حين بدأت الرياض تسيير رحلات مساعدات إلى المناطق الخاضعة لسيطرة الحكومة السورية، توازياً مع تقديمها دعماً إنسانياً للشمال الغربي حيث معاقل المعارضة، تماماً مثلما فعلتْ أيضاً القاهرة حتى تُظهر نفسها كعنصر محايد وقادر على التواصل مع الأطراف كافّة، وهو ما تتفهّمه دمشق التي حرصت، أقلّه عبر وسائل إعلامها، على إظهار امتنانها لمصر، وفي الوقت نفسه عدم توجيه أيّ نقد غير ديبلوماسي إلى السعودية.

اللافت هو الموقف الأميركي غير المُتشدّد، أقلّه راهناً، إزاء الانفتاح العربي على سوريا، علماً أن شركات إماراتية كانت بدأت بالفعل ببناء محطّة طاقة شمسية بقدرة 300 ميغاوات بالقرب من دمشق منذ منتصف تشرين الثاني 2021، بينما تعتزم القاهرة المشاركة في أيّ عملية إعادة إعمار سوريا. ومع بدء التقارب التركي – السوري، والأردني – السوري، ستكون واشنطن أمام مهمّة صعبة في لجْم رغبة حلفائها في المنطقة في البحث عن مصالحهم الأمنية والاقتصادية، والانفصال عن مقارباتها في غير ملفّ، خصوصاً أن هذه الأخيرة تبدو متقلّبة وغير ضامنة للاستقرار.

وفي انتظار ما سيتكشّف في الأيام المقبلة، فإن الروابط الإماراتية مع سوريا ستتعمّق تدريجياً وتتزايد فاعليتها، بينما ستُحافظ مصر على موقفها الرافض لتغيير النظام عبر العمل المسلّح، والدافع نحو إجراءات سياسية تنهي حالة اللااستقرار. أمّا العلاقات السعودية – السورية الحالية فهي صعبة، وأمامها طريق طويل للوصول إلى نقطة التطبيع؛ فكلا البلدَين لديهما مصالح متضاربة مع إيران وفي لبنان والعراق، بينما تصبح المسألة اليمنية ورقة مناورة لصالح دمشق تَعتبرها الرياض خطّاً أحمر. لذا، ستبقى هذه العلاقات، أقلّه الآن، محصورة في التنسيق الأمني ضدّ الإرهاب وفي مكافحة الجرائم الدولية من خلال تبادُل المعلومات.

من ملف : الأردن يكمل استدارته: هذا أوان مصالحة سوريا

الغرب – سوريا: «الوحوش الباردة» تبدّل حساباتها

  السبت 11 شباط 2023

(أ ف ب )

وليد شرارة

«الدولة أبرد الوحوش»

فردريك نيتشه، «هكذا تكلم زردشت»

بعد عدة أيام من التجاهل الغربي الكامل للضحايا السوريين بفعل الزلزال المروع الذي ضرب سوريا وتركيا، أصدرت وزارة الخزانة الأميركية ترخيصاً عاماً يسمح بجميع المعاملات المتعلّقة بالإغاثة من الزلزال، والتي كانت محظورة بموجب لوائح العقوبات المفروضة على سوريا، وذلك لمدة 180 يوماً. وعلى الرغم من أن هول الكارثة التي حلّت بالسوريين يحض على الإفادة من أيّ خطوة أو قرار لمواجهة آثارها وتداعياتها، فإن السعي للفهم الدقيق لخلفيات مثل هذه الخطوات والقرارات، يبقى أمراً شديد الأهمية، خاصة في حالة سوريا. فحرب التدمير المنهجية التي تعرّض لها هذا البلد من قِبل ائتلاف دولي – إقليمي متعدّد قبل الزلزال الأخير، وما نجم عنها من خراب عميم، تدفع تلقائياً إلى إمعان النظر في «يقظة الضمير»، المفاجئة، لدى بعض أفرقاء هذا الائتلاف، حيال المأساة السورية الراهنة.

قد يكون من المفيد بدايةً إعادة النظر في بعض المفاهيم التي يَكثر استخدامها في السياق الحالي، وفي المقدمة منها مفهوم «المساعدات الإنسانية». فهذا النمط من المساعدات ينطلق تعريفاً من اعتبارات مبدئية وقيمية «إنسانية»، أي منزّهة عن حسابات المصالح وتعظيم النفوذ، ومتحرّراً من الانحيازات والانتقائية التي تُمليها مثل هذه الحسابات. على أنه لا يمكن إدراج المساعدات التي تقدّمها دولة ما لجهة حليفة، إن كانت دولتية أو غير دولتية، في خانة «الإنسانية»، لأنها تأتي ترجمة للتحالف، أو لتقاطع في المصالح، وإن كانت غايتها الإسهام في العون على مواجهة مفاعيل كارثة طبيعية أو خسائر بشرية ومادية متأتية عن نزاع. وحتى عندما تبادر الدول إلى إرسال مساعدات وفرق إغاثة إلى بقعة أخرى من العالم، يرتبط ذلك بدبلوماسية المساعدات، وغايتها تعزيز الموقع الدولي للجهة «المساعِدة»، والتأكيد أنها قوة فاعلة لا غنى عنها، وتحسين صورتها وسمعتها و«قوتها الناعمة»، وما يستتبع هذا من زيادة في نفوذها في البقعة المذكورة وعلى الصعيد العالمي.

الدول ليست جمعيات خيرية ولا هيئات إنسانية، خاصة تلك التي كانت حتى زمن ليس ببعيد مركزاً إمبراطورياً للعالم، نشرت في أنحاء جنوبه الموت والدمار وتحكّمت بمصائر شعوبه وثرواتها لقرون طويلة. دول المركز الإمبريالي الغربي، قبل غيرها، «وحوش باردة» لا ضمير لها، يحرّكها المفهوم السائد في أوساط نخبها لِما تراه مصالح عليا للدولة، غالباً ما تتطابق مع مصالحها الخاصة، واستراتيجيات السيطرة والتحكّم التي تعتمدها تجاه البلدان والشعوب الأخرى. سبق للفيلسوف فردريك نيتشه في كتابه «هكذا تكلم زردشت»، أن اعتبر أن «الدولة أبرد الوحوش»، واستعاد الرئيس الفرنسي، شارل ديغول، المقولة نفسها في حوار شهير مع مساعديه. من الممكن خوض نقاش طويل حول الدور الفعلي الذي تضطلع به الهيئات والوكالات التابعة للأمم المتحدة، وأيضاً حول دور المنظمات غير الحكومية، المعنية بالشأن الإنساني، ومدى تأثير القوى الغربية على أجنداتها وسياساتها، لكن ما يعنينا هنا هو تسليط الضوء على دور الدول بالذات، والمساعدات التي تقدّمها أو تسمح بتوفيرها. فقد أضحى سلاح العقوبات، أي حصار وتجويع شعوب بأسرها إلى درجة حرمانها من أبسط مقوّمات البقاء في بعض الأحيان، أحد أمضى أسلحة الحروب الهجينة الغربية التي تُشنّ ضد شعوب منطقتنا منذ عقود، وبينها الشعب السوري، ولن يتحوّل مهندسو هذه الحرب، بفعل زلزال كارثي، إلى هيئة إغاثة!

استراتجية خنق سوريا بالعقوبات، وبحرمانها من مواردها الطبيعية، التي يقع جزء رئيس منها في مناطق الشرق السوري الخاضعة لسيطرة ميليشيات «قسد»، «الحليفة» للولايات المتحدة الأميركية، كانت سياسة رسمية لواشنطن في عهد إدارة دونالد ترامب، وهو ما أشرنا إليه في مقال في «الأخبار» بعنوان «وصفة لخراب سوريا» في 1 آذار 2021، وهي لم تتغيّر على أرض الواقع في ظلّ إدارة جو بايدن. وقد أقرّ جويل رايبورن، المبعوث الأميركي الخاص إلى سوريا أيام ترامب، أمام الكثير من زواره، أن «لا ضير من صوملة هذا البلد»، إن كان ذلك سيفضي إلى كسر هذه الحلقة المركزية في محور المقاومة. ما الذي تغيّر اليوم؟ من البديهي أن واشنطن لا تنظر بعين الرضى إلى شروع الإمارات في تطبيع علاقاتها مع سوريا، وإبداء السعودية في مناسبات عدّة استعدادها لفعل الأمر عينه. وعلى الرغم من أن تلك الأطراف تحرص على التأكيد أن هكذا خطوة ستزيد من قدرتها مستقبلاً على التأثير على الموقف السوري، والسعي لإبعاد دمشق عن طهران قدر المستطاع، لم تقنع حجّتها الطرف الأميركي الذي تدخّل أكثر من مرة لتعطيل عملية التطبيع المشار إليها. ولا شك في أن ما اتّضح من تباعد في السياسات بين دول الخليج والولايات المتحدة، على خلفية الأزمة الأوكرانية، والتطور الكبير في علاقات الأولى مع الصين، والذي فُسّر على أنه مؤشّر إلى اتّساع هامش استقلالية هذه البلدان حيال واشنطن، هو من بين أسباب معارضة واشنطن لانفتاح خليجي على دمشق يستند أساساً إلى أجندة خاصة لا إلى الأجندة الأميركية.

الكارثة الإنسانية قد تكون عامل تسريع لعملية الانفتاح المذكورة، وقد تشجّع أطرافاً إقليمية ودولية أخرى على اتخاذ قرارات مماثلة. فقد كشفت معلومات جرى تسريبها إلى وسائل الإعلام الفرنسية أن هناك جهوداً إماراتية لحمل باريس على تطبيع تدريجي مع سوريا. صحيح أن وزيرة الخارجية الفرنسية، كاترين كولونا، ساقت في مقابلة مع «الشرق الأوسط»، أياماً قبل الزلزال، سلسلة اتهامات لسوريا ورفضت أي تطبيع معها، إلا أن مقالاً للصحافي جورج مالبرونو في «لوفيغارو»، أفاد منذ يومين بأن مثل هذا النقاش يدور في أوساط الرئاسة الفرنسية، وأن البعض يرى ضرورة المباشرة في حوار مع دمشق حتى لا تبقى باريس خارج مسار يتسارع في المنطقة. في كلّ الأحوال، وبمعزل عما إن كانت دول غربية ستتجرّأ على عدم الالتزام بالإملاءات الأميركية، فإن تطبيعاً عربياً مع سوريا، في الظروف الراهنة، سيعزّز من موقفها، ويخفّف من وطأة الحرب الاقتصادية التي تخاض ضدها، من دون أن تقدّم من جهتها أي تنازل بالنسبة إلى دورها في الإقليم وثوابتها المعروفة. في مثل ذلك السياق، يأتي قرار وزارة الخزانة الأميركية كتكتيك يهدف إلى عرقلة مساعي التطبيع، عبر محاولة التمييز بين المساعدات المقدّمة لمواجهة حالة الطوارئ الراهنة التي تعاني منها سوريا ومثل هذه المساعي. «الوحش البارد» الأميركي يلجأ إلى مناورة مكشوفة للمضيّ في حربه ضد سوريا، ومن يريد الوقوف إلى جانب شعبها عليه القطع الكامل مع سياسات التنكيل به التي اتُّبعت في مرحلة سابقة، وفتح صفحة جديدة في علاقاته معها.

من ملف : الغرب – سوريا: حسابات الوحوش الباردة

فيديوات ذات صلة

مقالات ذات صلة

• قانون وادي النحلة يهزم قانون قيصر
• عيد مار مارون
• زلزال سوريا والدور الإنساني الغائب
• ضحايا الزلزال وفيات ومصابين أكثر من 100 ألف والمتضررون أكثر من 25 مليوناً/ الأسد يحيي صمود شعبه والأصدقاء من حلب: الحالة الإنسانية غير موجودة لدى الغرب/ حردان يشيد بنهضة القوميين لنجدة سورية: الإعلان الأميركي عن تجميد قانون قيصر خديعة/
• دائرة الانفتاح العربي تتوسّع | دمشق – إدلب: بداية ثقب في «الجدار»
• جسر سعودي بالاسم… والدوحة «تنسى» السوريين: «فالق» خليجي يحجب المساعدات
• زلزال تركيا وسوريا.. الصين تمد جسور التضامن الأممي
• الغرب – سوريا: حسابات الوحوش الباردة
• الأوروبيون يفتحون عيناً واحدة: مأساة سوريا غير مرئيّة
• متى تستيقظ إنسانية الولايات المتحدة الزائفة؟
• حتمية رفع الحصار عن سورية!

Syria and US War Crimes: The Reckoning is Coming

JANUARY 23, 2023

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° 

Christopher Black
In an article published here in November 2018, I referred to the statement of the UK representative of a UN organisation named the International, Impartial, Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011.

I will repeat that statement because it is relevant to the current situation in Syria. That person stated,

“We must demonstrate that those who have committed the most serious crimes of international concern can have no place to hide. There must be no impunity for the horrendous acts taking place on a daily basis in Syria. There must be justice for the victims.”

The UK representative said this without any sense of irony, without any sense of shame, for, of course, it is the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada and their gang who have committed war crimes, and crimes against humanity beyond number in Syria since they instigated the uprisings against the government of Syria, beginning in 2011, supported their allied terrorists groups to attack Syrian armed forces and civilians, and imposed their illegal sanctions on the people of Syria.

The history of the war against Syria by the US and UK, Israel and their allies is well-known, the cruel sanctions, the aerial bombings, the missile attacks, the assassinations, the torture, the illegal occupation of the Golan Heights by Israel with US support, and, finally, the US invasion of Syria that began in 2015 with US special forces raids into its territory on a number of occasions that year and 2016 and the formal entry of US forces on March 8, 2017. Their invasion has continued to this day.

During the summer of 2017 US forces laid waste the city of Raqqa, Their carpet bombing of the city, their heavy artillery strikes and use of white phosphorous shells, banned under international law, killed hundreds of civilians, and today Raqqa lies in ruins.  Their terrorist allies laid waste Aleppo, Damascus and numerous other cities and towns and villages with a savagery as common to US trained groups, as it is to the US forces themselves.

The Americans gave all sorts of pretexts for this invasion, none of which were true and none of which gave them any legal basis for their aggression, for that is what their actions were; direct and brutal aggression against a sovereign nation in violation of the Nuremberg Principles established in 1946, in violation of the Kellog-Briand Pact of 1928, in which all these nations agreed not to attack any other nation, and in violation of the UN Charter, all of which the aggressor nations were subject to as part of international law and their own domestic law.

The invasion ordered by President Obama, making him a war criminal, expanded in scope until President Trump ordered American forces to be pulled out in 2019.  But US forces still remain in occupation of the northeastern parts of Syria. Their exact number is not known but it is at least one thousand and probably higher than that as they continue to build bases controlling the important oil fields that provide much of Syria’s energy needs and cash for exports as well as areas of wheat production vital to the survival of the Syrian state and its people.  The Americans continue to provide their usual pretexts for this, such as “fighting terrorism” “containing Russian influence in the Middle East, or supporting the Kurdish forces opposing both Syria and Turkey.

On January 10, 2023, in the magazine Defense One, William Roebuck, an American with the long title of Former Deputy Envoy for the Global Coalition against ISIS, repeated all these pretexts as justification for the American invasion but added, in calling for the invasion to continue,

“Our presence also blocks Russian consolidation of its military mission in Syria, undercutting one of the key sources of Moscow’s surprisingly resilient prestige in the region and hence lending support to our Ukraine policy efforts,”

thereby linking the US invasion and occupation of Syria to the US-NATO aggression against Russia in Ukraine.

Of course Mr. Roebuck could not cite any legal reasons or justifications as to why the US should be able to continue its occupation, because there are none, but as is common with all American and NATO governments and their officials, they could not care less about the law or morality.

The Syrian government states the situation clearly.

Om January 12, the Syrian Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Muhammad Hassan Qatana, affirmed that the exceptional circumstances that Syria is passing through because of the terrorist war, instigated by the United States, and unilateral coercive measures have badly affected achievements of many years of sustainable development and caused large losses.

On January 13, Syrian Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister, Bassam Tu’ma, said that the US occupation of parts of the Syrian territory, including oil resources, and the illegal sanctions imposed by Washington on Syria, cause great suffering on the Syrian People.

These statements follow the August 22, 2022, report in Tass that,

“According to the Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, U.S.-led entities illegally export up to 66,000 barrels of oil daily, representing 80% of the daily production of hydrocarbons. The scale of Washington’s oil theft has reached a peak. Because of this the humanitarian situation in the country remains difficult, millions of Syrians face energy, food and water shortages and are in need of basic necessities.”

“Russia and Syria strongly condemn the plundering of the natural resources. The US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces currently control most of Syria’s eastern and northeastern Al-Hasakah, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces. The US military command has established nine military bases there since 2015. Damascus views the US military presence in Syria as an illegal occupation.”

On December 14, 2022, the Syrian government in a statement to the Security Council stated,

“Syria condemns the actions of the US occupation forces and demands an end to the illegal US military presence on its territory.

“Syria draws the attention of the international community to the systematic plundering of the natural resources of the Syrian people by the United States and associated paramilitary units,” the statement said.

“Damascus,” it said, “demands the return to the Syrian state of the captured oil and gas fields and the payment of compensation for the stolen resources.” The ministry’s statement provides data on the losses that Syria has suffered in recent years from the theft of its oil, gas and other minerals, as well as wheat. They are estimated by Syria at $19.8 billion. In addition, the bombing by the Air Force of the Western coalition caused the country damage worth $2.9 billion.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said “further silence of the UN Security Council on the aggressive policy of the United States and the violation of the principles of international law is unacceptable.”

“It’s impossible to ignore the suffering of Syrians as a result of the sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, which have disastrous consequences for the daily lives of citizens and don’t allow them to receive the necessary services, fuel, household gas, electricity, especially in winter,” the statement said and concluded with,

“the blockade and coercive measures of the West against Syria are tantamount to war crimes, they increase the suffering of the people and slow down the process of post-war reconstruction.”

War crimes they are, yet, as the Syrians noted, nothing is said in the collective west in defence of Syria.  Nothing is said about the crimes of the Americans and their allies, either by their governments, or their media. How can we expect them to since they are all complicit in these crimes?

Since the Americans will not leave unless forced to, it will take operations by the Syrian Army to drive out the invader, but that is complicated by the continuing incursions and occupation of parts of northern Syria by the Turks intent on ridding themselves of the Kurdish threat. Hopefully the on-going talks between Turkey and Syria with the participation of Russia will lead to a resolution of that issue so that Syria can, with the help of its allies, finally take action against the invading US forces.

All the while the US and its NATO allies along with their puppets in Kiev rant on about “Russian war crimes” in Ukraine and call for international tribunals.

Yet it is they who should face trial and punishment for the war crimes committed by them over the years, including the nuclear attacks on Japan in 1945 for which the Americans have never been brought to account, a crime which, as President Biden said on January 13, in a surreal meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister, referring to the the use of nuclear weapons, is “a crime against all humanity.”

The world will not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even if the Japanese government pretends to, nor the American and allied crimes and the millions of dead in Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and all the other crimes, too many to list here, that they have committed around the world to support their interests.

Who will try them? Who will bring them to justice?  Only the future can provide the concrete answer, but the reckoning is coming, of that we can be sure.

UN Security Council Extends Al Qaeda Lifeline in Idlib, Again

JANUARY 9, 2023

 ARABI SOURI

United Nations Security Council extended its Resolution 2642, the Al Qaeda lifeline supplies through Turkey breaching Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity officially for an additional six months.

The resolution which was supposed to be met with at least Russia’s veto provides thousands of Al Qaeda terrorists in the province of Idlib enough material and a direct internationally-secured supply route from NATO member state Turkey to occupied Idlib province through the Bab Al Hawa border crossing currently manned by Al Qaeda terrorists.

