Daily Sabah – January 2, 2023
Top Hamas officials killed in Israeli drone attack in Beirut
At least four people, including senior Hamas official SalehArouri, were killed in an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday.
Leaders of Hamas' armed wing Al Qassam Brigades, Samir Findi Abu Amer and Azzam Al-Aqraa Abu Ammar, were also killed in the Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahiyeh
The Manar television station of Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group that has a stronghold in the area, said an explosion was heard near the HadiNasrallah highway close to a road junction.
It gave no details of the explosion, which comes a day before a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
A Reuters witness said the explosion may have been caused by a drone that hit the second floor of a building in the crowded neighborhood.
In response to questions from Reuters, the Israeli military said it does not respond to reports in the foreign media. Arouri was a senior official in Hamas's politburo but was known to be deeply involved in its military affairs.
Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel across Lebanon's southern frontier since the eruption of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza in early October.
Israeli air strikes and shelling have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters and nearly two dozen civilians, including children, elderly and several journalists, according to Hezbollah and security sources.
Arouri was key player until death in sudden Israeli strike
The deputy Hamas leader had long expected the Israeli drone strike that killed him in Beirut on Tuesday.
"I am waiting for martyrdom and think that I lived too long," he said in August, as he urged Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to take up arms amid a surge of violence.
Hamas has confirmed his death but has not otherwise commented. Islamic Jihad, an allied group, swore revenge for his killing in a statement on Tuesday, saying it would "not go unpunished".
Within Hamas, Arouri was described as a leading advocate of reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions, enjoying a good relationship with Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which holds sway in the West Bank.
Hamas and Fatah have been at odds for years, fighting a brief civil war in 2007 when Hamas seized power in Gaza, though the rival organizations have continued to hold periodic negotiations.
Born in the town of Arura near the city of Ramallah in the West Bank in 1966, Arouri attended local schools for his primary education and graduated from high school in 1984.
In 1992, he enrolled at Hebron University in the southern West Bank and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Islamic Sharia.
He joined the Muslim Brotherhood at an early age and led the Islamic Student Action at Hebron University in 1985.
After the Hamas movement was established at the end of 1987 by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, Arouri joined its ranks.
The Israeli army jailed Arouri in administrative detention without trial for limited periods between 1990 and 1992 due to his involvement with the Hamas.
Arouri is considered one of the founders of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. Between 1991 and 1992, he established the cells of the movement's military apparatus in the West Bank.
In 1992, the Israeli army re-arrested him and sentenced him to 15 years in prison for forming the initial cells of the Al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank.
Throughout his detentions, he played a prominent role in leading Hamas and in struggling against prison administrations.
Arouri was released in 2007, but Israel re-arrested him three months later for three years until 2010. The Israeli Supreme Court decided then to release him and exile him from Palestine.
He was later deported to Syria, where he resided for three years before leaving, living as a nomad between several countries. He later moved to Lebanon until his assassination on Jan. 2.
Following his release in 2010, Arouri was selected as a member of the political bureau of Hamas.
Arouri was one of Hamas' negotiators to complete the prisoner exchange deal in 2011 with Israel through Egyptian mediation. As part of the agreement, GiladShalit, an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas, was released in exchange for the release of 1,027 Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons.
On July 31, 2021, Arouri was re-elected as the deputy chief of Hamas' political bureau for the second time. In addition to this position, he assumed the role of the movement's leader in the West Bank.
On Oct. 9, 2017, he was elected again as the deputy chief of the political bureau. Furthermore, Arouri was elected as Hamas' chief of the West Bank region on July 4, 2021.
In November 2018, the US Department of State allocated a reward of $5 million for information leading to Arouri, along with leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury had designated him on its terrorism list in 2015.
Israeli newspaper YediothAhronoth reported on Oct. 25 that six Hamas leaders were "in the crosshairs of Israeli fire," including Arouri.
The Israeli army stormed Arouri's house on Oct. 31 in the town of Arura near Ramallah in the West Bank.
The raid followed days of extensive operations against Hamas activists in the town, making his house into an investigative center.
Israel-Hamas talks on hostage deal on pause after drone attack
BY DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR - DPA
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a possible agreement to free hostages have been paused after the killing of Hamas' deputy leader SalehArouri in Beirut on Tuesday, reports said.
Talks are now focused on avoiding escalation between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday evening, citing Arab diplomatic sources.
The "assassination" of Hamas deputy leader Arouri "has changed the situation," the sources were quoted say saying, adding that it was currently no longer possible to negotiate another deal.