The NATO-controlled United Nations Security Council with Russia and China despite being permanent members of it and despite being opposed to NATO proxy armies of terrorists have condemned up to 4 million Syrians to continue living under the mercy of the Al Qaeda terrorists for an additional six months as if the past decade is not already more than enough for them.

United Nations Security Council lists Al Qaeda Levant, aka Nusra Front – HTS (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham) and its affiliated groups as terrorist organizations, yet this particular resolution seems to acknowledge the control of these terrorists over Syrian territories against the will of the Syrian people and the Syrian state, a founding member of the United Nations and one of the victims of the biased acts of the United Nations and its different entities.

UNSC Resolution 2642 is a continuation of a series of resolutions regarding Syria starting with resolution 2042 in 2012 adopted by the international body entrusted to preserve peace and security around the world, none of these resolutions favor the Syrian people despite its wordings unless some still believe that NATO is a defensive alliance responsible for spreading democracy and freedoms in the world and ignoring this ‘defensive’ alliance’s role, collectively sometimes, and unilaterally in others in the illegal invasions of a number of countries with Libya and Iraq as horrible examples with millions of people killed, maimed, raped, displaced, their countries ruined, and their riches plundered by the ‘defensive’ alliance.

https://tass.com/politics/1462691

The Syrian people continue to suffer with this same Security Council that refused to convene to discuss and condemn the repeated Israeli bombings against Syria the latest of which the bombing of Damascus International Airport, or the continuous illegal occupation of parts of Syria including not coincidentally the main oil fields and food basket farmlands by the US Army.

Meanwhile, 90% of the Syrians, especially those in the areas under the control of the Syrian government are living under the poverty line and watching the US Army stealing their oil, and wheat, and occupying their main gas field depriving them of their basics while the USA and its European Union cronies impose a complete blockade preventing them from importing these basic needs from other countries.

We have no clue yet why Russia did not veto the extension of Resolution 2642 this time, its officials signaled on earlier occasions that their previous approvals to extend the same resolution would be the last yet they still allow the resolution to be extended.

Those concerned about the well-being of the Syrians trapped in regions occupied by Al Qaeda and the army of NATO member state Turkey could rely on the humanitarian corridors into Idlib under the control of the Syrian authorities, bypassing these corridors implies that the intention of extending the 2642 resolution in its shape is meant to allow the continuous supplies of weapons to the terrorists in Idlib from their sponsors in Turkey and other NATO member states and to hold the Syrian people hostages to the conceits and control of Al Qaeda fanatics in Idlib.

UNSC: NATO ‘Humanitarian Bastards’ Bleat over Syria’s ‘Needs’

Syria News is a collaborative effort by two authors only, we end up most of the months paying from our pockets to maintain the site’s presence online, if you like our work and want us to remain online you can help by chipping in a couple of Euros/ Dollars or any other currency so we can meet our site’s costs.

You can also donate with Cryptocurrencies through our donate page.
Thank you in advance.

سوريا: أميركا تصعّد حرب التجويع

لا دواء… لا مواد أولية… لا قَطع أجنبياً: أميركا تصعّد «حرب التجويع» على سوريا

 الخميس 15 كانون الأول 2022

فراس الشوفي

لم تتضّح بعد الاستراتيجية التنفيذية للقانون العدائي الجديد ضدّ سوريا (أ ف ب)

في إطار سياسة «الضغوط القصوى» الممارَسة على سوريا، تتّجه الولايات المتّحدة إلى تضييق الخناق على هذا البلد تحت ذريعة تحوّله إلى «دولة مخدرات». وفي ما يشبه تماماً الحملات التي استهدفت يوغسلافيا السابقة ودولاً في أميركا اللاتينية، بدأت الخطوات العملياتية على طريق تشديد الحصار على سوريا، التي تعيش أصلاً مأساة اجتماعية واقتصادية هائلة، في ظلّ هبوط حادّ في سعر العملة الوطنية، وفقدان للموارد

يستمرّ الكونغرس الأميركي في سنّ القوانين الهادفة إلى تصعيد «الضغوط القصوى» الممارَسة على سورية، في سياسة مستدامة منذ عام 1970. آخر الخطوات على هذا الطريق، هي «قانون مكافحة الكبتاغون»، الذي من المفترض أن يقرّه الكونغرس ويوقّع الرئيس جو بايدن قريباً عليه، بعد عبوره مجلس النواب ولجنة القوات المسلّحة لمجلسَي النواب والشيوخ. وفيما تغرق سوريا، مع غياب الحلول السياسية، في مأساة اجتماعية واقتصادية هائلة، وهبوط حادّ في سعر العملة الوطنية جرّاء الحصار الأميركي الخانق وفقدان الموارد، يشكّل القانون مادةً جديدة لتشديد الخناق على الشعب والاقتصاد السوريَين، في ظلّ الحديث بشكل علني عن ضرورة منْع الحكومة من الحصول على القَطع الأجنبي، بذريعة تحوّل سوريا إلى «دولة مخدّرات». وتبدو الدعوات الصادرة عن نواب وسيناتورات أميركيين، فضلاً عن بعض وسائل الإعلام ومراكز الأبحاث، لإعلان سوريا «دولة مخدرات»، مُشابِهةً للحملة التي استهدفت يوغوسلافيا السابقة، بعد إضعافها بتزكية نيران الحرب في البلقان، وقبل تدميرها بعدوان مباشر من حلف «الناتو»، وتفكيكها إلى دويلات. كما أن هذه السياسات لا تختلف عن تلك المتّبَعة مع دول أميركا اللاتينية التي لا تخضع للمشيئة الأميركية.

القانون الذي بُنيت استراتيجيته من ستّة بنود، يستند إلى التقارير الآتية من دول جوار سوريا، وإلى مجموعة من المواد الصحافية والإعلامية التي أسهمت طوال المرحلة الماضية في شيطنة هذا البلد، وتكريس اتّهام الدولة السورية و«حزب الله» بتغطية مختبرات إنتاج مادة الكبتاغون، وتهريبها إلى الخليج العربي ومصر، وحتى إلى أوروبا. باختصار، تشكّل البنود الستّة استراتيجية أمنية وسياسية واقتصادية متكاملة للتغلغل أكثر في محيط سوريا، وتطويقها وقطْع المواد الأوليّة عنها، بذريعة تفكيك «البنية التحتية لشبكات الكبتاغون للنظام السوري». ويكلّف القانون الإدارات الأميركية الأمنية المتعدّدة، تقديم الدعم والتعاون الأمني والديبلوماسي للجهات المعنية في دول الجوار السوري، ومساعدة وكالات مكافحة المخدّرات فيها على التطوّر وتقديم التدريب والدعم المادّي لها، واستهداف شخصيات وكيانات بالعقوبات، وممارسة الضغوط الاقتصادية على دمشق بالتعاون مع مؤسّسات وشركاء دوليين، وشنّ الحملات الإعلامية ضدّ الحكومة السورية. وبينما يضع القانون مهلة 180 يوماً أمام الإدارات التنفيذية لإنجاز استراتيجية تطبيق القرار الأميركي قبل عرضه مجدّداً على الكونغرس، يَظهر أن الخطوات العملية قد بدأت بالفعل.

وكانت الحملة الإعلامية سبقت مشروع القانون بكثير، وانخرطت فيها العديد من وسائل الإعلام العالمية والعربية، في خطوات ممنهجة لربط تجارة الكبتاغون بأخصام الولايات المتحدة في سوريا، وخلْق غيمة من التشويه ضدّ شخصيات سورية. أمّا مسألة التعاون مع وكالات مكافحة المخدرات والإدارات الأمنية في محيط سوريا، فهذا الأمر يجري بشكل منتظم مع الأردن ولبنان والعراق والدول الخليجية. والدعم العسكري والاستخباراتي الأميركي للأردن يشتمل، ضمن ما يسمّيه الأميركيون خطّة طرْد إيران من الجنوب السوري، «مكافحة المخدرات»، وقد سبق للأردن أن أعلن مراراً توقيف مهرّبين على الحدود مع سوريا. أمّا في لبنان، فيزداد التواصل الأميركي والدعم للأجهزة الأمنية، فيما وسّعت إدارة مكافحة المخدرات الأميركية، وهي وكالة لإنفاذ القانون تابعة لوزارة العدل، اهتمامها بمكتب مكافحة المخدرات المركزي في بيروت، انطلاقاً من مكتبها الدائم في قبرص. وعلمت «الأخبار» أن الدعم المادّي الأميركي للمكتب سيُستأنف قريباً بعد توقّفٍ سبّبته اتهامات للأخير بحالات تعذيب تَبيّن أنها حصلت في مكاتب أخرى. في المقابل، سبق للمندوب السوري لدى مكتب الأمم المتحدة والمنظمات الدولية الأخرى في فيينا، السفير حسن خضور، أن أعلن أمام لجنة المخدرات في الأمم المتحدة في آذار الماضي، أن مشكلة المخدرات قد تنامت في سوريا بفعل سيطرة التنظيمات الإرهابية المدعومة من عدّة دول على بعض المناطق الحدودية، الأمر الذي خلق مناخاً ملائماً لنقل المخدرات وترويجها، ووفّر عوائد مالية ضخمة لتلك التنظيمات، مؤكّداً أن الجماعات الإرهابية تبتكر دائماً طرقاً للتهريب وهي تمتلك تقنيات. وطلب السفير السوري تعاوناً دولياً مع بلاده وتبادلاً دائماً للمعلومات، وتوفير القدرات الفنية والتجهيزات المخبرية وأجهزة الكشف على المعابر الحدودية.

وعلى الرغم من أن الاستراتيجية التنفيذية للقانون العدائي الجديد ضدّ سوريا لم تتضّح بعد، وما إذا كان يتضمن توجيه ضربات عسكرية أو أعمالاً تخريبية أمنية بذريعة مكافحة المخدرات، عبّر عدد من المعارضين السوريين عن اعتراضهم على القانون كونه لا يتضمن خطوات عدائية أكثر وضوحاً ضدّ سوريا. لكن يجري حديث بالهمس يردّده مقرّبون من الأميركيين في بيروت، عن أن هناك نوايا لشنّ هجمات مجهولة الهويّة ضد مواقع لـ«إنتاج المخدرات» في سورية. إزاء ذلك، يلفت مصدر حكومي سوري، في حديث إلى «الأخبار»، إلى أن «هناك دائماً ذرائع كاذبة للاعتداء على سوريا كما يحصل من قِبل العدوّ الإسرائيلي»، مؤكّداً أن «الأجهزة السورية تسعى بكلّ قوتها لمكافحة المخدرات، وسوريا تاريخياً هي دولة عبور، إنّما بسبب الحرب استغلّت العصابات الإرهابية والجنائية المعارك العسكرية وانشغال الدولة بالحرب لتقوم بالترويج والتهريب والتصنيع، وبعضها يتلقّى دعماً غربياً وفي مناطق تحت سيطرة الأميركيين، لكن الدولة تستعيد قوتها وتعمل على ضرب هذه الأوكار وتحتاج إلى المساعدة والتعاون مع الدول الصديقة وليس إلى الحصار».
وعدا عن تبرير التجسّس على سوريا، وتعميق التدخّل في دول الجوار، يضع القانون بعض المواد الأوليّة اللازمة لصناعات عدة، لا سيّما الأدوية، تحت حصار جديد، من شأنه إضافة مأساة أخرى إلى مآسي الأزمة الطبّية الهائلة في هذا البلد. إذ أشار أكثر من تقرير غربي وعربي، ضمن الحملة الأميركية، إلى أن بعض المواد المصنّعة يتمّ استيرادها إلى سوريا من الصين والهند، وهي بمعظمها مواد تدْخل في الصناعات الدوائية، القطاع الذي تعرّض لنكسة كبيرة خلال الحرب ولتدمير مقصود من قِبَل الجماعات المسلّحة.

فيديوات ذات صلة

Damascus focuses on reviving productive projects in the face of Western sanctions

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates: The American occupation forces and militias continue their systematic looting of basic resources

مقالات ذات صلة

• وقاحة أميركية… وتخاذل لبناني
• ماكرون ليلة الميلاد في بيروت ويلتقي بري وميقاتي… حول إدارة الفراغ آخر جلسة رئاسية هذا العام… والجلسات الحكومية مؤجلة حتى العام الجديد القومي : نشعر بأوجاع الناس وندعو للحوار…وفهمي : 3500 منظمة مخترقة للفتن
• أنقرة تُجمّد «الاجتياح» مؤقّتاً: إشارات ودّ متجدّدة تجاه دمشق
• موسكو متفائلة بجهودها: بداية تسوية «شَمالية»
• تشاؤم تركي بالمصالحة: إردوغان والأسد ليسا مستعجلَين
• روسيا تنقّح «تسوية» الشمال: فلْنستنسخ تجربة الجنوب
• سفير إيران في موسكو: 40 في المئة من تجارتنا مع روسيا تتمّ بالروبل

Will the US reignite a ‘Syrian revolution’ to punish Russia in Ukraine?

The US and its allies have already set the scene for Revolution 2.0 in Syria.

The question is whether their plan is to extract concessions from Russia over Ukraine, or to go full out and risk a West Asia-wide conflagration

By Abdel Bari Atwan

February 11 2022

The US and its allies are set to re-ignite the Syrian battlefield to deter Russia in Ukraine.Photo Credit: The Cradle

With new political, military, and economic tensions escalating between the United States and its NATO allies on the one hand, and China, Russia, North Korea and Iran on the other – including the Taiwan front in East Asia, and Ukraine in central Europe – we are now witnessing accelerated plans to activate new crises in West Asia, from Syria to Iraq to the war on Yemen.

Let us leave the situation in Iraq and Yemen aside, temporarily, and focus on Syria. The country has experienced an atmosphere of relative calm, or rather a ‘stalemate,’ in the past few years, after the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) regained more than 70 percent of its territory.

This period of calm has also seen the decline of the so-called Syrian opposition, both politically and militarily, in the city of Idlib and its vicinity, as well as in other areas in northeastern Syria, currently under the umbrella of US forces.

There are, however, several international and regional indications that the dormant Syrian ‘opposition’ is on its way to being reactivated again.

***

It is likely this reactivation may appear in a more ferocious form than the militancy that was unleashed at the beginning of the Syrian crisis in March 2011. Numerous indications of this have already emerged:

First, Russian foreign intelligence on Tuesday unveiled US plans to support armed groups in Syria, and ‘Islamic’ extremists in particular, to intensify their attacks against Syrian, Russian and Iranian forces in Tawaz, while igniting and encouraging ‘peaceful’ protests deep within Syria.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported that US government agencies are “planning to task extremist ‘sleeper cells’ in Damascus…and Latakia province [by] staging pinpoint attacks against Syrian law enforcers, and Russian and Iranian military personnel.”

Russia’s Deputy Envoy at the UN Gennady Kuzmin told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that “The problem of terrorist threats in northeastern Syria is pressing. The US troops that are illegally deployed there cannot bring order. Or they don’t want to.”

In what appears as a reference to the mass ISIS jailbreak in Hasakah from a US-controlled area in late-January, Kuzmin added that “the atmosphere of a power void and impunity around the US forces’ deployment areas serves as a nourishing ground for terrorists of all stripes.”

The second indicator points to the statement issued by the Russian Intelligence Service, which says that the US administration is seeking to maintain its military presence in northeastern Syria, prevent the stability of Syria, rehabilitate the leadership of the Syrian opposition, and unite its ranks, Kurdish or Arab.

The US plan will be carried out through the exploitation of the current decline in economic conditions, basic services, and a significant weakening in the price of local currency, due to the suffocating US blockade.

According to the statement, the US will launch a “vast media campaign” on Arabic-speaking social media to incite Syrians to again take to the streets and squares, in the capital Damascus, and the cities of Aleppo, Homs and Latakia to push the regime to use the ‘violent’ iron fist in the face of ‘peaceful’ protests.

In other words, a re-play of the Deraa scenario in early 2011.

The third indicator was the two-day conference that took place last Saturday in Qatar’s capital city, Doha, which re-united various Syrian opposition figures on the subjects of reform and the future of Syria.

The conference – a culmination of a series of workshops held in a selection of European capitals – was launched by the renegade former Syrian prime minister, Riad Hijab, and included the representatives of Qatari, Arab, and international research centers, as well as more than 60 Syrian opposition figures.

Qatari authorities provided full support for this seminar, which Al Jazeera and its sister channels covered with remarkable intensity.

The fourth indicator relates to Algeria’s multiple efforts to hold an Arab summit in which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will participate, and Syria’s seat in the Arab League will be restored. These efforts have failed, in part because Qatar has been the most fierce opponent to the rehabilitation of Syria at the Arab League.

And finally, fifth, is the out-of-the-blue assassination of the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, at the hands of US special forces in Turkish controlled areas in Syria.

Al-Quraishi was attacked in his home, in the north of Idlib, in an attack that has no documented audio or image evidence, similar to the previous assassinations of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and, before him, Osama bin Laden – but entirely unlike the execution of Saddam Hussein and the killing of his two sons.

This ‘assassination’ may, of course, just be a cover for the new US plan to restart covert communications with and support for radical Islamist militants, while publicly suggesting that the US continues to target them as ‘terrorist organizations.’

***

Quraishi’s sudden killing in Syria during the dangerous stand-off between NATO and Russia raised some questions in Washington as well. Former US Air Force Special Operations Joint Terminal Attack controller, Ethan Brown, pondered aloud in The Hill about “its “timing and the curious proximity to the crisis in Ukraine.”

Brown asks whether “the execution of a [US] military operation outside of a declared was zone in the Middle East…is somehow a credible deterrent to Russian actions elsewhere.” Then straight-out declares: “Make no mistake, the two unique situations are intertwined.”

On Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Erik Kurilla, tapped to be the next commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), told the Senate Armed Services Committee that if Russian invades Ukraine, it could create broader instability in West Asia, including Syria.

This week, the Israelis struck Syria heavily again, just two weeks after the Russians and Syrians launched their first joint jet patrols over the Syrian-Israel border. This time, Moscow reacted strongly, calling Tel Aviv’s actions “a crude violation of Syria’s sovereignty” that “may trigger a sharp escalation of tensions.”

The escalation in Syria, likely connected to Washington’s Ukraine strategy, has already started. The question is whether the protagonists will merely stage some events as a threat – or go all out.

***

The Syrian opposition launched its first ‘movement’ 11 years ago in Doha, and it seems that the attempt to revive it will also take place in the same place.

The official statement of the meeting outlined its “aims to try to find mechanisms of action to promote the performance of the opposition and discuss how to get the political transition out of the current global warming.”

“The Biden administration wants 2022 to be the year of qualifying Syrian opposition forces to be ready to replace the regime in any change that may occur,” Syrian opposition media outlet Orient Net stated in a report broadcast two months ago.

The report also revealed that US Deputy Secretary of State Eitan Goldrich had met with Syrian opposition leaders in Istanbul, Qamishli, and Gaziantep late last year to prepare for the new US scenario in Syria.

Will this new US plan work in Syria? Has the suffocating US blockade on Syria, imposed for this purpose 11 years ago, reap its harvest? Will this attempt fare any better than the first? Will funding come from Gulf financiers themselves? And how will the axis of Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Syria respond?

We leave the answer for the coming weeks and months.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.

Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in Palestine (25 November – 1 December 2021)

December 2, 2021

Israeli Human Rights Violations

25 November – 1 December 2021

• IOF excessive use of force:
• 11 Palestinians shot and wounded, including 6 children, in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem
• 7 Palestinian fishermen arrested, 2 fishing boats confiscated, and 5 IOF shooting reported against fishing boats in the Gaza Sea
• In 156 IOF incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem: 80 civilians arrested, including 12 children
• Limited IOF incursion into eastern Gaza Strip; 1 Palestinian arrested while traveling via Beit Hanoun Crossing, northern Gaza Strip
• Demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem: Two houses self-demolished, another demolished by IOF; Israeli decision to demolish a residential building and an appeal of the demolition order of 58 houses denied
• Israel announces plan to build 2000 new settlement units in East Jerusalem
• IOF established 44 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank and arrested 4 Palestinians on said checkpoints

Summary                                                                                        

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued to commit crimes and multi-layered violations against Palestinian civilians and their properties, including raids into Palestinian cities that are characterized with excessive use of force, assault, abuse, and attacks on civilians, turning the West Bank into isolated blocks of land. Israeli settlers continued their attacks, including shooting and wounding Palestinian civilians; meanwhile, IOF continued its razing and demolishing of Palestinian properties, mainly in Hebron and Jerusalem.

The Israeli settlement expansion works continued on Palestinian lands and properties. Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip enters its 15^th year under closure, exacerbating the humanitarian hardships across the territory.

IOF shooting and violation of right to life and bodily integrity:

IOF shot and wounded 11 Palestinian civilians, including 6 children, in excessive use of force in the West Bank: 8, including 4 children, were wounded in two separate incidents of IOF attacks on protestors in Qalqilya. Two others were wounded in Nablus, and another in Ramallah.

In the Gaza Strip, PCHR documented 5 IOF shootings at fishing boats in the Gaza Sea.

IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians: IOF carried out 156 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids of civilian houses and shootings, enticing fear among civilians, and attacking many of them. During this week’s incursions, 80 Palestinians were arrested, including 12 children.

In the Gaza Strip, IOF arrested 8 Palestinians, including 7 fishermen who were arrested in two separate incidents after IOF surrounded their fishing boats at sea. The 8^th was arrested while travelling via Beit Hanoun crossing in northern Gaza Strip. Additionally, IOF conducted a limited incursion into northern Gaza Strip.

Demolitions:

PCHR documented 13 incidents:

• Occupied East Jerusalem: Israeli decision to demolish a residential building housing 30 Palestinians; a house demolished in Silwan; and two other houses self-demolished in Jabel al-Mukaber. It was also announced that 2000 new settlement units will be built in eastern Jerusalem. Israel rejected an appeal against the demolition of 58 houses out of 84 threatened with demolition in Silwan. A barracks, a warehouse, and concrete room, as well as a company’s wall were demolished in ‘Anata. Other commercial facilities belonging to Jannat Eden Dates Company demolished in Beit Hanina.
• Tubas: a 1,6000-meter waterline supplying crops was destroyed; 6 tractors were confiscated along with 5 private vehicles, 4 water tanks, and 3 trucks in the Northern Jordan Valleys.
• Ramallah: an under-construction well demolished in Nilin.
• Bethlehem: a notice to seize a plot of land in Beit Jala and 2 greenhouses demolished in Nahalin.

Settler-attacks: 

PCHR documented an attempt by a group of settlers to put a large menorah in front Nabil al-Kurd’s house in occupied east Jerusalem.

Israeli closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement:

The Israeli occupation authorities continued its collective punishment measures against the Gaza Strip as the 15-year Israeli closure imposed on the territory deepened the population’s humanitarian and living crises, as unemployment has skyrocketed at 45%, i.e. 217,000 able workers are unemployed, 63% of whom are youth.

More than half of the Gaza Strip population suffer in poverty, as the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics data shows that 53% of the Gaza Strip population is poor; meanwhile, more than 62.2% is classified as food insecure, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Additionally, IOF continued to divide the West Bank into separate cantons with key roads blocked by the Israeli occupation since the 2000 Second Intifada -still closed to this date- and with temporary and permanent checkpoints, where civilian movement is restricted, and they are subject to arrest, especially at al-Karama border crossing, alongside the Palestinian-Jordanian border.

Shooting and other Violations of the Right to Life and Bodily Integrity

• At approximately 07:00 on Thursday, 25 November 2021, IOF fired rubber and live bullets at dozens of students gathered on Ramallah-Nablus main Street, after they threw stones at IOF, who expelled them from their schools in Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya and As-Sawiya villages, southeast of Nablus, and denied their access to them. As a result, a 15-year-old child was shot with 2 rubber bullets in his head and a 14-year-old child was shot with a rubber bullet in his left eye.
• At approximately 07:30, IOF stationed along the Gaza’s border fence with Israel, east of Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza Strip, opened fire at agricultural lands, and no causalities were reported.
• At approximately 15:40, IOF stationed along the Gaza’s border fence with Israel, north of Borat Abu Samra area, north of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, opened sporadic fire at border area, and no causalities or damage were reported.

• At approximately 22:45, Israeli gunboats stationed off al-Waha shore, northwest of Beit Lahia and off al-Sodaniyia shore west of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, chased Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles and opened heavy fire around, causing fear among the fishermen and forcing them to flee. No casualties were reported.
• At approximately 01:00 on Friday, 26 November 2021, Israeli gunboats stationed off al-Waha shore, northwest of Beit Lahia and off al-Sodaniyia shore west of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, chased Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles and opened heavy fire. The shooting recurred from time to time around between 08:30 and 09:30, enticing fear among the fishermen and forcing them to flee. No casualties were reported.

• At approximately 12:30 on Friday, 26 November 2021, , IOF stationed at the northern entrance to Kafr Qaddum village, north of Qalqilya, suppressed a protest organized by dozens of Palestinian young men. IOF chased the protestors, who gathered in the area, clashed with them and fired rubber bullets, sound bombs and teargas canisters at them. As a result, 6 protestors, including 2 children, were shot with rubber bullets in their limbs and one of them in his back. .
• At approximately 13:30, dozens of Palestinian young men gathered near Belal Bin Rabbah Mosque, near the northern entrance to Bethlehem, and threw stones and empty bottles at military watchtower and military vehicles. IOF immediately assaulted the protestors, chased them into Aida Camp entrance, and threw heavy teargas canisters at residential houses. As a result, dozens of protestors suffocated due to teargas inhalation.
• At approximately 15:30, IOF suppressed the weekly protest organized against settlement at the main entrance to Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, north of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, and forcibly dispersed them. According to PCHR’s follow-up, dozens of activists and citizens gathered at the entrance to the neighborhood holding Palestinian flags and banners condemning the occupation and settlement. During which, IOF surrounded the protestors, assaulted them, prevented them from protesting, and confiscated the flags. They also attempted to arrest two activists after checking their IDs, claiming that they approached settlers who were in the neighborhood.
• At approximately 16:00, a group of Palestinians gathered at the entrance to Al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, where IOF established a military watchtower. The Palestinians threw stones at the watchtower and closed the road leading to the camp with burning tires. IOF chased stone-throwers in the camp and fired sound bombs and teargas canisters at them. As a result, some of them suffocated due to teargas inhalation. Clashes continued until 19:00, and no arrests were reported.
• At approximately 19:15, Israeli gunboats stationed off Rafah shore, south of the Gaza Strip, chased a Palestinian fishing boat carrying 5 fishermen, including two children, from al-Hesi family. The gunboats fired live bullets at the fishing boat and pumped water at it before surrounding it, arresting the fishermen and confiscating their boat. The fishermen were identified as: Jamal Jehad Rajab al-Hesi (31), Mohammed Nehad Rajab al-Hesi (15), Mohammed Rashad Rajab al-Hesi (29), Ahmed Rashad Rajab al-Hesi (17), and Nour Rajab Rashad al-Hesi (19). Next day, IOF released the fishermen at approximately 12:00, through Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, north of the Gaza Strip. The fishing boat is still under custody.
• At approximately 12:30 on Saturday, 27 November 2021, IOF stationed at the northern entrance to Kafr Qaddum village, north of Qalqilya, suppressed a protest organized by dozens of Palestinian young men. IOF chased the protestors, who gathered in the area, clashed with them and fired rubber bullets, sound bombs and teargas canisters at them. As a result, two children were shot with rubber bullets in their limbs.
• At approximately 20:00, Israeli gunboats surrounded a fishing boat manned by fisherman namely Mohammed ‘Abed al-Razeq Sa’ied Baker (50) and his son Thabit (26). IOF arrested both of them and confiscated their boat. Few hours later, IOF released the fishermen while the boat belonging to Riyad al-Shrafi, is still under custody. Mohammed Baker said to PCHR’s fieldworker that at approximately 16:30 on Thursday, 25 November 2021, he went to the sea for fishing along with his son Thabit. After few hours, the boat engine stopped working and we were off al-Sodaniyia shore in northern Gaza Strip. The boat drifted due to the wind towards the north, crossing the allowed area for fishing and sailing within 8 nautical miles off al-Waha shore. Also, communication was lost with them, because the phone network was cut off. He clarified that he and his son spent two days in cold weather, especially at night, and on Saturday evening, the Israeli gunboats surrounded them before arresting them, taking them to Ashdod Seaport and confiscating their boat. They were later released via Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing after interrogating them.
• At approximately 10:30 on Sunday, 28 November 2021, IOF stationed along the Gaza’s border fence with Israel, east of Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza Strip, opened fire at agricultural lands, and no causalities were reported.
• At approximately 16:20, IOF moved into Tira neighborhood in western Ramallah. Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians gathered and threw stones and empty bottles at IOF vehicles. IOF immediately assaulted them and fired rubber bullets and heavy teargas canisters at them. As a result, a 19-year-old male was shot with a rubber bullet in his foot and he is condition was classified as minor. He received treatment on the spot.
• At approximately 23:00, Israeli gunboats stationed off Khan Yunis shore, south of the Gaza Strip, chased Palestinian fishing boats sailing within the allowed fishing area, opened heavy fire around them and fired flare bombs in the sky, causing fear among the fishermen and forcing them to flee. No casualties were reported.

• At approximately 01:00 on Monday, 29 November 2021, IOF moved into al-Saf Street in central Bethlehem and then surrounded ‘Ali Isma’il al-Batat (23)’s house, in addition to other nearby houses and buildings. After that, IOF raided al-Batat’s house amidst heavy firing of rubber bullets and teargas canisters. As a result, dozens of citizens suffocated due to teargas inhalation. Before their withdrawal, IOF arrested ‘Ali al-Batat while he was near his house, taking him to an unknown destination.
• On Monday evening, 29 November 2021, Israeli authorities closed al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron’s Old City in front of Palestinians and prevented them from entering, under the pretext of allowing settlers to reach the Ibrahimi Mosque and perform prayers on the occasion of the so-called “Feast of Lights – Hanukkah”. At approximately 15:00, a number of activists in the Old City organized a peaceful protest against visiting al-Ibrahimi Mosque by the President of Israel, “Isaac Herzog”. During which, Israeli border guard officers suppressed the protest and arrested the activist Raed Murshed Meswada (30), taking him to a nearby police station.
• At approximately 15:00 on Monday, 29 November 2021, a group of Palestinians gathered in Bab al-Zawiya area in Hebron where IOF maintain a military checkpoint at the entrance to the closed Shuhadaa St. The protestors threw stones at the military checkpoint. IOF deployed at the checkpoint entrance and indiscriminately fired tear gas canisters and sound bombs at the protestors. As a result, some of them suffocated due to teargas inhalation. Also, shop owners were forced to close. The clashes continued until 19:00, and no arrests were reported.
• At approximately 10:00 on Tuesday, 30 November 2021, IOF stationed along the Gaza’s border fence with Israel, east of al-Shawka village, east of Rafah, opened fire at agricultural lands, and no casualties were reported.

Incursions and arrests

Thursday, 25 November 2021:

• At approximately 00:00, IOF arrested Tha’er Adel Shawahena (28), after raiding and searching his house in Silat al-Harithiya village, west of Jenin.
• At approximately 01:00, IOF arrested Mohammed Robin Zayed (18), along with his brother, Ra’ed (17), after raiding and searching their houses in Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem.
• At approximately 01:30, IOF arrested 4 Palestinians after raiding and searching their houses in Surif village, west of Hebron. The arrestees are Mohammed Isma’il Ghuneimat (34), Khaled Ayed Ghuneimat (37), Ali Sameeh Ghuneimat (28), and Mos’ab Mahmoud al-Hour (30).
• At approximately 01:30, IOF handed Rashad Mohammed Karaja (53) a summons to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Services in Saffa village, north of Ramallah.
• At approximately 02:00, IOF arrested 11 Palestinians, including 2 children, from al-Isawiya village, northeast of the occupied East Jerusalem. The arrestees are: Mohammed Khaled al-Masri (20), Mohammed Awni Attiya (16), Mohammed Shreiteh (25), Mahmoud Sa’di al-Rajabi (25), Mohammed Na’aji (23), Lo’ay Ashraf Mahmoud (23), Mohammed Waleed Mahmoud (21), Ahmed Haitham Mahmoud (20), Mohammed Haitham Mustafa (19), Tayseer Yousef Muhaisen (16), and Islam Yousef Obaid (18).
• At approximately 02:25, IOF arrested Alaa Azzam al-Tashtoush (21), after raiding and searching his house in Wad al-Tofah area, west of Nablus.
• At approximately 02:40, IOF arrested Yousef Hamdan Saleh (38), after raiding and searching his house in Asira al-Qibliya village, southeast of Nablus.
• At approximately 02:55, IOF arrested Hamed Jawad Maslamani (25), after raiding and searching his house in Tubas.
• At approximately 16:00, Israeli Intelligence Services handed the Jerusalem Governor, Adnan Adel Tawfiq Ghaith (46), a military decision that renews his house arrest for another 4 months, after summonsing him to Moscovia police station, in West Jerusalem.

In a press release, the Jerusalem Governor said that “Israeli Intelligence Services convicted him with several charges against Ghaith, including non-compliance with the military ban decisions issued against him, continuing to contact with Palestinian leaders, and providing funds to Jerusalemites, in addition to threatening Israel’s security, according to their claims.”

The decision issued by the Israeli Minister of Internal Security includes banning the Jerusalem Governor, Adnan Ghaith, from entering the rest of the West Bank cities, and forcing him to cut off all his communication with the Palestinian leaders.

It should be noted that the Israeli authorities arrested Ghaith around 28 times within 3 years “since he became a governor”. Furthermore, he has been denied access into the West Bank since 2018.

• At approximately 19:00, the Israeli Intelligence Services sent a summons with flowers to Mahdi Omar Badawna (24), from Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem, on his wedding day.

Badawna’s brother said that the Israeli Intelligence Services (Shin Bet) sent flowers in at taxi to one of the city’s wedding halls with a summons, ordering him to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Services in “Gush Etzion” settlement.

• At approximately 21:00, IOF arrested 3 Palestinians after raiding and searching their houses in Shu’afat refugee camp, northeast of the occupied East Jerusalem. The arrestees are: Malik Fawzi Muheisen (25), Nasri Husain Ghanayim (48), and Ahmed Omar Salah (42).
• IOF carried out (10) incursions in Beit Ummar, Nuba, Hebron and Bayt Dajan villages, northeast of Nablus; Silwad, Deir Abu Masha’al, Burqa and Deir Jarir villages in Ramallah; Aqbat Jabr and Ein al-Sultan refugee camps in Jericho governorate. No arrests were reported.

Friday, 26 November 2021:

• At approximately 01:00, IOF arrested Abdullah Atta al-Harimi (24), after raiding and searching his house on al-Saf street, in Bethlehem.
• At approximately 02:00, IOF arrested Ibrahim Munir ‘Arafa (29), after raiding and searching his house in al-Dheisha refugee camp, southwest of Bethlehem.
• At approximately 02:30, IOF arrested Mohammed Nedal Samamera (28), after raiding and searching his house in al-Dhahiriya village, south of Hebron.
• At approximately 03:00, IOF arrested Eisa Fawzi Za’loul (23) and Hasan Ali Hamamera (21), after raiding and searching their houses in Husan village, west of Bethlehem.
• At approximately 17:30, IOF stationed at a temporary military checkpoint established at the entrance of Wadi Qana road, between Salfit and Qalqilya, arrested Ahmed Anwar Mansour (24), from Deir Istiya village, north of Salfit.
• At approximately 18:30, IOF arrested Qusai Mohammed Alian (22) and Majd Hussain Halabiya (23), while passing through al-Za’eem military checkpoint, east of the occupied city.
• At approximately 19:00, IOF stationed at a temporary military checkpoint established at one of the entrances to occupied Jerusalem, arrested Mohammed Ghassan Shahwan (19), from Hable village, south of Qalqilya, while heading to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
• At approximately 20:00, IOF arrested Mohammed Ali al-Ghoul (17), after raiding and searching his house in Silwan, south of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.
• At approximately 22:00, IOF arrested Ayoub Samir Zaheda (38), after raiding and searching his house in Shu’afat refugee camp, northeast of the occupied East Jerusalem.
• At approximately 23:30, IOF arrested Mohammed Hatem Faqha (19), from Kafr al-Labad village, east of Tulkarm, while referring to the Israeli Intelligence Services.
• IOF carried out (7) incursions in Surif, Tarqumiyah, Arraba, Ya’bad, Silat al-Harithiya, Ti’inik and Zabbuba villages in Jenin governorate. No arrests were reported.

Saturday, 27 November 2021:

• At approximately 00:00, IOF arrested Sufian Nedal al-Natshah (19), after raiding and searching his house in Silwan, south of the occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.
• At approximately 01:00, IOF arrested Mohammed Mershed al-Sweity (40), after raiding and searching his house in Bayt Awa village, southwest of Dura, southwest of Hebron governorate.
• At approximately 03:30, IOF arrested Islam Bassam Jawabera (24), after raiding and searching his house in al-’Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron.
• At approximately 14:00, Ramzi Mahmoud al-Harimi (23) surrendered himself to Etzion police station, south of Bethlehem, after raiding and searching his house on al-Saf street, several days ago.
• At approximately 19:00, IOF arrested Oday Rebhi Sonoqrot (30), after raiding and searching his house in Ras al-Amud neighborhood, east of the occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.
• IOF carried out (11) incursions in Dura, and Yatta in Hebron; Kafir village in Jenin; Sinjil, Abwein, ‘Arura, Jiljilya, Ajjul, Um Safa and Deir al-Sudan villages in Ramallah governorate. No arrests were reported.

Sunday, 28 November 2021:

• At approximately 02:00, IOF arrested Marwan Adeeb al-Barghouthi (27), after raiding and searching his house in Kobar, north of Ramallah governorate.
• Around the same time, IOF arrested Jamal Rami al-Mughrabi (17), after raiding and searching his house in al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron.
• At approximately 19:00, IOF arrested Omar Ahmed Mahmoud (18), after raiding and searching his house in Isawiya, northeast of the occupied East Jerusalem.
• At approximately 20:00, IOF arrested Maher Mohammed Eisa (32), from al-Khader village, southwest of Bethlehem, while he was near al-Jab’a village, west of the city.
• IOF carried out (9) incursions in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah governorate; Idhna and Halhul in Hebron; Jit, Fara’ata and Immatain villages in Qalqilya governorate; Safarin and Anabta villages in Tulkarm. No arrests were reported.

Monday, 29 November 2021:

• At approximately 01:00, IOF arrested Suliman ‘Arabiya (31), after raiding and searching his house in Abu Dis village, east of the occupied East Jerusalem.
• At approximately 02:00, IOF arrested Azzam Husain Radayda (42), after raiding and searching his house in al-Ubeidiya village, east of Bethlehem.
• Around the same time, IOF arrested Ahmed Mustafa Melhem (21), after raiding and searching his house in Kafr Ra’i village, southwest of Jenin governorate.
• At approximately 02:30, IOF arrested Omar Mohammed al-’Anati (17) and Mahmoud Mohammed Salama (30), after raiding and searching their houses in Anata village, northeast of the occupied East Jerusalem.
• Around the same time, IOF arrested the lieutenant in the Palestinian National Security, Monjed Ragheb Salah (32), and Mohammed Murad Daghlas (19), after raiding and searching their houses in Burqa village, northwest of Nablus.
• At approximately 02:40, IOF arrested Munadel Azzam ‘Azim (38), after raiding and searching his house in Sebastia village, northwest of Nablus.
• In the morning, IOF stationed at Beit Hanun “Erez” crossing, northwest of Beit Hanun, north of the Gaza Strip, arrested Mahmoud Sami Mahmoud Ahmed (34), a trader and the father of 3 children.