According to Hezbollah sources, Arouri, the Deputy Head of Hamas' Political Bureau who lives in Beirut, died in an Israeli drone attack in a suburb of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday evening. Hamas has also confirmed his death.
Anadolu Agency – January 2, 2024
Profile of Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas deputy leader assassinated by Israel in Lebanon
Senior Hamas official was one of founders of Hamas' armed wing, had storied history of involvement with Hamas, enduring imprisonment and exile
RAMALLAH, Palestine
Palestinian group Hamas said on Tuesday that its deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri was assassinated in an Israeli attack in Lebanon's capital Beirut.
Born in in the town of Arura near the city of Ramallah in the West Bank in 1966, Salah Mohammed Suleiman Arouri attended local schools for his primary education and graduated from high school in 1984.
In 1992, he enrolled at Hebron University in the southern West Bank and graduated with bachelor's degree in Islamic Sharia.
He joined the Muslim Brotherhood at an early age and led the Islamic Student Action at Hebron University in 1985.
After the Hamas movement was established at the end of 1987 by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, Arouri joined its ranks.
The Israeli army jailed Arouri in administrative detention without trial for limited periods between 1990 and 1992 due to his involvement with the Hamas.
Arouri is considered one of the founders of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. Between 1991 and 1992, he established the cells of the movement's military apparatus in the West Bank.
In 1992, the Israeli army re-arrested him and sentenced him to 15 years in prison for forming the initial cells of the Al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank.
Throughout his detentions, he played a prominent role in leading Hamas and in struggled against prison administrations.
Arouri was released in 2007, but Israel re-arrested him three months later for three years until 2010. The Israeli Supreme Court decided then to release him and exile him from Palestine.
He was later deported to Syria, where he resided for three years before leaving, living as a nomad between several countries. He later moved to Lebanon until his assassination on Jan. 2.
Following his release in 2010, Arouri was selected as a member of the political bureau of Hamas.
Arouri was one of Hamas' negotiators to complete the prisoner exchange deal in 2011 with Israel through Egyptian mediation. As part of the agreement, GiladShalit, an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas, was released in exchange for the release of 1,027 Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons.
On July 31, 2021, Arouri re-elected as the deputy chief of Hamas' political bureau for the second time. In addition to this position, he assumed the role of the movement's leader in the West Bank.
On Oct. 9, 2017, he was elected again as the deputy chief of the political bureau. Furthermore, Arouri was elected as Hamas' chief of the West Bank region on July 4, 2021.
In November 2018, the US Department of State allocated a reward of $5 million for information leading to Arouri, along with leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
The US Department of the Treasury had designated him on its terrorism list in 2015.
Israeli newspaper YediothAhronoth reported on Oct. 25 that six Hamas leaders were "in the crosshairs of Israeli fire," including Arouri.
The Israeli army stormed Arouri's house on Oct. 31 in the town of Arura near Ramallah in the West Bank.
The raid followed days of extensive operations against Hamas activists in the town, making his house into an investigative center.
*Writing by MohmmadSio
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/profile-saleh-al-arouri-hamas-deputy-leader-assassinated-by-israel-in-lebanon/3098622
Turkey arrests dozens suspected of spying for Israel
Suspects detained in raids for allegedly planning to pursue, assault and kidnap foreign nationals living in Turkey.
Turkey has reportedly detained 33 people suspected of spying on behalf of Israel.
The authorities are still searching for 13 other people believed to have links to Israel’s Mossad security service, the Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday. Ankara has previously warned that it will not allow Israel to strike at Hamas inside Turkey’s borders.
The suspects were detained in raids in Istanbul and seven other provinces for allegedly planning to carry out activities that included “reconnaissance” and “pursuing, assaulting and kidnapping” foreign nationals living in Turkey, the agency reported.
“We will never allow espionage activities to be conducted against the national unity and solidarity of our country,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media.
Anadolu did not provide information on the suspects, nor the foreigners who were allegedly targeted. The report came weeks after the head of Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, said in an audio recording that his organisation is prepared to destroy Hamas “in every place,” including in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar.
Turkish President RecepTayyipErdogan warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it pressed ahead with its threat to attack Hamas officials on Turkish soil.
Following years of tension, Turkey and Israel moved towards normalising ties in 2022 as they resumed diplomatic ties. But that detente quickly deteriorated during the Israel-Hamas war, with Ankara becoming one of the strongest critics of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Israel initially withdrew its diplomats from Turkey over security concerns and later announced it was recalling its diplomats for political reasons, citing “increasingly harsh statements” from Turkish officials. Turkey also pulled its ambassador from Israel.