Sami, Mahmoud’s father, said to PCHR’s fieldworker that at approximately 07:00, Mahmoud headed to Erez crossing and lost touch with him. At approximately 18:00, Mahmoud’s father received a phone call from Mahmoud Zeidan, Erez crossing’s Director at the Palestinian side, to inform him that the Israeli authorities arrested his son.  He added that on Sunday, 28 November 2021, Mahmoud obtained a trader permit to enter Israel, as his family own al-Bara’ Company for Transportation, General Trade and Custom Clearanse in Beit Lahia Housing Project.

• At approximately 09:00, IOF arrested Hamza al-Joulani (24), after raiding and searching his house in Bab Huta neighborhood, one of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City’s neighborhoods.
• At approximately 19:00, IOF arrested Mohammed Nabil Dweik (28), after raiding and searching his house in Silwan village, south of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.

Tuesday, 30 November 2021:

• At approximately 01:30, IOF arrested Mohammed Zeyad al-Bow (29), after raiding and searching his house in Halhul village, south of Hebron.
• Around the same time, IOF arrested Mohammed Atallah Abu Eid (22), after raiding and searching his house in Biddu village, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem.
• At approximately 02:00, IOF arrested Mohammed Mahmoud al-Haddad (37), after raiding and searching his house in Hebron.
• Around the same time, IOF arrested Sabri Mousa Jabrin (36), after raiding and searching his house in Teqoa village, east of Bethlehem.
• At approximately 02:10, IOF arrested (3) civilians after raiding and searching their houses in Kafr Ni’ma village, west of Ramallah. The arrestees are: Ahmed Ghaleb Zeidan (20), Abdul Rahman Mahmoud Abu ‘Adi (28), and Sameh Abdo ‘Ataya (49).
• at approximately 02:15, IOF arrested Mo’in Mohammed Zuhour (30), after raiding and searching his house in Bayt Kahil village, north of Hebron.
• At approximately 02:40, IOF arrested Mohammed Jaber Jadallah (23), after raiding and searching his house in al-Zaitouna area in Beit Jala, west of Bethlehem governorate.
• At approximately 03:30, IOF arrested Sabri Mousa Jebril (30), after raiding and searching his house in Teqoa village, east of Bethlehem.
• At approximately 13:30, IOF arrested Baha’ Jamal Tanouh (17), while returning home from school east of Bethlehem.
• At approximately 04:20, IOF arrested (3) Palestinians, including 2 children, after raiding and searching their houses in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah. The arrestees are: Abdul Rahman Taleb Hammad (16), Mahmoud Wael Hammad (17), and Mahmoud Maher Hammad (20).
• At approximately 14:00, IOF reinforced with several military vehicles moved 50 meters to the south of the border fence, north of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip. They leveled and combed lands that were previously levelled, amidst sporadic shooting until 16:00. No casualties were reported.

Wednesday, 01 December 2021:

• At approximately 03:00, IOF arrested Mahmoud Jaber Buhais (40), after raiding and searching his house in Yatta, south of Hebron governorate.
• At approximately 03:30, IOF arrested Redwan Abdul Halim Farajallah (38), after raiding and searching his house in Idhna village, west of Hebron.
• At approximately 07:00, IOF arrested Abed Munir Taym (42), from al-Judeira village, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, claiming that he had a knife near an Israeli military checkpoint, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem.
• At approximately 10:00, IOF arrested Bassam Khalil Abu Sbeitan (16) and Ayham Naji Abu Jum’a (17), after raiding and searching their houses in al-Tur village, east of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.
• At approximately 12:00, IOF arrested Khalil Owda (23), after raiding and searching his house in al-Isawiya village, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem.
• At approximately 15:00, IOF arrested Jehad Ibrahim Naser (24), while working in Kafr ‘Aqab, north of the occupied East Jerusalem.
• At approximately 16:00, IOF arrested Mohammed Firas Burqan (16), after raiding and searching his house in Silwan, south of the occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.
• IOF carried out an incursion in Jabal al-Tawil neighborhood in al-Bireh, north of Ramallah. No arrests were reported.

Settlement Expansion and settler violence in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem

Land razing, Demolitions, and Notices:

• On Thursday morning, 25 November 2021, al-Rajabi Family received a decision to demolish its building in ‘Ein al-Lawzeh neighborhood in Silwan village, south of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Faris al-Rajabi, one of the apartments’ owners in the building that was established in 2002, said that it is a 2-storey building: the first floor houses ‘Ein al-Lawzeh Medical Centre where 26 doctors, nurses and employees work and provide medical services to more than 6000 citizens while the second floor houses 4 residential apartments sheltering 30 individuals, including 12 children. Al-Rajabi said that the Israeli municipality has haunted his family months after finishing the building and imposed on them fines of more than 300,000 shekels.  Al-Rajabi added that the Israeli municipality notified them days ago to evacuate the building and then IOF raided it and handed the family a decision to demolish it and gave them 7 days to pay 50,000 shekels to the Municipality in order to postpone or implement the demolition decision.  Al-Rajabi said that the family lawyer appealed the demolition decision before the District Court, but the latter rejected.  As a result, the family resorted to the Supreme Court.

It should be noted that 6 neighborhoods in Silwan village are threatened with house demolitions under the pretext of unlicensed construction.  Over the past years, the Israeli municipality has handed 6817 judicial and administrative demolition orders only in Silwan.

On Friday, 26 November 2021, the Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, declared the Israeli Government’s approval on the establishment of 2000 new settlement units in the French Hill Settlement established on al-Masharef Mount lands, northeast of Occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.

The Israeli Mayor posted on social media that a new settlement neighborhood will be built on the French Hill as part of an agreement signed between the Israeli Municipality, Israel Land Authority and the Hebrew University as construction of 2000 new settlement units will be allowed on a plot of land owned by the University in the French Hill with an area of 150 dunums.  The mayor stated that the plan will include establishment of housing units for the Hebrew University students, shops and settlement units for the young families on the two sides of the light rail in the area.

• At approximately 10:00 on Sunday, 28 November 2021, IOF accompanied with an Israeli Civil Administration SUV, a bulldozer and maneuver moved into al-Bikai’a plain in Northern Jordan Valleys, east of Tubas. The bulldozer destroyed the water line supplying the crops in the plain and confiscated it before withdrawing from the plain.
• At approximately 14:00, the Israeli District Court rejected an appeal filed by tens of families from Wadi Yasul neighborhood in Silwan village, south of occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City against the decision to demolish 58 houses out of 84 under threat of demolition, claiming expansion of a settlement project on the neighborhood lands.

Fakhri Abu Thiab, Member of the Silwan Lands Defense Committee, said that the Israeli District Court in occupied Jerusalem, rejected an appeal filed by tens of families living in Wadi Yasul neighborhood against a decision to demolish 58 houses in the neighborhood and allowed Jerusalem Municipality to implement the demolition decisions whenever it finds it possible.  Abu Thiab added on 14 November, the Israeli Municipal court in Jerusalem issued a decision to demolish 84 houses in Wadi Yasul neighborhood under the pretext of expanding al-Salam Forest on the neighborhood lands.  Immediately the neighborhood lawyer, Ziad Qe’awar, filed an urgent appeal before the District Court, which rejected the appeal filed on behalf of 58 houses while the Kaminitz Law, which was adopted by the Knesset on 25 October 2017 relevant to Amendment 116 to the applicable Planning and Construction Law, will be applicable to the rest of the houses.  This law is known as the most racist and threatens the Palestinian existence and their lands as it increases penalties, rendering them stricter especially construction fines, as well as speeding up their implementation through administrative orders and fines, without bringing the citizen to criminal justice.  Abu Thiab added the demolition of 58 houses will lead to displacement of 620 persons in the neighborhood in favor of the expansion of al-Salam Forest, established on the neighborhood lands, which include trees and simple parks established for years in addition to Israel’s Nature Authority offices daily used in their settlement activities and projects.  This further proves that the Israeli Muncpality’s policy has changed from individual demolition approach to collective demolitions for ethnically cleansing vacant areas of Jerusalem and stripping the city of its identity and people.  It should be noted that Wadi Yasul neighborhood is in southeastern Silwan village, which is the nearest village to the Old City, and of 310 dunums, where 1050 persons live; 60 of them are children.  The demolition threatens residents of 84 houses in the neighborhood as the Israeli municipality handed them over the years demolition decisions under the pretext of unlicensed construction although most of these families have tried for 17 years to obtain an approval from the municipality to allow them to license their construction in the area.

• At approximately 08:00 on Monday, 29 November 2021, the Israeli municipality demolished the facilities of Ziad Company for Construction Materials in the Industrial area of ‘Anata village, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Owner of Ziad Company, ‘Ali Mousa Ziad, said that IOF moved into the industrial area in ‘Anata village and surrounded his company.  They started demolishing a barrack, warehouse, a cement room and a fence that were established in 2018.  Ziad added that he was surprised with the demolition as he did not receive any notice to evacuate the facilities in order to demolish them, noting that there is a case pending at the Israeli courts in this regard.  He also hired an engineer to make a map for the area and handed it to the Civil Administration.  Ziad said that the room and warehouse were 70 sqms and included machines and construction materials, which the Israeli Municipality crews did not allow to evacuate, while the barrack is around one dunum.  Also, IOF demolished a fence surrounding the land.  He added that the demolition inflected a financial loss of 600,000 shekels.   

• At approximately 09:30, IOF demolished commercial facilities for Janet ‘Aden Dates Company in al-Ashqariya neighborhood in Beit Hanina village, north of occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext that the land belongs to the Custodian of Absentee Properties.

Majed ‘Aweidah, the owner of Janet Aden Dates Company, stated that tens of members of Special forces, Border Police Officers and the Israeli Procedures Department’s crews raided the offices and facilities of the company established on his land in al-Ashqariya neighborhood in Beit Hanina, without prior notice.  They started demolishing them without allowing him to evacuate the contents from the offices and stores. ‘Aweidah added that the Israeli vehicles demolished all the facilities built on the 3.5-dunum land that included two 50-sqm offices, a 140-sqm hall and stores of ​​more than 200 sqms in addition to containers full of goods, trucks, electric tools, surveillance cameras, generators and a horse stable. He pointed out that IOF did not level the land and uproot the trees planted there because they told him they intend to return to the land in order to define its borders, as the Israeli authorities claim ownership of the land for the Custodian of Absentee Properties. ‘Aweidah added that the land ownership case is pending in the Israeli courts for many years and is now before the Israeli District Court, which issued a decision to freeze any demolition and eviction procedure. ‘Aweidah ascertained his ownership of the land and that the company was established on it 20 years ago, next to his family house, which was also built in 1977.  The company works in transportation, refrigeration and trade of dried fruits and supports 12 families.

Around the same time, IOF backed by several military vehicles and accompanied with Israeli Civil Administration officers and a bulldozer moved into Ni’lin village, west of Ramallah. They stationed in Bab Shuhab area in southern Ni’lin. The bulldozer levelled Fayiz ‘Ali Khawajah’s water well used for irrigating. It should be noted that Khawajah was delivered a demolition notice on 16 November 2021, under the pretext of being in Area C.

At approximately 08:00 on Tuesday, 30 November 2021, the Israeli vehicles demolished a wooden house belonging to Mohammed Fayez Zaytoun in Beer Ayoub neighborhood in Silwan in southern occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Samirah Zaytoun, grandmother of the house owner, said that the family was surprised in the morning with large numbers of Israeli forces and municipality crews raiding and surrounding the family houses. They emptied the contents of my grandson, Mohammed’s, house and dismantled its wooden roof as well as cutting its wooden walls with demolition hand tools and electric saws.  Zaytoun added that her grandson built his 60-sqm wooden house above hers and his father’s 5 years ago, noting that he lived with his wife and 4 children before moving to another city to work there while his wife and children moved to his father’s house.

In the afternoon, Amir Rabay’ah self-demolished his house in Jabel Mukaber village, southeast of occupied East Jerusalem, pursuant to the Israeli Muncpality’s decision under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Rabay’ah (25) built 3 years ago a small house of a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom near his father’s house to get married in the near future.  Rabay’ah added that the Israeli municipality has haunted him and insisted on the demolition decision, forcing him to self-demolish his house fearing he would pay heavy fines in case the Israeli Muncpality crews demolished it.  Rabay’ah said that he does not think of getting married now because he does not have enough money to have a house especially that the house rents in Jerusalem are very expensive.

In the afternoon, ‘Ali Abu Dweih implemented the Israeli Municipality’s decision and self-demolished his house in Jabel Mukaber village, southeast of occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.  Abu Dweih said that his 70-square-meter house built of bricks was established ub 2015, housing 4 members. He addes that he received an administrative demolition notice a week ago, and the Israeli authorities threatened him of sending the municipality bulldozers to implement the demolition if he would do it himself within 7 days. As a result, he was forced to self-demolish his house to avoid paying fines for the municipality.

On Wednesday morning, 01 December 2021, Israeli authorities handed a notice to confiscate a plot of land near the western entrance to Beit Jala city, west of Bethlehem, claiming it is for the public interest and aiming at expanding a settlement road.  Director of the Bethlehem office of the Wall and Settlement Committee, Hassan Brijieh, said that IOF distributed a decision to seize a 400-sqaure-meter land in order to expand a settlement road that connects the tunnels road and “Har Homa” settlement established on the lands of Abu Ghuniam Mount, north of Bethlehem.

At approximately 06:00, IOF accompanied with 12 Israeli Civil Administration vehicles, 30 SUVs and 4 mounted-crane trucks moved into Kherbet al-Ras al-Ahmar in the Northern Jordan Valleys, east of Tubas. IOF confiscated 6 tractors, 5 private vehicles, 4 water tanks and 3 trucks to displace the Palestinian farmers and vacate the area from residents. IOF took all the confiscated vehicles via mounted-crane trucks. PCHR keeps the names of those owning the confiscated vehicles.

At approximately 15:00, IOF military vehicles demolished 2 agricultural rooms in Nahalin village, west of Bethlehem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction. Hani Fanoun, Mayor of Nahalin Municipality, said that IOF accompanied with military vehicles moved into al-Nasba area, where they demolished two agricultural rooms built of bricks, noting they were notified to be demolished several months ago. Fanoun clarified that one of the rooms ( 70 sqms) belongs to Majdi Jamil Shakarna while the other room (60 sqms) belongs to ‘Alaa Mohammed Fanoun. He pointed out that IOF recently distributed more than 20 notices to agricultural rooms located between “Neve Daniel” and “Beitar Illit” settlements, west of Bethlehem.

Setters’ Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and their Property:

• On Tuesday evening, 30 December 2021, a group of settlers attempted to put a large menorah in front on Nabil al-Kurd’s house in Karam al-Ja’ouni area in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied east Jerusalem’s Old City, during a provoking gathering organized in the area to celebrate the Jewish festival of lights “ Hanukkah”.

The committee of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood residents said in a statement that the neighborhood residents prevented a group of Israeli settlers from putting a large menorah in front on Nabil al-Kurd’s house while they were performing prayers on the occasion of “Hanukkah”. The committee clarified that many Israeli soldiers provided protection for settlers although the latter attacked Palestinians’ houses. Also, on the same day dawn, a group of settlers vandalized the murals that a number of activists had painted on the walls of Nabil al-Kurd’s house.

Closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement of persons and goods:

The West Bank:

In addition to 108 permanent checkpoints and closed roads, this week witnessed the establishment of 44 temporary checkpoints that restrict the movement of goods and individuals, where IOF searched Palestinians’ vehicles, checked their IDs, and arrested 4 of them. IOF reinforced its restrictions on civilians’ freedom of movement at its permanent checkpoints in the West Bank and shut some checkpoints for several hours on multiple occasions.

Here follows PCHR documentation of restrictions on the freedom of movement and IOF-established temporary checkpoints across the West Bank this week:

Bethlehem:

• On Thursday, 25 November 2021, IOF tightened its measures at al-Container checkpoint, northeast of Bethlehem, obstructing vehicles’ movement.
• .
• On Friday, 26 November 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the entrances to Tuqu and Ash-Shawawra villages.
• On Saturday, 27 November 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the entrances to Tuqu and Beit Fajjar villages.
• On Sunday, 28 November 2021, IOF established 4 checkpoints at the entrances to Tuqu and Jannatah villages, in ‘Aqabet Hassnah area and near the intersection of al-Nashash area.

Ramallah and Al-Bireh:

• On Thursday, 25 November 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the entrance to Nabi Salih village and under the bridge of Ein Yabrud village.
• On Friday, 26 November 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance to Nabi Salih village.
• On Saturday, 27 November 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the intersection of “Beit El” settlement on the main road leading to Jalazone refugee camo, north of the city.
• On Sunday, 28 November 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance to Nabi Salih village.
• On Monday, 29 November 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance to Beitin village, east of the city.
• On Wednesday, 01 December 2021, IOF closed with sand berms and cement cubes the entrance to Deir Nidham They also established a checkpoint at the intersection of Ein ad-Duyuk village, north of the city.

Jericho:

• On Thursday, 25 November 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the northern and southern entrances to the city, and at the intersection of Ein ad-Duyuk village, north of the city.
• On Sunday, 28 November 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints on al-Mo’arajat road between Jericho and Ramallah, and at the northern and southern entrances to the city.

Jenin:

• On Thursday, 25 November 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the intersection of Ya’bad village, southwest of the city.

Hebron:

• On Thursday, 25 November 2021, IOF established 5 checkpoints at the entrances to Khasa, Beit Ummar and Beit Awwa villages, at the southern entrance to Hebron, and on Beit Einun Road.
• On Friday, 26 November 2021, IOF established 4 checkpoints the entrances to as-Samu, Bani Na’im and Sa’ir villages, and at the northern entrance to Halhul city.
• On Saturday, 27 November 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrance to Ash-Shuyukh village, and at the southern and western entrances to the city.
• On Sunday, 28 November 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrances to Sa’ir, ad-Dhahiriya and Beit Ummar villages.
• On Wednesday, 01 December 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrances to Sa’ir, Idhna, and Beit Awwa villages.

Qalqilya:

• On Saturday, 27 November 2021, IOF established 4 checkpoints at the eastern entrance to the city and at the entrances to Nabi Ilyas, Izbat al-Tabib, and Azzun villages, east of the city.

“I’ve Seen the Horrific Toll Western Sanctions are Having On the People of Syria and Lebanon”

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Daniel Kovalik

Millions hungry… no fuel or electricity… worthless currency… I witnessed all of this in Lebanon and Syria. And the greatest tragedy is this needless suffering is caused by the West’s desire to introduce ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’.

I have just returned from my second trip to Lebanon and Syria this year. I previously visited in May, and in the course of a few months I have witnessed a precipitous decline in the wellbeing of the people of both of these countries.

Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, seemed rather normal and tranquil in May but is now completely dark at night, due to a lack of electricity. There are only a few hours of sporadic electricity a day throughout the city. Meanwhile, fuel is nearly impossible to come by, with lines of cars spanning at least a kilometer waiting for gas. A number of my friends told me that they could not drive to meet me because they had no fuel for their vehicles.

There is also little to no garbage service, and so the streets and sidewalks are lined with trash. In what was once dubbed the ‘Paris of the East’, I witnessed goats roaming the streets in search of garbage to eat on the side of the road. The Lebanese lira has tumbled in value daily, with menus at restaurants that were still able to operate displaying prices written in pencil so they could be changed every morning. As I write these words, the lira is now worth 0.00066 US dollars. A number of truly exasperated people stated – with a swoosh of the hand in the air – that “Lebanon is finished.” And it certainly feels that way.

Everyone in Lebanon I talked to wants out of the country; some even asked if I could take them with me. The possible exception is the mass of Syrian people who have fled the war in their own country.  Many of these Syrians now live on the streets in Beirut. It is very common to see Syrian women with their children sleeping on the dark city sidewalks.  According to UNICEF, there are nearly 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, putting further strain on a social system which is unable to take care of its own people.

Syria is also suffering from a lack of electricity, with power for only a few hours a day, and food and vital medicines are hard to come by as well.  Personal protective materials necessary to protect against Covid – such as masks and hand sanitizer – are almost non-existent.

The families I stayed with would be at the ready with their laundry and food to cook for the odd occasion that the electricity would turn on for an hour. Most people are without air-conditioning or refrigeration in the sultry climate. The Syrian pound is also relatively valueless, with $100 buying bags of the currency, as I myself have experienced. Meanwhile, huge swathes of cities like Homs remain largely in rubble as post-war reconstruction has ground to a halt.

All of this is, of course, according to the plan of the Western ‘humanitarians’ who claim their suffocating economic sanctions on Syria – once Lebanon’s biggest trading partner and largest source of fuel – are intended to somehow bring democracy and freedom to the region. As we well know, these sanctions hurt civilians first and foremost, and disproportionately injure women and children in every country upon which they have been imposed.

As an article in Foreign Affairs explains, the example of Iraq shows that sanctions do nothing but create human misery. It reads, “US sanctions killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Their effect was gendered, disproportionately punishing women and children. The notion that sanctions work is a pitiless illusion.” 

And it goes into great detail about the humanitarian toll of the sanctions first imposed upon Syria by President Trump. “The Trump administration designed the sanctions it has now imposed on Syria to make reconstruction impossible. The sanctions target the construction, electricity and oil sectors, which are essential to getting Syria back on its feet. Although the United States says it is ‘protecting’ Syria’s oil fields in the northeast, it has not given the Syrian government access to repair them, and US sanctions prohibit any firm of any nationality from repairing them – unless the administration wishes to make an exception…”

The article goes on to point out that these restrictions mean the country faces “mass starvation or another mass exodus,” according to the World Food Program. This is backed up by alarming statistics which show that 10 years ago, abject poverty in Syria affected less than one percent of the population. By 2015, this had risen to 35 percent of the population. The rise in food prices – up 209 percent in the last year – is also noted, as is the fact that according to the World Food Program, there are now 9.3 million “food insecure” Syrians.
There is also criticism of the requirements the Syrian government must meet to secure relief from the sanctions. These are described as “deliberately vague” – a ploy, it is said, to deter investors who might be able to assist Syria, but are unprepared to do so because they are not certain they are free to help.

The UK humanitarian organization, the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), echoes these concerns, explaining that “[t]he sanctions that have been placed on Syria by the EU (including the UK) and USA have caused dire humanitarian consequences for Syrian citizens in Government controlled areas (which is 70% of the country) who are seeking to rebuild their lives…”

“Of the huge amounts of humanitarian aid that western governments are sending ‘to Syria’, the vast majority reaches either refugees who have fled the country, or only those areas of Syria occupied by militant groups opposed to the Syrian government. Most Syrian people are therefore deliberately left unsupported; indeed, even their own effort to help themselves and re-build their lives are hampered by sanctions.”

The despair being brought about by Western sanctions is palpable. Syrians and Lebanese, whose fates are inextricably tied to each other, have little hope for a happy and prosperous future. Once again, the West’s claims to ‘civilize’ the world have brought only misery, sorrow and destruction.

But I would be remiss if I did not end on this note: that, still, despite it all, the incredible hospitality and kindness of the Syrians and Lebanese have yet to be destroyed by the cruelty visited upon them.  Everywhere my companions and I went, including in the most modest homes of places like Maaloula, Homs or Latakia, Syria, or in Lebanon, families were quick to offer us coffee, water, and snacks.

Despite the fact that they are being denied the basic amenities of life by sanctions as targeted as a nuclear weapon, these people still know how to share the little that they have. This, I will always carry with me and be grateful for.

Daniel Kovalik teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and is author of the recently-released No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using “Humanitarian” Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests.

Collective Punishments and Humanitarian Aid عقوبات جماعية ومساعدات إنسانية!

Arab Intellectual

10 Jul 2021

Bouthaina Shaaban

Source: Al Mayadeen

What the West wants to do is to violate Syrian sovereignty, lay the foundations for dividing Syria, and to supply terrorist groups with weapons in the name of humanitarian aid.

For the past two months, all Western media and research centers have been preoccupied with a single topic about Syria, which is the necessity of opening the so-called “humanitarian corridors” across the border, lamenting over those who will suffer hunger and poverty if the benevolent hands of the West are not allowed to be extended to save their lives. They believed their lie and rejoiced in it, because it gives them the chimerical satisfaction that they are in harmony with their moral rules for which they have always been calling, pretending saving people and caring about people’s health, food and lives. 

The strange thing, however, is that all this Western-oriented media talked about is three million people living in the north-west and north-east of Syria, and did not mention at all the twenty million Syrians who are languishing under immoral, illegal and illegitimate collective punishments that prevent them from accessing food, medicine and power, and punishing any party who tries to lend a hand for them or who dares to violate these penalties by any means. 

Another strange thing is that no one has linked between Caesar’s law, which is not a law but a violation of all humanitarian and moral laws, and the suffering of the Syrian people over the past years, and no thinker in the West has ever tried to challenge this noisy media wave by highlighting the fact that all the aid sent by the United Nations has been distributed by United Nations organizations operating in Syria over the Syrian territory. What the West wants to do is to violate Syrian sovereignty, lay the foundations for dividing Syria, and to supply terrorist groups with weapons in the name of humanitarian aid.

Does it make sense for dozens of countries to convene a conference in Rome in order to discuss humanitarian aid to Syria, without mentioning the main reason for the suffering of all Syrians, namely the unilateral, coercive, illegal and aggressive measures imposed on the Syrian people? Following this conference, the Washington Post wrote in its editorial on June 30, 2021: “there is no better place to demonstrate our values than in Syria, by extending humanitarian aid and reaching a settlement to the war there, as per the agreed terms of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254.” The writer complains that Syria has been a drag on US diplomacy for more than ten years! Such writers should rather ask the Syrians about the suffering they experienced due to the US occupation over the past ten years, and about the crimes that have been committed, wheat that has been stolen, and oil that has been smuggled, and lands that have been illegally seized by the force of American weapons in harsh violation of all international laws and legitimacy!

While reading what the Western media is publishing about Syria, I wonder about the distorted image that is being formed in the minds of Western readers as a result of misleading information which has nothing to do with reality, and which fills the pages of this media, ignoring the truth and all the difficulties and tragedies that Syrians are living, because referring to such tragedies means referring to the Western perpetrator. Therefore, everything mentioned about Syria has been written in the passive form, just as the Zionists used to do for decades when broadcasting news about Palestine and Palestinians; you cannot find a sentence in the active voice because it requires mentioning the subject, who is the causative of all crimes perpetrated against the innocent Syrians, and this is not allowed. 

In all the media promotion before the Rome Conference and following it, Syria had been shrunk to the northwest and northeast, to be under control of terrorists and occupiers, without any mention of the Syrian people who suffered patiently, and liberated a large part of their land and are trying to rebuild their lives and properties despite the difficulties created by the criminal sanctions against them. 

The editorial of Newsweek of June 30, insinuates that Syria and Iraq are inhabited only by “Iranian militias”, as if the Syrian and Iraqi peoples do not exist, and that the United States is obliged to respond to Iranian drone attacks in Iraq, and therefore it is bombing the Iraqi-Syrian border near Al-Bukamal. Since the United States has the right, as the editorial suggests, protecting its forces anywhere in the world, nobody showed any concern when the United States bombed facilities and killed people. However, they consider those attacks as acts of self-defense.  The author says that the issue is not limited only to whether this aggression is legitimate or not, he rather raised the following question: why do members of the Iraqi army, who are being trained by the United States, attack the American forces? The author is trying to correct a “strategic shift” in the United States’ view that they were unable to instill a sense of deterrence in Iraq. 

Firstly, The American forces refrained from attacking Al-Bukamal crossing and from maintaining Al-Tanf crossing too, not only to back up their troops, which should not be here in the first place, but rather to ensure safety to the terrorists they protect, and be able to move them whenever and wherever they want. Secondly, the United States wants to cut the geographical connection between Iraq and Syria on the one hand, and between Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon on the other. This action represents one of the strategic goals of the Zionist entity, who considers any communication between these countries, in the frame of the resistance axis, as an existential threat to it. In other words, the United States is implementing the targets of “Israel”, moreover they do not respond to attacks because they are the ones who start the aggression. Thirdly, if the writer of the editorial believes that the Iraqi army, or any other army in the region, will express in the future his gratitude and loyalty to the American forces, he is certainly wrong. The peoples of the region are much smarter than you can ever think; Iraqis and Syrians are aware that it is the US occupying forces who prevent communication between the two countries and hinder the opening of the borders between two close brother countries. Our people are completely aware that the US troops want to open the borders with the Turkish occupier who used the frontier lines for the past ten years to help terrorists infiltrate Syria and provide them with illicit supplies (money and weapons).

It occurred to me while reading the editorial of the Washington Post and the editorial of Newsweek, of June 30, 2021, that the Western transatlantic people would be better off, if they do not read such misleading editorials and analysis which have nothing to do with the reality of the situation in our countries and our region, because such analysis stem from the writers’ sense of false colonial superiority and from a premeditated intent to drown our people into a sea of ignorance, abandoning them to  sufferings, stifling their innovation and destroying their ambition.

Today, the US troops are getting out of Afghanistan after causing countless tragedies to innocent Afghani peoples; while no one knows why did they enter or why do they leave now. They claimed that they went to Afghanistan to liberate its people from Taliban, while their actions prove that they contributed to its perpetuation and spread.

Every time I read what the American media and research centers publish, I wonder about the curricula of History in the United States and about what they teach all their students, but this is another topic that needs to be addressed.  

---

عقوبات جماعية ومساعدات إنسانية!

بثينة شعبان

المصدر: الميادين نت

هل يُعقل أن تتداعى عشرات الدول إلى مؤتمر في روما لمناقشة مساعدات إنسانية لسوريا من دون ذكر السبب الأساسي في معاناة السوريين جميعاً، ألا وهي الإجراءات القسرية الأحادية الجانب، والمفروضة على الشعب السوري ظلماً وعدواناً؟

طوال الشهرين الماضيين، انشغل القيّمون على وسائل الإعلام الغربية ومراكز الأبحاث بموضوع وحيد عن سوريا، وهو ضرورة فتح ما سمّوه “ممرّات إنسانية عبر الحدود”، متباكِين على من سيُصيبهم الجوع والفقر إذا لم يتم السماح لأيدي الغرب الخيّرة بأن تمتدّ لتنقذ حيواتهم.

عقوبات جماعية ومساعدات إنسانية!

صدّقوا الكذبة التي كذبوها على أنفسهم، وفرحوا بها لأنها تعطيهم الارتياح الزائف إلى أنهم منسجمون مع قواعدهم الأخلاقية التي يتحدثون بها دوماً، وهي الحرص على الناس وعلى غذائهم وصحتهم. لكنّ الغريب في الأمر أن كلّ هذا الإعلام الغربي الموجَّه تحدَث عن ثلاثة ملايين يقطنون في الشمال الغربي والشمال الشرقي، ولم يذكر أبداً الملايين العشرين من السوريين، والذين يرزحون تحت عقوبات جماعية، لاأخلاقية ولاشرعية ولاقانونية. وفي الحقيقة، فإنّ هذه العقوبات جريمة إبادة، وهي المسؤولة عن الفقر والجوع والغلاء، التي يعاني جرّاءها ملايين السوريين، لأنها عملياً تمنع عنهم سبل الغذاء والدواء والطاقة، وتعاقب أيَّ طرف يحاول بيع هذه المواد الأساسية لإنقاذ حياة أيّ إنسان، أو يحاول مدّ يد العون إليهم، أو خرق هذه العقوبات، بأي وسيلة كانت.

والغريب في الأمر أن أحداً لم يربط بين “قانون قيصر” الإجرامي، والذي هو ليس قانوناً، بل جريمة إبادة جماعية موجَّهة ضدّ الشعب السوري المسالم، لأنه يمثّل خرقاً لكل القوانين الإنسانية والأخلاقية، وبين معاناة هذا الشعب على مدى السنوات الماضية. ولم يحاول أي متحدث في الغرب أن يتحدى هذه الموجة الإعلامية الصاخبة، والموجَّهة سياسياً من جانب الأجهزة المخابراتية والعسكرية نفسها، التي موّلت الإرهابيين وسلّحتهم وأرسلتهم إلى سوريا، من خلال إبراز حقيقة أن كل المساعدات المرسَلة من جانب الأمم المتحدة توزّعها منظمات الأمم المتحدة العاملة في سوريا على مدى الجغرافيا السورية، لكنّ ما يريد الغرب فعله هو انتهاك السيادة السورية أولاً، ووضع أسس لتقسيم سوريا ثانياً، وإمداد مرتزقته من العصابات الإرهابية بالسلاح، تحت مسمى مساعدات إنسانية. وهذا ما فعله بالشعوب طوال تاريخه الاستعماري الدموي.

هل يُعقل أن تتداعى عشرات الدول إلى مؤتمر في روما لمناقشة مساعدات إنسانية لسوريا من دون ذكر السبب الأساسي في معاناة السوريين جميعاً، ألا وهو الإجراءات القسرية والأُحادية الجانب، والمفروضة على الشعب السوري ظلماً وعدواناً؟ ألم يكن الأجدر بهذه الدول، إنْ كانت صادقة، أن ترسل المساعدات مباشرة عبر الوسائل المتَّبَعة دولياً، وعبر المنافذ الحدودية والموانئ السورية.

وفي أعقاب هذا المؤتمر، تكتب جريدة “واشنطن بوست”، في افتتاحيتها في 30 حزيران/يونيو 2021، أنه “لا يوجد مكان أفضل من سوريا للتعبير عن قيمنا، من خلال إيصال المساعدات الإنسانية، والتوصّل إلى تسوية للحرب، وفق ما نصّ عليه قرار مجلس الأمن 2254”.

ويشكو الكاتب أن سوريا شكّلت عبئاً على الدبلوماسية الأميركية طوال السنوات العشر الماضية. وعلى مثل هؤلاء الكتاب أن يسألوا السوريين: بمَ تسببت لهم الولايات المتحدة على مدى السنوات العشر الماضية؟ وما هي الجرائم التي ارتُكبت بحقهم؟ وكيف ينظرون إلى نهب قمحهم ونفطهم واحتلال أرضهم بقوة السلاح الأميركي، في انتهاك صارخ لكل القوانين والشرعة الدولية؟ 

أتساءل، وأنا أقرأ كلّ ما يصدر عن سوريا في الإعلام الغربي، عن الصورة المشوَّهة، والتي تتشكّل حُكماً في أذهان القراّء الغربيين، نتيجة المعلومات المضلِّلة، والتي لا تمتّ إلى واقع الحال بصلة، والتي تملأ صفحات هذا الإعلام الذي تحتكره الحكومات الغربية، وتسيّره عبر المخابرات الغربية. لذلك، فإن إعلامهم يتجاهل الواقع والحقيقة وكل ما يعتري حياة السوريين من صعوبات ومآسٍ، لا يتم التطرّق إليها أبداً، لأن التطرق إليها يعني الإشارة إلى الفاعل والمتهَم الغربي المجرم. لذلك، فإن كل ما يُكتَب عن سوريا يُكتَب بصيغة “المبنيّ للمجهول”، تماماً كما درج الصهاينة على بثّ الأخبار عن فلسطين والفلسطينيين منذ عقود، إذ لا توجد جملة بصيغة المبني للمعلوم، لأن المبنيّ للمعلوم يتطلّب ذكر الفاعل المسبّب بالجرائم بحقّ الملايين من السوريين الأبرياء والمسالمين، وهذا أمر غير مسموح به.

في كل هذا الترويج الإعلامي في مؤتمر روما وما سبقه وما تلاه، يختصرون سوريا بالشمال الغربي والشمال الشرقي، وبحفنة من الإرهابيين والمحتلين، بينما لا يوجد ذكر للشعب السوري الذي عانى وصبر وحرّر الجزء الأكبر من أرضه، ويحاول إعادة بناء حياته وممتلكاته، على الرغم من الصعوبات التي ولّدتها العقوبات المجرمة عليه.

وفي افتتاحية مجلة “النيوزويك”، في 30 حزيران/يونيو أيضاً، تشعر كأن سوريا والعراق مسكونان بمليشيات إيرانية فقط، ولا وجود للشعبين السوري والعراقي، وأن الولايات المتحدة مضطرة إلى الردّ على هجمات الطائرات الإيرانية المسيَّرة في العراق. لذلك، هي تقصف الحدود العراقية السورية قرب البوكمال. وبما أن للولايات المتحدة الحق، كما تقول الافتتاحية، في حماية قواتها في أيّ مكان في العالم، لذلك لم يهتم أحد حين قصفت الولايات المتحدة الأسبوع الماضي منشآت وأشخاصاً، وقتلت مَن قتلت، واعتبروها “أعمالاً دفاعية عن النفس”. ولا يُخفي كاتب المقال أن المسألة لا تنحصر فقط فيما إذا كان هذا العدوان قانونياً أم لا، بل السؤال هو: لماذا توجد قوات احتلال أميركية في العراق وسوريا؟ ولماذا تعمد عناصر في الجيش العراقي، الذي تدربه الولايات المتحدة، على مهاجمة القوات الأميركية. وهو يحاول في مقاله أن يصحّح “حَوَلاً استراتيجياً”، في نظرة الولايات المتحدة إلى تدريب هذا الجيش، وأن الولايات المتحدة لم تتمكّن من خلق حالة الردع في العراق.

أولاً، إن قوات الاحتلال الأميركية لا تهاجم معبر البوكمال، ولا تحتفظ بمعبر التنف، من أجل سلامة قواتها التي يجب ألا تكون موجودة اصلاً، بل من أجل ضمان سلامة الإرهابيين الذين تحميهم وتحرّكهم متى تشاء وكيفما تشاء. ثانياً، لأنها تريد قطع التواصل الجغرافي بين العراق وسوريا من جهة، ومحاصَرة الملايين من الشعبين في البلدين، ومنع أيّ تبادل تجاري ينفعهما. كما تهدف إلى قطع التواصل بين إيران والعراق وسوريا ولبنان من جهة أُخرى. وهذا يمثّل أحد الأهداف الاستراتيجية للكيان الصهيوني، الذي يعتبر التواصل بين هذه البلدان الموجودة في محور مقاوم خطراً وجودياً عليه؛ أي أن الولايات المتحدة تنفّذ أهدافاً إسرائيلية، وهي لا تقوم بالرد على أي هجوم لأنها هي التي تبدأ العدوان دائماً. 

ثالثاً، إذا كان كاتب الافتتاحية يعتقد أن الجيش العراقي، أو أي جيش في المنطقة، سيعبّر مستقبلاً عن امتنانه وولائه للجيش الأميركي، فهو واهم. فشعوب المنطقة أذكى كثيراً مما تعرفون وتظنّون. والشعب في كل من العراق وسوريا يدرك أنّ قوات الاحتلال الأميركية هي أولاً قوات عدوانية، هدفها قمع الشعبين وحرمانهما من الحرية والسيادة، وموجودة من أجل نهب ثرواتهما. ويدرك الشعبان في سوريا والعراق أنّ هذه القوات المعتدية هي التي تمنع التواصل بين بلديهما، وهي التي تمنع فتح الحدود بين بلدين شقيقين متحابّين، بينما تريد فتح الحدود مع محتل تركي استخدم الحدود طوال السنوات العشر الماضية لإرسال الإرهابيين المسلّحين والمدرَّبين غربياً إلى سوريا، وتزويدهم بالمال والعتاد والسلاح.

خطر لي وأنا أقرأ افتتاحيتي “الواشنطن بوست” و”النيوزويك”، والمؤرَّختين في 30 حزيران/يونيو 2021، أن شعوب الغرب عبر الأطلسي ستكون في حال أفضل لو أنها لا تقرأ مثل هذه الافتتاحيات الموجَّهة سياسياً من جانب حكومات ترتكب جرائم حرب ضدّ الشعوب العربية، في سوريا والعراق ولبنان واليمن وليبيا. فهذه التحليلات المضلِّلة لا تمتّ بصلة إلى واقع الحال في بلداننا ومنطقتنا، وتنبع من تحيّز كتّابها إلى فكرة التفوّق الاستعمارية، وتجاهلهم واقعَ الشعوب ومعاناتها ووعيها وطموحها.

ها هم اليوم يخرجون من أفغانستان بعد التسبب بمآسٍ لا تُحصى للملايين من الشعب الأفغاني المسالم، ولا أحد يعلم لماذا دخلوا، ولماذا خرجوا، ولم يتمكنوا من الخروج إلاّ بعد التفاوض مع “طالبان” التي ادّعوا أنهم ذهبوا إلى هناك لتخليص الشعب الأفغاني منها، وإذ بهم يساهمون، عبر سياساتهم، في إدامتها وانتشارها.

أتساءل عن مناهج التاريخ في الولايات المتحدة، وعما تدرّسه للطلاب، إذا كان هذا ما تجود به مراكز الأبحاث ووسائل الإعلام، والتي تُعتبر نخبوية في الغرب؟ لكنّ هذا حديث آخر، ويحتاج إلى وقفة مقبلة. 

Changes Are Looming on the Horizon: What Is America Preparing For the Region?

July 7, 2021

By Ali Abadi

Are black clouds gathering over the region? Are we headed back to the days of Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”] in Iraq and Syria in 2014 and the internal cracks in other Arab countries in 2011?

Here are some indicators that warn of new challenges:

– A tangible return to sabotage activities by Daesh in Iraq came in the form of sporadic bombings in Baghdad, daily attacks on Iraqi forces in the Anbar, Salah al-Din, Nineveh, and Diyala provinces, and the bombing of several transmission towers, which exacerbated the electricity crisis in Iraq.

In addition, there is a chronic quest to inflame the internal situation in Iraq before the legislative elections expected to be held next fall. The US administration and its assets in Iraq are exploiting a number of factors to re-establish a comfortable parliamentary majority. These factors include the worsening electricity crisis during the hot summer and the value of the Iraqi currency, which is plummeting against the US dollar, leading to higher prices.

There is a gasoline crisis in the oil-rich country [a peculiar similarity with the situation in Lebanon]. Meanwhile, the United States has not offered Iraq anything to solve its chronic problems, such as the electricity problem. Instead, Washington is preventing the German company Siemens from obtaining contracts to carry out this task, according to Iraqi sources.

This is accompanied by Washington’s refusal to withdraw its forces from Iraq and Syria. The declared objective of this occupying presence is to exert pressure for regime change in Syria – exploiting the economic blockade is the main tool in this operation. The American military presence is also designed to act as a dam between Iran and the establishment of normal relations with the countries of the region. However, there are implicit goals, including controlling the future of Iraq and Syria and their hidden wealth and establishing permanent American bases in the region.

– There is a strong resurgence of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, as it now controls 70% of the Afghan territory, including those that were considered centers for Tajiks and Hazaras in the north of the country. This development coincided with the accelerated US withdrawal, which left the Afghan government in limbo, with little backing.

The new situation in Afghanistan can cause political and security agitation for each of the three players that challenge American influence internationally: Iran, Russia, and China. And each of these countries has its own concerns and grievances in dealing with Afghanistan, the Taliban, or groups that appeal to an extremist religious authority. Also, in the three countries, religious or ethnic groups can cause headaches due to the resurgence of the Taliban. Is the US withdrawal merely an American electoral necessity, or does it contain an element of distraction for the three mentioned countries?

Afghanistan and Iraq, by the way, were targets of an American invasion in 2001 and 2003, which opened the door to major storms in the region, the effects of which are still being felt today. However, there is an important difference between the two countries. In Iraq, there is a strong dam against the re-expansion of Daesh. This dam is Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi [or the Popular Mobilization Forces] that stands steadfast in the face of American efforts to dismantle and disrupt it, while its positions on the border between Iraq and Syria are exposed to US raids from time to time.

– In addition to the two worrying security developments in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ongoing siege on Syria to bring about a change in the hierarchy of power, there is an American effort to capitalize on the financial siege on Lebanon to impose the guardianship of the International Monetary Fund on the country as the only one option.

The US is taking advantage of the existing corruption and its local tools to provoke people’s anger and direct it mainly towards the resistance, with the aim of changing the political equation in the upcoming parliamentary elections in a few months. The anti-resistance propaganda is based on the idea that Hezbollah is protecting the corrupt, a claim that has not been proven in practice [did the party prevent a judge from prosecuting a corrupt person, for example?]. That’s unless the party is required to open side battles that further complicate matters and weaken the country’s internal immunity in the face of a lurking enemy.

– On the Palestinian side, features appeared to bring back former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad [the trusted American option] to the fore, in conjunction with an intense Egyptian presence in the Gaza Strip through the gateway of reconstruction and the establishment of calm. This comes after the last round of confrontation [the al-Quds Sword], which tilted the scales in favor of the resistance and placed al-Quds at the heart of the existing equation.

We are facing an American counterattack: a withdrawal here, a strengthening of military presence there, and economic and political pressures to impose ready-made American models in the Levant: Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. But the United States is not in the days of 2001-2003. Attempts to subjugate by sowing discord and employing ready-made American models will not change the fact that US influence is waning and is dependent on starvation and despair, not enticement, as in the American dream.

There is a counter opportunity to take advantage of the blockade in order to create new facts outside the closed game that the American tools contributed to creating. Perhaps we are beginning to perceive this by opening new supply channels to Lebanon and others, as well as strengthening the advanced al-Quds equation.

Assad Highlights Syria’s Potential to Overcome Blockade

10/06/2021

By Staff, Agencies

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the country is capable of overcoming the blockade and create more investment opportunities.

On Wednesday he visited a number of factories and facilities at Adra industrial city in Damascus countryside which were established under the circumstances of the war and blockade, but their owners have succeeded despite all difficulties and challenges.

During the visit, Assad inspected the production situation in the industrial city and met the industrialists and discussed with them means of boosting production and overcoming obstacles that may face industry in Syria.

“Syria has genuine potentials to overcome the blockade and lessen its impacts and create more investment opportunities,” Assad said in a press statement.

“I am very happy with my visit today to Adra industrial city and meeting with a number of Syrian industrialists… this city which has been on the front line between the army and terrorists since many years…but it has withstood… my visit today aims to stress the priority of economy in the upcoming stage,” he added.

“What I have seen today can’t be described except as excellent, taking into consideration the circumstances to which this region has lived during the years of war and the conditions to which the Syrian economy passes through… I believe that this visit is very important for anyone to raise his morale through the morals taken by the supervisors of the work, owners of industries and workers in the industrial sectors.”

He added, “This patriotic spirit that I have already touched at supervisors of the work and workers gives several messages in Syria… while I was inspecting the facilities, the first thing that came to my mind is a comparison, which comes spontaneously, between those who offered the national capitals during hard circumstances for creating job opportunities and supporting the economy, and those persons who fled with their capitals since the first days.

“When the signs of war have begun, they took the capitals they had collected in their country and migrated, at the time, the Syrian citizen was coming through a tunnel; Security tunnel, livelihood and economic tunnel, and he/she has thought that there would be too many brothers who would offer assistance,” the Syrian president said, state-run SANA news agency reported.

He went on to say, “Actually, What I have already seen sends many messages; messages to persons who possess the potentials, capabilities and resources but they lack the courage and spirit of the initiative to launch work and production, sends messages full of hope and confidence … confidence that during those circumstances ,the industrial sector has been able to remain and withstand, therefore, the most important message that we get from this visit is that if we have the will to build the homeland ,then we are able to build.”

Assad added that we are in need for the capital, in need for strong will and the patriotic sense, “and I felt that these three elements are existed with each one I met today, these three basic factors give momentum to many investors to establish industries in different areas, investments or productive facilities in other areas in Syria.”

“In fact, those persons are the ones on whom the Syrian society and homeland can depend in building economy and homeland in general…and certainly, the State will stand by them because they deserve all support as they carry on today the war on a front which is a front of work and a front of economic war… the Syrian citizen expect from you a lot and the State supports you in order to reflect these joint efforts as numbers in the economy, job opportunities and a prosperity for the homeland,” he concluded.

End the genocidal siege of Syria!

May 1, 2021

Turkey Re-uses Thirst As A Weapon: Cutting off Water in Syria’s Al-Hasakah

By Mohammed Eid

Syria – The Turkish occupation forces and their mercenaries continue to blackmail the people of Al-Hasakah and its western countryside by cutting off drinking water from time to time. 

As the summer is near, the Turks returned to practice their hobby of torturing the people and imposing a fait accompli on them. In response, the Syrian government continues digging more wells and using reserves to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe added to the massive spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Khalaf is a Syrian citizen who spends hours on his motorcycle carrying a few empty “gallons” looking for someone to fill it “at any price. However, his efforts remained fruitless as the hot sun rays and the long fasting hours added to his suffering. Suddenly, he stops in front of the Turkish soldiers and their mercenaries sending a heartbreaking angry cry to who “sold the homeland and its dignity at the lowest price.”

“Every time the Syrian government, the UN and the Russians interfere as mediators, things would ease up after the Turkish blackmail reaches its maximum,” Khalaf confirms to “Al-Ahed news” in extreme anger.
Khalaf’s suffering resembles the situation of the majority of the population waiting for a hot summer. “

The Turks have accustomed us to this scene since they set their occupation foot on this land,” Khaled told “Al-Ahed news” before lining up in line, waiting to fill out his “gallons” with the water of the reserve well that the government uses whenever the Turks return to a new chapter of their water terror series.

Meanwhile, Member of the Executive Office of the Municipal Councils’ Sector, Hassan Al-Shamhoud, confirmed that the only and main water source for Al-Hasakah city is Alouk water. 

In remarks to “Al-Ahed news”, Al-Shamhoud pointed out that around 18 attacks were scored recently on the power lines linking Darbasiyah station to Alouk. 

“This weakened the electrical energy reaching the station resulted in the ability to operate only one pump to the three wells. Thus, water does not reach its only destiny at Al-Hamma station,” he elaborated.

Regarding the alternative solutions, Al-Hasakah municipal official explained that “We are restoring to wells in the central city and neighborhoods, in addition to those 28 built by the City Council, along with some wells belonging to some people who help the rest of the population get free drinking water.”

It’s worth mentioning that Syria had urged the United Nations, its specialized agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross to shoulder their responsibilities in terms of ending the unjustified Turkish escalation towards the Syrian citizens in Al-Hasakah province, after the Turks and their mercenaries continue to cut off water on more than a million Syrians for more than 16 days.

Related Video’s

Related

• Hasakah Water Establishment resumes water pumping to citizens in Hasakah after 20-day halt because of Turkish occupation attacks
• In Photos: Two Consecutive Explosions Hit Syria’s Jarabulus, Child Reportedly Killed
• Landmine and IED Explosions Kill 2 Syrian Children and a Farmer Today
• The (SDF) militia seizes a number of buildings in Police Housing Complex in Al-Raqqa city
• Ankara’s Fourth War Front: Turkish Soldiers Killed in New Iraq Offensive
• QSD Militia Seize a Number of Neighborhoods in Raqqa City, Kidnap Several Citizens in Deir Ezzor
• Putin, Assad Discuss Supplies of Russian COVID-19 Vaccine to Syria: Kremlin
• NATO Deploys Polish Troops to Turkey for War with Syria

Russian Navy To Guard Iranian Oil Supplies To Syria Under Strategic Agreement – Report

South Front

 17.04.2021 

A Russian Navy assault team from the Russian Federation ship Severromorsk land by helicopter on the deck of the Italian Ship San Marco, the NATO flag ship to Operation Ocean Shield, during a NATO-Russia counter piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden.

Russia, Iran and Syria have established a joint operation room that would work to guarantee the security and stability of oil and wheat supplies to Syrian ports through the Mediterranean Sea, Sputnik reported on April 17.

According to the agency, a series of intensive meetings between Russian, Iranian and Syrian officials was held recently with the aim of breaking the siege imposed by the US and European Union on Syria.

“The room’s work is to provide multi-sided coordination to secure the arrival of oil supplies, in the first place, to Syrian ports,” Sputnik quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying.

Syria has been facing an unprecedented economic crisis as a result the sanctions imposed by the US and the EU. The country’s natural resources in the northeastern region are also under control of US proxies. Furthermore, ships heading to Syrian ports face sanctions as well as the threat of direct attacks on some occasions.

In the framework of the joint operations room, Russian Navy vessels will protect Iranian tankers heading to Syria until the end of this year.

Iranian tankers will gather in the Mediterranean and sail to Syria in one convoy escorted by the Russian Navy. Recently, this protocol was successfully used to guard four tankers heading to Syria.

According to Sputnik’s sources, other ships loaded with supplied, including food and chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry, will arrive in Syrian ports. Several wheat shipments from Russia will also be sent to Syria until next June.

“The recent tripartite coordination, which resulted in understandings that could be described as strategy, would secure most of the Syrian market’s needs for basic commodities and materials,” the sources said.

The operations room demonstrates honest commitment of Russia and Iran to Syria and the Syrian people. Meanwhile, the US and the EU continue to place political conditions to easy their collective sanctions on the country.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC:

• Military Situation In Syria On April 17, 2021 (Map Update)
• Saryat Ansar Abu Baker As-Siddiq Launched New Attack On Turkish Forces In Greater Idlib
• Daraa: Four Intelligence Officers, Former Rebels Targeted In Separate Attacks

Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestine (01 – 07 April 2021)

April 8, 2021

Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestine (01 – 07 April 2021)

Palestinian civilian killed and his wife wounded after targeting their vehicle at a military checkpoint, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem

IOF excessive use of force in the West Bank: 18 Palestinians wounded, including 2 journalists

Four IOF shootings reported at agricultural areas and seven on fishing boats in Eastern and Western Gaza Strip

In 177 IOF incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem: 67 civilians arrested, including 3 children, a woman and a journalist

Candidate for Legislative Council elections arrested in Bethlehem, 2 others summoned and an elections-related event banned in occupied East Jerusalem

Two houses demolished; one self-demolished, and eight facilities in addition to a settlement road built in occupied East Jerusalem

Settler-attacks: a settlement road built in Bethlehem and assaults on farmers and agricultural lands in Nablus, Hebron and Ramallah

IOF established 88 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank and arrested 9 Palestinian civilians on said checkpoints

Summary                                                                                        

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued to commit crimes and multi-layered violations against Palestinian civilians and their properties, including raids into Palestinian cities that are characterized with excessive use of force, assault, abuse and attacks on civilians that are mostly conducted after midnight and in the early morning hours. Even more, IOF continued its demolition operations and delivery of cease-construction and demolition notices in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. PCHR documented 204 violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law (IHL) by IOF and settlers in the oPt.

IOF shooting and violation of right to bodily integrity:

IOF killed Osama Mohammed Sedqi Mansour (42) and wounded his wife when they stopped their car at a military checkpoint and opened fire at it. IOF claimed that they opened fire at the car after the driver had attempted to run over Israeli soldiers stationed at the checkpoint. According to the wife’s testimony and investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), the Israeli soldiers opened fire at the car without any justification as they checked the passengers’ IDs and allowed them to pass.

Also, 18 Palestinians, including two journalists, sustained wounds as a result of IOF excessive use of force against civilians in the West Bank: six civilians were wounded during suppression of a peaceful protest in Al-Mughayyir village in Ramallah; two journalists at the weekly Kafr Qaddum protests in Qalqilya; eight others in IOF incursion into Askar refugee camp and during the suppression of a peaceful protest in Beit Dajan; an intelligence officer wounded in IOF incursion into Tubas; and another wounded near the annexation wall.

Dozens suffocated due to tear gas inhalation, and others were wounded in IOF assaults during house raids across the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, 4 IOF shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern and western Gaza; and 7 at fishing boats in the Gaza sea.

IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:

IOF carried out 177 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids of civilian houses and shootings, enticing fear among civilians, and attacking many of them. During this week’s incursions, 67 Palestinians were arrested, including 3 children, a woman and a journalist.

Demolitions:

PCHR documented 4 incidents:

• East Jerusalem: a house was self-demolished in Jabel Mukaber village; a settlement road was built in eastern Issawiya village; 2 farmers were demolished; and a residential house, 3 barracks, 2 containers and a shop were demolished in al-Za’rawa and Habayil al-‘Arab areas in Issawiya village.
• Qalqilya: a barrack for construction material was demolished.

Settler-attacks: PCHR fieldworkers reported and documented 4 attacks:

• Bethlehem: a settlement road was built.
• Nablus: an assault on Palestinian farmers in Jalud village.
• Hebron: opening fire at Palestinian Land and Water Settlement Commission during land-surveying in Hebron.
• Ramallah: an assault on an agricultural area near the entrance to Nabi Salih village.
• Bethlehem: lands razed in Kisan for construction of a settlement road
• Nablus: 25 tree seedlings uprooted.

Israeli closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement:

The Gaza Strip still suffers the worst closure in the history of the Israeli occupation of the oPt as it has entered the 14th consecutive year, without any improvement to the movement of persons and goods, humanitarian conditions and bearing catastrophic consequences on all aspects of life. The United Nations confirmed that the Gaza conditions are worsening, with deteriorating health, power, and water services. The UN emphasized that the Gaza Strip requires immense efforts in the housing and education sectors and to create job opportunities.

Meanwhile, IOF continued to divide the West Bank into separate cantons with key roads blocked by the Israeli occupation since the Second Intifada and with temporary and permanent checkpoints, where civilian movement is restricted, and they are subject to arrest.

Shooting and other Violations of the Right to Life and Bodily Integrity

• At approximately 00:20 on Thursday, 01 April 2021, IOF moved into Nablus, north of the West Bank, and stationed in the eastern side to secure the entry of dozens of buses carrying Israeli settlers to Joseph tomb, where settlers perform prayers. Meanwhile, a number of Palestinian young men gathered and threw stones at the IOF’s vehicles. IOF responded with teargas canisters to disperse the young men. As a result, many civilians suffocated due to teargas inhalation and received treatment on the spot.
• At approximately 05:15, a group of Israeli undercover units “Mista’arvim” sneaked into Tubas city in two civilian cars. They surrounded Ahmed Jamal Ahmed Daraghmah’s (23) house located near the Intelligence Service office in the city. Few minutes later, several Israeli vehicles moved into the city to back up the undercover units. During which, IOF opened fire at a Palestinian Intelligence officer namely Mohammed Rushdi Habeeb al-‘Aydi (27), who got out of the Intelligence Service office to take the guarders back into the office. As a result, al-‘Aydi was shot with a live bullet below his left armpit, and sustained shrapnel wounds in his chest. He was then taken to Tubas Turkish Hospital for treatment. Also, IOF raided Daraghmah’s house and arrested Kamal Jamal Ahmed Daraghmah (29) in order to force his brother Ahmed (23) to surrender himself. In the evening, Ahmed surrendered at Tayaseer military checkpoint, east of Tubas city, while Kamal was released.
• At approximately 12:00, IOF stationed along the Gaza’s border fence with Israel, east of Khan Yunis, opened fire at agricultural lands and Palestinian shepherds, east of Khuzaʽa village; no causalities were reported.
• At approximately 02:40 on Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF moved into Askar refugee camp, northeast of Nablus. Meanwhile, a group of Palestinian young men gathered and threw stones at IOF’s vehicles. IOF immediately fired live bullets and teargas canisters at them. Clashes erupted between Palestinian young men and Israeli soldiers and continued until the morning. As a result, 5 civilians were wounded as follows:

• A 20-year-old male was shot with a live bullet in his right foot.
• A 24-year-old male was shot with a live bullet in his right leg.
• A 25-year-old male was shot with a live bullet in his left leg.
• A 23-year-old male was shot with a live bullet in his chest.
• A 27-year-old male was shot with a live bullet in his abdomen.

Also, many civilians suffocated due to teargas inhalation and received treatment on the spot. After that, IOF arrested Na’im Ahmed al-Shennawi (25) and later withdrew, taking him to an unknown destination.

• At approximately 11:30 on Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF stationed at the eastern entrance to Al-Mughayyir village, northeast of Ramallah, suppressed a peaceful protest organized by dozens of Palestinian young men against the closure of the mentioned entrance with sand berms for several weeks. When the protestors arrived at the area, IOF chased them and fired rubber and live bullets and teargas canisters at them. As a result, 6 civilians were wounded as follows:
• A 40-year-old male was shot with a rubber bullet in his thigh.
• A 19-year-old male was shot with a rubber bullet in his left leg.
• A 23-year-old male was shot with a rubber bullet in his left leg.
• 19-year-old male was shot with a rubber bullet in his thigh.
• A 25-year-old male was shot with a rubber bullet in his right foot.
• A 28-year-old male was shot with a rubber bullet in his right leg.

All of them sustained minor wounds and received treatment on the spot by the Palestinian Red Crescent society crew. In addition, dozens of civilians suffocated due to teargas inhalation and received treatment on the spot. Also, the windshield of Faraj Hussain al-Na’san’s vehicle was broken with a sound bomb.

• At approximately 12:30, IOF stationed at the northern entrance to Kafr Qaddum village, north of Qalqilya, suppressed a peaceful protest organized by dozens of Palestinian young men. IOF chased young men gathered in the area, clashed with them and fired rubber bullets, sound bombs and teargas canisters at them. As a result, two photojournalists were wounded and identified as:
• ‘Abdullah Saleem Shtawi (26), a photojournalist at B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights, who was hit with a sponge grenade in his back.
• Bashar Mohammed Nazal (30), a photojournalist at Palestine TV, who was hit with a sponge grenade in his hand.
• At approximately 13:30, a peaceful protest took off in front of Beit Dajan village council, east of Nablus, north of the West Bank, at the call of the villagers and with the participation of the National Action Factions in Nablus, towards lands under the threat of confiscation, east of the village. The protestors raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation and settlers. When the protestors arrived at the area, they found a large number of Israeli soldiers awaiting them. IOF immediately suppressed the protest and fired live and rubber bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at the protestors. As a result, 3 civilians, including a child, were wounded with rubber bullets in their heads and taken to Rafidia Hospital for treatment. Also, many civilians suffocated due to teargas inhalation.
• At approximately 19:00, IOF stationed along the Gaza’s border fence with Israel, east of Khan Yunis, opened fire at agricultural lands, east of al-Qarara village; no causalities were reported.
• At approximately 16:00 on Saturday, 03 April 2021, Israeli gunboats stationed off al-Soudaniya Shore, northwest of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, chased Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles and opened heavy fire around them. At 21:15 on the same day, Israeli gunboats reopened fire at Palestinian fishing boats until 00:20. As a result, many fishing nets were lost, while fishermen out of fear were forced to flee. No casualties were reported.
• At approximately 22:00 on Saturday, 03 April 2021, IOF stationed in a military watchtower established near the annexation wall gate in kherbet Um al-Lahem in Qatanna village, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, opened fire at Ya’qoub Hussain Mohammed al-Faqeih (20) while crossing through the annexation wall holes to work in Israel. Al-Faqeih’s family said that IOF opened fire at their son before arresting him, but few hours later IOF released him.
• At approximately 00:00 on Sunday, 04 April 2021, IOF accompanied with a Skunk carrying vehicle moved into Isawiya village, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, and stationed in ‘Obaid neighborhood. They established military checkpoints at the village’s entrances, searched Palestinian civilians and checked their IDs. During which, Palestinian young men gathered and threw stones, Molotov Cocktails and fireworks at IOF and their vehicles. IOF suppressed the protestors, fired rubber bullets and heavy teargas canisters at them and pumped wastewater at residential houses. Also, IOF arrested Reda Mohammed ‘Obaid (14) after raiding his house, and later withdrew.
• At approximately 05:30 on Sunday, 04 April 2021, Israeli gunboats stationed off al-Soudaniyia Shore, west of Jabalia camp, north of the Gaza Strip, chased Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles and opened heavy fire around them. At 09:00 on the same day, Israeli gunboats reopened fire at Palestinian fishing boats, causing fear among the fishermen and forcing them to flee. No casualties were reported.
• At approximately 08:30, IOF stationed along the Gaza’s border fence with Israel, east of Khan Yunis, opened fire at agricultural lands, east of Abasan al-Kabira and al-Qarara villages; no casualties were reported.
• At approximately 14:00, IOF stationed along the Gaza’s border fence with Israel, east of Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip, opened sporadic fire at border area, causing fear among Palestinian farmers. No casualties were reported.
• At approximately 08:30 on Monday, 05 April 2021, Israeli gunboats stationed off Waha Shore, northwest of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, chased Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles and opened heavy fire around them, causing fear among the fishermen and forcing them to flee. No casualties were reported.
• On Tuesday, 06 April 2021, IOF killed a Palestinian civilian and wounded his wife when they stopped their car at a military checkpoint and opened fire at it. IOF claimed that they opened fire at the car under after the driver attempted to run over Israeli soldiers stationed at the checkpoint. According to the wife’s testimony and investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), the Israeli soldiers opened fire at the car without any justification as they checked the passengers’ IDs and allowed them to pass.

According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 01:00 on Tuesday, 06 April 2021, IOF moved into Bir Nabala village, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, and raided residential houses and an auto repair shop. They then headed to nearby al-Jib village, where they raided a car showroom at the village entrance to confiscate the surveillance camera recorders. Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinian young men gathered and threw stones and empty bottles at IOF and their vehicles. IOF immediately suppressed the protestors, fired live and rubber bullets at them and established a military checkpoint near a tunnel between Biddu and al-Jib villages, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem. IOF also stationed at the military checkpoint, searched Palestinian vehicles and checked the passengers’ IDs. At approximately 02:45, IOF stopped a vehicle belonging to Osama Mohammed Sandouqa Mansour (42) and his wife Somaia ‘Izzat ‘Abed al-Nabi al-Kaswani (36), checked their IDs, asked them where they are coming from and then allowed them to pass. When Osama drove 50 meters away from the checkpoint, IOF opened fire at his car, wounding him with two live bullets; one of them penetrated his head.  Moreover, his wife sustained shrapnel wounds in her back. Both of them were taken to Ramallah Governmental Hospital, where Osama was pronounced dead at 03:10 while his wife’s injuries were classified minor.

Later, IOF claimed that: “In a military operation in Bir Nabala village and after establishing a military checkpoint on a road to stop vehicles’ movement in order to back up IOF’s operation in the area, the soldiers at the checkpoint spotted a vehicle, which first stopped at the checkpoint and then drove fast towards them, attempting to run over the soldiers in a way that threatened their lives.  As a result, the Force responded with gunfire to control the threat.”

PCHR’s investigations and Osama’s wife testimony refute the Israeli claims, as Osama obeyed the soldiers’ order and stopped his vehicle and answered their questions. The soldiers checked Osama and his wife’s IDs and then allowed them to pass, noting that he did not drive his car except after the soldiers asked him to do so. When Osama drove his car, the soldiers were behind him, and they opened fire at his vehicle from the back. It should be noted that Osama has 5 children.

• At approximately 10:30 on Wednesday, 07 April 2021, Israeli gunboats stationed off Waha Shore and off al-Soudaniyia Shore, northwest of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, chased Palestinian fishing boats sailing within 3 nautical miles and opened heavy fire around them. At 16:00 on the same day, Israeli gunboats reopened fire at Palestinian fishing boats, causing fear among the fishermen and forcing them to flee. No casualties were reported.

Incursions and arrests

Thursday, 01 April 2021:

• At approximately 00:15, IOF moved into Khillet Aked village, south of Dura, southwest of Hebron. They deployed between civilians’ houses, stormed Nayef Hussain Shawamra’s (65) house, held all his family in one room, damaged the house contents and confiscated 30,000 NIS. IOF handed the family a warrant of the confiscated money and no arrests were reported. After the withdrawal, the family realized that a 100-gram of gold was stolen from the house.
• At approximately 14:00, Israeli Intelligence Services handed Anwar Sami Obaid (23), from Issawiya village, northeast of the occupied East Jerusalem, a decision that bans his entry to Jerusalem. IOF claimed that Obaid was invloved in a security incident where he lives and urges others for terrorism.

It should be noted that Obaid was arrested and interrogated dozens of times by IOF and spent a total of 5 years in the Israeli prisons in separate periods; in the last arrest, he was released on one condition that he is banned entry to the occupied Jerusalem for 4 months after he spent 4 months under house arrest.

• Around the same time, IOF moved into al-Walaja village, west of Bethlehem. They raided and searched Mahmoud Ismael Abu al-Tin’s (19) house, and arrested him.
• At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. They raided and searched Yousef Mohammed Abu Maria’s (30) house and arrested him.
• At approximately 16:30, IOF stormed a tent established to celebrate and welcome the release of Ghazi Mohammed Kan’an (48), in Ras al-Amoud village, east of the occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, and arrested his brother, Isma’el (56). Kan’an family stated that IOF stormed the tent where they were gathering to welcome their son, who spent 11 years in the Israeli prisons, after an hour of his arrival, and threatened to re-arrest him if they organized a welcoming ceremony for him.
• At approximately 17:00, IOF stationed at Za’tara military checkpoint, southeast of Nablus, arrested Hasan Nasrallah al-Sha’er (24), from Nablus. IOF took him to an unknown destination.
• At approximately 22:00, IOF stationed at Beit Furik military checkpoint, northeast of Nablus, arrested Mo’men Mahmoud Jaber (19), from Nablus. IOF took him to an unknown destination.
• IOF carried out (13) incursions in Bir al-Basha Arranah, Beit Qad, Deir Ghazaleh and Faqqoa villages, in Jenin governorate; Anabta, Kafr al-Labad and Ramin, east of Tulkarm; Azzun, east of Qalqilya; Dura and Idhna, in Hebron; Surda, north of Ramallah; Aqabat Jabr refugee camp, southwest of Jericho. No arrests were reported.

Friday, 02 April 2021:

• At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into the southern side of Hebron. They raided and searched Hani Mujahed Abu al-Siba’s (44) house, and arrested him.
• At approximately 03:00, IOF moved into Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and stationed at Qa’ al-Hara area. They raided and searched two houses belonging to Mohammed Awad Za’aqiq (17) and Fahmi Abdul Hameed Za’aqiq (16), and arrested them.
• At approximately 18:00, IOF stationed at Qalandiya military checkpoint, north of the occupied East Jerusalem, arrested Ahmed Ra’fat al-Ghaleet (22), from al-Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah, while crossing the checkpoint. IOF took him to “Ofer” police station, west of Ramallah.
• At approximately 18:10, IOF moved into Zububa, west of Jenin. They raided and searched several houses and arrested Omar Abdul Rahman Obaidiya (17).
• IOF carried out (12) incursions in Nablus, Burqa, Bizzariya and Salem villages in Nablus governorate; Bir al-Basha, Ya’bad, Atatra, and Silat al-Dhahr in Jenin governorate; Yatta, Bani Na’im, Simia, and al-Shuyukh villages in Hebron governorate, no arrests were reported.

Saturday, 03 April 2021:

• At approximately 11:30, IOF arrested Mazen Subhi Nabtiti (49), from Tulkarm, when he was near Inab military checkpoint, east of Tulkarm.
• At approximately 20:00, IOF arrested Mohammed Mahmoud al-‘Amour (24) and Mohammed Ra’ed al-‘Amour (26), while crossing a temporary military checkpoint near the western entrance to Teqoa, east of Bethlehem. IOF took them to one of the detention centers in the city and released them several hours later.

Sunday, 04 April 2021:

• At approximately 11:00, IOF moved into al-Thuri neighborhood, south of the occupied East Jerusalem. They raided and searched Tawfiq Rafiq al-Shwaiky’s (29) house and arrested him.
• At approximately 16:00, IOF arrested Mohammed Bassam Obaid (24), while on duty in French Hill neighborhood “Giv’at Shapira”, north of the occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City. IOF took him to one of the police centers in the city.
• At approximately 17:30, IOF stationed at “Mevo Dotan” military checkpoint, southwest of Jenin, arrested Mohammed Ma’moun ‘Amaranah (19), from Ya’bad, southwest of the city. IOF took him to an unknown destination.
• IOF carried out (4) incursions in Beit Ummar, Hebron, Tarqumiyah, and Sa’ir villages in Hebron. No arrests were reported.

Monday, 05 April 2021:

• At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into al-Isawiya, northeast of the occupied East Jerusalem. They raided and searched several houses and arrested (3) civilians; including a father and his son. The arrestees were identified as Faisal Lo’ay Obaid (20), Lo’ay Faisal Obaid (43), and Mohammed Waleed Obaid.
• At approximately 01:30, IOF moved into Sa’ir, north of Hebron, and stationed in al-‘Aroud area. They deployed between civilians’ houses and stormed Sa’ed Nimir Farroukh’s (33) house, and arrested him.
• At approximately 02:00, IOF moved Qalandiya refugee camp, north of the occupied East Jerusalem. They raided and searched several houses and arrested (4) civilians: Journalist Khaled Mohammed Mutair (29), Mahmoud Ibrahim Mutair (27), Rami Mansour (22), and Mo’men Mansour (23).
• At approximately 03:50, IOF moved into Deir Jarir village, northeast of Ramallah. They raided and searched Ma’en Abdul ‘Alim Olwi’s (21) house, and arrested him.
• At approximately 04:00, IOF backed by several military vehicles moved into Kobar village, north of Ramallah. They raided and searched 4 houses and arrested (4) civilians: Watan ‘Assef al-Barghouthi (24), Mustafa Ra’ed al-Barghouthi (20), Mohammed Fahmi Asfour (28), and Assem Nabil al-‘Abed (23).
• At approximately 06:30, IOF stationed at a temporary checkpoint established near the entrance to al-Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah, arrested Shadi Hussain Safi (24) and took him to an unknown destination.
• IOF carried out (3) incursions in Dura, Beit Kahil, and Bani Na’im villages in Hebron. No arrests were reported.

Tuesday, 06 April 2021:

• At approximately 01:00, IOF moved into Hebron and stationed at Nanqar area. They raided and searched Ja’far Nouh Abu Aysha’s (44) house, detained his family in one room, damaged the house contents and withdrew. No arrests were reported.
• At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into Tell village, southwest of Nablus. They raided and searched several houses and arrested Nasr al-Dein Hamza Ishtayya (18).
• At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into al-Saf street in Bethlehem. They raided and searched Adel Issa Hijazi’s (48) house and arrested him.
• At approximately 03:00, IOF moved into Hindaza area in Bethlehem. They raided and searched Hasan Mohammed Wardian’s (62) house, and arrested him. It should be noted that Wardian is one of the candidates for the legislative elections representing the Hamas Movement list “Jerusalem is Our Destination”.
• At approximately 04:00, IOF moved into Fureidis village, east of Bethlehem. They raided and searched Nader Mohammed Abayat’s (52) house and arrested him.
• At approximately 10:00, ‘Ayyad Jamal al-Harimi (28) surrendered himself to the Israeli authorities, after IOF stormed his house in Bethlehem and threatened to arrest his mother if he did not surrender himself.

Nadi al-Aseer stated that Ayyad was arrested several times since he was a child, the latest of which was 2 months ago as he spent 18 months in the administrative arrest. It should be noted that in 2016, ‘Ayyad was on a hunger strike for 45 days in protest against his arrest.

• At approximately 11:00, IOF banned a meeting to discuss the legislative elections at the Ambassador Hotel in al-Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, north of the occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City. The Civil Society organizations invited for this meeting titled “International Law Guarantees the right Palestinians in East Jerusalem to vote”.

It should be noted that before the meeting, IOF imposed and established checkpoints in the neighborhood, banned civilians from reaching the Ambassador Hotel, stopped and searched the vehicles of PLC candidates within Fatah list identified as as Naser Mohammed Qaws, Ghada Mohammed Abu Rabea’, Awad al-Salayma and ‘Ahed al-Rashq, and handed them summonses to refer to the Israeli Intelligence Services in al-Maskobiya investigation center in West Jerusalem, under the pretext of organizing banned activities in Jerusalem. Additionally, IOF arrested the Secretary-General of Fatah Movement in Jerusalem, Adel Abu Zneid, and the Ambassador Hotel’s manager, Sami Abu Dayyah. It should be noted that the Israeli Authorities ban any activities or events relevant to the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem, and prosecute their organizers or supporters.

• At approximately 15:00, IOF arrested Anaghim Nader Awad (21), from Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, after stopping her at a temporary military checkpoint established at the eastern entrance to the city.
• At approximately 23:30, IOF stationed at Qalandiya checkpoint, north of the occupied East Jerusalem, arrested Ziyad Fareed Shehada (52), from Qalandiya refugee camp, while crossing the checkpoint.
• IOF carried out (4) incursions in Burqa, northwest of Nablus; Salfit, Sa’ir and al-Shuyukh villages in Hebron. No arrests were reported.

Wednesday, 07 April 2021:

• At approximately 02:00, IOF moved into Yamun village, west of Jenin. They raided and searched several houses and arrested Jehad Mohammed Nawahda (59), and his son, Osaid (23).
• Around the same time, IOF moved into Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. They raided and searched four houses and arrested (4) civilians, including a child. The arrestees were identified as Yousef Abdul Hamid Abu Maria (45), Adyar Ivan al-Salibi (28), Amro Khaled ‘Allami (30), and Majdi Mershed al-Za’aqiq (17).
• Around the same time, IOF moved into Yatta, south of Hebron governorate. They raided and searched several houses and arrested 3 civilians and released them after 3 hours. The arrestees were identified as Thabit Mohammed al-Surai’ (39), Shaher Ayed Abu Rabi’a (40), and Khalil Yousef Abu Arram (30).
• At approximately 02:30, IOF moved into ‘Anin village, west of Jenin. They raided and searched a house belonging to Jamal Tayseer Yasin (38), who was arrested yesterday when he was at his work in Israel. IOF withdrew and no items were confiscated.
• At approximately 02:40, IOF moved into Jalbun village, northeast of Jenin. They raided and searched several houses and arrested Fo’ad Najeh Abu al-Rab (21).
• At approximately 03:40, IOF moved into al-Am’ari refugee camp, southeast of al-Bireh, north of Ramallah. They raided and searched Hussam Khader al-Wawi’s (30) house and arrested him.
• At approximately 04:30, IOF moved into Ras Karkar village, west of Ramallah, and stationed at the center of the village. They deployed between civilians’ houses, stormed some of them and arrested (7) civilians. The arrestees were identified as: Nidal Hasan Samhan (43), Anas Mohammed Samhan (29), Mahmoud Khaled Samhan (27), Mohammed Taha Abu Fkheida (35), Abdullah Mohammed Samhan (26), Ahmed Zaghloul Samhan (24), and Mo’ayad Fares Samhan (49).
• At approximately 05:10, IOF moved into Deir Jarir village, northeast of Ramallah. They raided and searched Haidr Abdul Hafiz Mukho’s (48) house and arrested him.
• At approximately 08:00, IOF moved into Ras Khamis neighborhood in Shu’afat refugee camp, northeast the occupied East Jerusalem. They raided and searched Jasem Sandouqa’s (42) house and arrested him.
• IOF carried out (5) incursions in Ti’nik, west of Jenin; Nuba, Surif, and al-Aroub refugee camp, in Hebron. No arrests were reported.

III. Settlement Expansion and settler violence in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem

Demolition and Confiscation of Civilian Property

• On Saturday afternoon, 03 April 2021, ‘Amer Shqeirat self-demolished his house in Jabal Mukaber, east of occupied East Jerusalem, pursuant to the Israeli Municipality’s decision under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Shqeirat said that the Israeli Municipality has haunted him since last year and imposed on him a fine of 60,000 shekels, which he pays in monthly installments.  Shqeirat added that IOF raided his house on 14 March and handed him a notice to demolish his house within 21 days or the municipality’s crews will carry out the demolition and fine him with the expenses.  Shqeirat said that he had to vacate the house and then demolish it with a bulldozer to avoid paying more money for the Israeli Municipality.  He added that the house was built on an area of 120sqms that includes 3 rooms and its facilities, where he lived with his wife and 4 kids.

• On Sunday morning, 04 April 2021, the Israeli Civil Administration bulldozers levelled lands located in eastern al-Issawiya village, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, to build a settlement road within the E1 Scheme, which aims to isolate the northern West Bank from the eastern West Bank.

Member of the al-‘Issawiya Follow-up Committee, Mohammed Abu al-Hummus, said that the Israeli Civil Administration vehicles accompanied with IOF stormed lands belonging to Mustafa and Abu Riyala families between the villages of al-‘Issawiya and az-Za’ayyem, east of the occupied city.  Abu al-Hummus added that the vehicles levelled the lands planted with crops and seedlings and started building a road within the E1 settlement scheme.

• At approximately 08:15 on Monday, 05 April 2021, IOF backed by 7 military vehicles moved into Jinsafut village, east of Qalqilya, and demolished a barrack for construction materials belonging to Mahmoud Yousif Mohammed Sokar.

The barrack’s owner said to PCHR’s fieldworkers:

“At approximately 08:15, a worker in the barrack called to tell me that IOF came to demolish the barrack, so I went there immediately to find that they had already started the demolition.  They removed the ceiling, tiles, gypsum and the electrical panel and took the glass door along with everything in addition to high quantity of steel although they told me they will only remove the frame. They also damaged all the goods since the rubble and paints fell on them, noting that I did not receive any prior notice.”

• On Wednesday morning, 07 April 2021, IOF bulldozers levelled 2 farms and demolished a house, 3 barracks, 2 containers and a shop in al-Za’rourah and Habayel al-‘Arab areas in al-‘Issawiya village, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Member of al-‘Issawiya Follow-up Committee, Mohammed Abu al-Hummus, said that IOF’s vehicles stormed a 700-sqm farm belonging to Majed Diab and started levelling it and demolishing everything there.  Abu al-Hummus added that the IOF’s vehicles demolished a 70-sqm house built there of 2 rooms and their facilities and sheltering Majed Diab, his wife and 3 kids in addition to a garage established there 7 years ago and a barrack for horses.  They also demolished the fence surrounding the farm.  Abu al-Hummus added that the IOF’s vehicles also levelled another farm belonging to Adeeb Jamil Abu al-Hummus and demolished 2 containers used as storehouses for auto spare parts and a barrack for horses in addition to confiscating the horses.  Abu al-Hummus said that the IOF’s vehicles demolished a fence and barrack belonging to Farouq Mustafa and then withdrew.  He added that IOF previously handed the facilities’ owners demolition orders and imposed on some of them fines of thousands of shekels.

Settler attacks on Palestinian civilians and their property

• At approximately 03:00 on Friday, 02 April 2021, dozens of settlers levelled and built a settlement road between the areas of al-Khemar and Kherbet Mousa in Battir village, west of Bethlehem.

‘Omer al-Qaisi, one of the owners of the affected lands in the area, said that a group of settlers under IOF’s protection parked their bulldozers in lands connecting Kherbet Mousa and al-Khemar areas and started building an agricultural road of 100 meters long and 6 meters wide for settlement purposes.  As a result, vacant areas of land were damaged and dozens of trees were uprooted.

• At approximately 14:00 on Saturday, 03 April 2021, a group of settlers from “Esh Kodesh” settlement outpost established in southeastern Nablus attacked a group of farmers while working in their lands, east of Jalud village, and prevented them from doing their work at gunpoint. During which, at least 5 settlers; some of them masked, attacked with sticks and stones a 70-year old man, Walid Isma’il ‘Abdel Hafez Shweiki from Jerusalem.  The settlers also attacked a plot of land belonging to Jawad Jamil Yousif Hussein from Qasra village and uprooted 100 olive, pine and cypress seedlings.  They also damaged the power line poles and network on the road between Qasra village and Jalud village before going back to their settlement outpost.
• At approximately 11:00 on Sunday, 04 April 2021, one of the settlers in “Havat Talia” settlement outpost established on the Palestinian lands confiscated from eastern Yata, south of Hebron, opened fire at the Lands and Water Authority employees who were land-surveying in an area near Tuwani village, east of Yatta, to force them to leave the area, which is within Area C. Meanwhile, IOF and Israeli police arrived at the scene and took the settler away.  No injuries were reported among the employees.
• At approximately 14:00 on Monday, 05 April 2021, a group of settlers from “Halmish” settlement established on the Palestinian lands of northwestern Ramallah attacked an agricultural area near the entrance to al-Nabi Saleh village, northwest of the city, and tried to remove the barbed-wire fence surrounding the land. A number of villagers gathered in the area to confront the settlers and threw stones at them while IOF stationed at the watchtower there fired teargas canisters to disperse the villagers. As a result, many of them suffocated due to teargas inhalation.

1. Closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement of persons and goods:

The Gaza Strip still suffers the worst closure in the history of the Israeli occupation of the oPt as it has entered the 14th consecutive year, without any improvement to the movement of persons and goods, humanitarian conditions and bearing catastrophic consequences on all aspects of life.

The West bank:

In addition to 108 permanent checkpoints and closed roads, this week witnessed the establishment of more temporary checkpoints that restrict the goods and individuals  88 temporary checkpoints, where they searched Palestinians’ vehicles, checked their IDs and arrested 9 of them. IOF closed many roads with cement cubes, metal detector gates and sand berms and tightened their measures against individuals’ movement at military permanent checkpoints.

Jerusalem:

• On Thursday, 01 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints near Biddu village’s tunnel and at the entrance to Al-Eizariya village, east of the city.
• On Saturday, 03 April 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance to Anata village, east of the city.
• On Tuesday, 06 April 2021, IOF established a checkpoint under a tunnel established between Biddu and Al-Jib villages, northwest of the city.

Bethlehem:

• On Thursday, 01 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrance to Marah Rabah village, at the western entrance to Beit Fajjar village and near al-Nashash intersection, south of the city.
• On Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the northern entrance to Tuqu village, at the western entrance to Beit Fajjar village and in ‘Aqabet Hasna area, west of the city.
• On Sunday, 04 April 2021, IOF established 4 checkpoints at the northern entrance to Tuqu village, at the western entrance to Beit Fajjar village, and at the entrance to Jannatah village, east of the city.
• On Monday, 05 April 2021, IOF established 5 checkpoints at the northern and western entrances to Tuqu village, at the entrance to Jannatah village and near al-Nashash intersection, south of the city.
• On Tuesday, 06 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the northern entrance to Tuqu village and near al-Nashash intersection, south of the city.
• On Wednesday, 07 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the northern and western entrances to Tuqu village, east of the city.

Ramallah:

• On Thursday, 01 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the main entrance to Aboud village, northwest of the city, and near Atara village’s bridge.
• On Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at “Hallamish” settlement intersection, and at the entrances to Nabi Salih and Ras Karkar villages.
• On Sunday, 04 April 2021, IOF established 5 checkpoints at the entrances to Aboud, Nabi Salih, Deir Abu Mash’al and Beitin villages, and on a road connecting between Ras Karkar and Deir Ibzi villages.
• On Monday, 05 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the entrances to Nabi Salih and Ein Yabrud villages.
• On Tuesday, 06 April 2021, IOF established 4 checkpoints under Ein Yabrud’s bridge, near Atara village’s bridge, at the intersection of Ein Siniya village, and at the entrance to Al-Mughayyir village.
• On Wednesday, 07 April 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance to Nabi Salih village.

Jericho:

• On Thursday, 01 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the southern and northern entrances to Jericho.
• On Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF stationed at al-Hamra military checkpoint, north of the city, tightened their measures at the checkpoint, obstructed vehicles’ movement and checked passengers’ IDs. They also established a checkpoint at the intersection of Al-Auja village.
• On Saturday, 03 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the northern and southern entrances to Jericho, and at the entrance to Fasayil village.
• On Monday, 05 April 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at Al-Auja village’s intersection.
• On Tuesday, 06 April 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Jericho.
• Nablus:
• On Thursday, 01 April 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the intersection of “Shafi Shimron” settlement, west of the city.
• On Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the intersection of “Shafi Shimron” settlement, west of the city, on Al-Badhan village’s road and at “Yitzhar“intersection, southeast of the city.

Hebron:

• On Thursday, 01 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrances to Abu al-‘Asaja and Idhna villages, at the southern entrance to Halhul city.
• On Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the entrance to as-Samu village and at the western entrance to Hebron.
• On Saturday, 03 April 2021, IOF established 4 checkpoints at the southern entrance to Hebron, at the entrance to Fawwar refugee camp, and at the entrances to Beit Ummar and Beit Awwa
• On Sunday, 04 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the entrance to Bani Na’im village and at the northern entrance to Hebron.
• On Monday, 05 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrance to Sa’ir village, at the western entrance to Hebron and at the northern entrance to Yatta city.
• On Tuesday, 06 April 2021, IOF established 2 checkpoints at the entrance to Idhna village and at the southern entrance to Hebron.

Qalqilya:

• On Thursday, 01 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrances to Azzun, Jayyous and Sir villages, east of the city.
• On Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrances to Immatain and Izbat al-Tabib villages, east of the city.
• On Monday, 05 April 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance to Azzun village, east of the city.

Salfit:

• On Friday, 02 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrances to Qarawat Bani Hassan, Bruqin and Kafr ad-Dik village, west of the city.
• On Saturday, 03 April 2021, IOF established 3 checkpoints at the entrances to Deir Istiya, Deir Ballut and Kafr ad-Dik villages, west of Salfit.
• On Monday, 05 April 2021, IOF established a checkpoint at the entrance to Bruqin village, west of the city.

Yemen: Trilogy of victory,, in the seventh year اليمن: ثلاثيّة النصر سنة سابعة

**English Machine translation Please scroll down for the Arabic original version **

Yemen: Trilogy of Victory, in the seventh year

Nasser Kandil

– None of the observers and followers of the Yemeni scene, supporters of the Yemeni people and their resistance represented by Ansar Allah, nor of their opponents supported the Saudi aggression to expected that the war will continue for this long, nor that the Yemenis can bear this amount of killing, destruction, siege, hunger and suffering, and stand at their goals to stop the aggression and lift the blockade as a condition for accepting any call for a cease-fire and the beginning of negotiations.

– Compared to all the wars that have been fought against the peoples of the region and their resistance forces, there is nothing that can be compared to the Yemeni case, as the six-years war is being fought directly by armies possessing tremendous military superiority, accompanied by a tight siege, which can be similar in terms of intensity of fire to the wars of Gaza and the 2006 aggression against Lebanon. But there is nothing like the Yemeni situation, they are wars of days and weeks, not years, and despite the fiery siege on Gaza, the Egyptian outlet remains a breathing lung for the besieged Gaza. In Syria Lebanon remained a lung to breath from, and in Syria, where the war continued for ten years accompanied by fierce sanctions, the fiery superiority of the Syrian state and its allies remained, and the sea remained under the hands of the Syrian state and its army, and a resource for armaments and imports that could be secured behind the back of the blockade, Whereas in Yemen, supremacy was for the camp of enemies, with fire and siege, and the six years continued and produced havoc, destruction, death, hunger and epidemics, and Yemen was steadfast

– During the sixth year, Yemen moved from steadfastness to regaining, developing missile salutations and drones, an unmistakable deterrent force despite the electronic jamming techniques possessed by the Americans and through them the Saudis, and within a year this weapon proved high technical capabilities that produced a military deterrence balance based on exceptional scientific superiority, and within a year the security of the Saudi rear in Yemen, and burned Aramco times, and became the security of the water The gulf and the energy corridors and ensure their flow in the hands of the Yemenis, and proved the failure of the war miserably to all those who were behind it, led by The American Joe Biden, who became president and was vice president on the day of its launch with the promise of ending it in weeks or months, and began maneuvers to get out of the war with the least losses, from trying to distinguish America from Saudi Arabia, to Saudi offers of a cease-fire, to U.S. calls for a political solution.

– On the eve of the seventh year, the Yemenis demonstrated their strength, so they presented the trilogy of victory, and their leader, Mr. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, appeared in a detailed explanation of the war, its objectives and context, and the conditions for accepting solutions through the duality of stopping aggression and lifting the siege, based on steadfastness, determination and clarity in reading the past and the present and drawing the horizon of the future. Within hours of the zero hours of the seventh year, the army and the resistance presented an intense and concentrated dose of deterrence elements, inflaming the Saudi depth with raids and missiles, saying with a full mouth that the threats of their leader had taken their way to implementation. During the day, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis gathered in the squares and streets, celebrating the Day of National Resilience, affirming their loyalty and cohesion with their leadership and army, the 2006 July scene of the destruction of the destroyer Sa’er, the speech of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and scene of the people marching to southern Lebanon amid the cluster bombs in response to the call of the Leader of the Resistance. This trilogy victory was a harmonious symphony, drawing a clear ceiling in front of the American-Saudi alliance entitled, no place for maneuvers, the war will be a scourge, not a debate, and the negotiation path has a mandatory path: stop the aggression and lift the blockade, opening of the port and airport and the departure of foreign troops.

– Yemen enters the seventh year with the strongest confidence in victory, and the great victory has become the fruit of great patience, but this time it is really the patience of an hour.

Related Videos

Related Articles

• Ansarullah Leader: War On Yemen A US-‘Israeli’ Plot Assigned To Saudis Who Will Slip Deeper In Its Quagmire
• President of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council Hails Yemeni Forces’ Strength as Far Greater Than 6 Years Ago
• Saudi Arabia Carries Out Attacks After Tens of Thousands Rally Across Yemen on War Anniv.
• Yemenis Rally en Masse Marking National Steadfastness Day
• US, European Weapons Companies Profiting from Yemen War – Ansarullah
• Nasrallah: CIA Director demanded release of top al-Qaeda leader in Yemen

اليمن: ثلاثيّة النصر سنة سابع

ناصر قنديل

–

لم يكن أحد من المراقبين والمتابعين للمشهد اليمنيّ، من مؤيّدي الشعب اليمنيّ ومقاومته التي يمثلها أنصار الله، وحكماً من خصومه المؤيدين للعدوان السعوديّ ليتوقع قبل ست سنوات في مثل هذه الأيام، أن تستمرّ الحرب طول هذه المدة، ولا أن يتمكّن اليمنيون من تحمل هذا الكم من القتل والدمار والحصار والجوع والمعاناة، ويصمدوا عند أهدافهم بوقف العدوان ورفع الحصار كشرط لقبولهم بأية دعوة لوقف النار وبدء التفاوض.

–

بالمقارنة مع كل الحروب التي خيضت وتخاض ضد شعوب المنطقة وقواها المقاومة، ليس هناك ما يمكن تشبيهه بالحالة اليمنية، فحرب ست سنوات تخوضها مباشرة جيوش تملك تفوقاً عسكرياً هائلاً، يرافقها حصار محكم، يمكن أن تشبهه من حيث كثافة النار حروب غزة وعدوان عام 2006 على لبنان، لكنها حروب أيام وأسابيع، وليست سنوات، ورغم الحصار الناري يبقى المنفذ المصري رئة تنفس لغزة المحاصرة، وتبقى سورية رئة يتنفس منها لبنان، وسورية التي استمرّت الحرب عليها عشر سنوات وما يرافقها من عقوبات، بقي التفوق الناري فيها للدولة السورية وحلفائها وبقي البحر تحت يد الدولة السورية وجيشها، ومورداً للتسلح وتأمين المستوردات التي يمكن تأمينها من وراء ظهر الحصار، بينما كل شيء في اليمن تفوق لمعسكر الأعداء، بالنار وإحكام الحصار، والسنوات الست تتواصل وتنتج الخراب والدمار والموات والجوع والأوبئة، واليمن صامد.

–

خلال السنة السادسة انتقل اليمن من الصمود الى استرداد زمام المبادرة، مطوّراً سلاح الصواريخ والطائرات المسيّرة، قوة ردع لا تخطئ رغم تقنيات التشويش الإلكتروني التي يملكها الأميركيون ومن خلالهم السعوديون، وخلال سنة أثبت هذا السلاح مقدرات تقنية عالية أنتجت توازن ردع عسكري مستنداً الى تفوق علمي استثنائي، وخلال سنة صار أمن العمق السعودي بيد اليمن، واحترقت آرامكو مرات، وصار أمن مياه الخليج وممرات الطاقة وضمان تدفقها بيد اليمنيين، وثبت فشل الحرب فشلاً ذريعاً لكل من كان وراءها، وفي طليعتهم الأميركي جو بايدن الذي صار رئيساً وكان نائباً للرئيس يوم انطلاقها بوعد إنهائها خلال أسابيع أو شهور، وبدأت المناورات للخروج من الحرب بأقل الخسائر، من محاولة التميّز الأميركي عن السعودي، الى عروض سعوديّة لوقف النار، الى دعوات أميركية لحل سياسي.

–

عشية السنة السابعة أظهر اليمنيّون بأسهم، فقدموا ثلاثيّة النصر على الملأ، فظهر قائدهم السيد عبد الملك الحوثي في شرح مفصل للحرب وأهدافها وسياقها وشروط قبول الحلول تحت شعار وقفها، وتختصرها ثنائيّة وقف العدوان وفك الحصار، وعبر عن مستوى الثبات والعزم والحزم والوضوح في قراءة الماضي والحاضر ورسم أفق المستقبل، وخلال ساعات حلّت الساعة صفر من السنة السابعة فقدم الجيش والمقاومة، جرعة مكثفة ومركزة من عناصر الردع فألهبوا العمق السعودي بالغارات والصواريخ، قائلين بالفم الملآن إن تهديدات قائدهم قد أخذت طريقها للتنفيذ، مستعيدين مشهد تدمير المقاومة في لبنان للمدمّرة ساعر ترجمة لخطاب السيد حسن نصرالله، وخلال ساعات النهار احتشد مئات آلاف اليمنيين في الساحات والشوارع، يحيون يوم الصمود الوطنيّ، يؤكدون تمسكهم بثوابتهم وتماسكهم مع قيادتهم وجيشهم، مستعيدين مشهد زحف الشعب الى جنوب لبنان وسط القنابل العنقودية تلبية لدعوة قائد المقاومة، فكانت هذه الثلاثيّة سمفونية متناغمة، ترسم سقفاً واضحاً أمام الحلف الأميركي السعودي عنوانه، لا مكان للمناورات، الحرب ستكون وبالاً لا سجالاً، وطريق التفاوض له ممر إلزامي وقف العدوان ورفع الحصار، أي فتح المرفأ والمطار وخروج القوات الأجنبية.

–

اليمن يدخل السنة السابعة أشدّ ثقة بالنصر، وقد بات النصر العظيم ثمرة للصبر العظيم، لكنه هذه المرة فعلاً صبر ساعة.

فيديوات ذات صلة

مقالات ذات صلة

• اليمن يدخل سنة سابعة حرباً في ظل معادلات الردع…
• المشاط: صمودنا كشف الأسباب الحقيقية للعدوان على اليمن
• السعودية هُزمت في اليمن كيف تخرج… وأيّ حلّ ممكن؟
• اليمن: استشهاد مقاتل سعودي في صفوف الجيش واللجان الشعبية
• صنعاء تُدشّن العام السابع: «أرامكو» هدفاً أوّل
• «قوات صنعاء» تدشن العام السابع للحرب بعملية واسعة داخل السعودية
• اليمن… انتصار الدم على النفط!
• ستُّ سنوات من العمى: السعودية تُكرّر الخطأ الإسرائيلي
• جمهورية في خاصرة المَلَكيات