Erdogan’s reaction to the Israel-Hamas war was initially fairly muted. But the Turkish leader has since intensified his criticism of Israel, describing its actions in Gaza as verging on “genocide”.
He has called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be prosecuted for “war crimes” and compared him to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The Turkish leader, whose government has hosted several Hamas officials in the past, has also said that the Palestinian group – considered a “terrorist organisation” by Israel, the United States and the European Union – is fighting for the liberation of its lands and people.
The arrests have come amid a spate of arrests by Turkish security forces. In roughly two weeks before the new year, about 500 people suspected of having ties to the ISIL (ISIS) armed group were detained in raids across the country.
The detentions were thought to be part of a drive by Turkey’s security forces ahead of New Year festivities. An ISIL attack in Istanbul on January 1, 2017, killed 39 people.
At the same time, some have also viewed the uptick in arrests as part of a political push in advance of local elections in March.
Analysts say that President Erdogan is eager to win back control of Istanbul, Ankara and other major economic hubs that his AK Party has lost.
Possible developments in Palestine in 2024
Global public opinion is expected to support Hamas' 'global intifada' in 2024, while ongoing efforts to counter Israel's expansionist policies supported by the West
The al-Aqsa Flood operation carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7 created a significant rupture in both the Palestine-Israel issue and the Middle East region. Israel, which was in a very difficult situation in the face of Hamas’ resistance, chose to take out its anger on innocent people. To date, more than 20,000 innocent people, most of whom are children and women, have been martyred by the Israeli occupation forces. Supported by the majority of the Western states, especially the United States, Israel did not refrain from committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza. Israel unabashedly violated the basic principles and norms of international law and the decisions of international organizations on the subject.
In the last days of 2023, the innocent people of Gaza could not avoid being the target of Israeli bombs and being massacred by a huge war machine, in front of the eyes of the whole world. In this article, I will briefly analyze what will happen to the people of Gaza in 2024.
First of all, al-Aqsa Flood has indicated that the resistance of the Palestinian people will continue. Contrary to their claims, Israel and its supporters cannot eliminate Hamas, a native and independent movement born in Gaza. Considering the realities on the ground, it can be seen that the Israeli occupation forces are targeting innocent civilians rather than Hamas fighters.
Furthermore, there is no effective alternative to Hamas for the people of Palestine in general and Gaza in particular. There is no organization other than Hamas that can effectively respond to the “gradual genocide” that Palestinians have been subjected to by Israel for a long time. In other words, Hamas is the only effective organization representing the Palestinian people fighting against the Israeli occupation. The Fatah organization remained far away from its traditional influence due to its leader, the elderly and sick Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli challenges: Gaza control unlikely, political deadlock
Secondly, the possibility of Israel taking Gaza under control is very low. Even these days when there is unlimited use of force and all kinds of crimes against humanity are being committed, Israel, which sent troops into Gaza, could not get what it wanted. Furthermore, Israeli politics faces a serious deadlock. Israel, which does not have an effective method of fighting Hamas, has no meaningful idea about the future of Gaza. Therefore, Hamas will continue to remain as the main “other/threat” for Israel.
On the other hand, contrary to the claims of Israeli officials and some Western politicians, the possibility of Israel achieving its goal of dehumanization and de-Palestinization of Gaza is very low. In spite of all the disadvantages that they have, the Palestinians will not leave their homeland. If they are forced to do so, the likelihood of the Jordanian and Egyptian states accepting this highly aware population on their own lands is quite low.
Third, al-Aqsa Flood has made Israeli politics, which is already fragile and fragmented, even more unstable. It seems that the current coalition of far-right parties cannot continue. It is very likely that the Benjamin Netanyahu government will fall immediately after the attacks slow down and a new process begins. However, considering that Prime Minister Netanyahu is the relatively most moderate politician in the current coalition, Netanyahu’s falling from power will not mean the arrival of more reasonable actors in Israeli politics.
Fourthly, al-Aqsa Flood has caused the Western states to completely lose control of rationality limits and evolve into an irrational political line supported by the rising far-right political actors. The fact that Western states are recorded as complicit in every crime committed by Israel will therefore mean that the principles, norms and values instrumentalized by the Western states will be used less in the future. It is not possible to expect non-Western states to comply with the norms and principles that the Western states persistently and systematically violate. In addition, the respect and trust of Western peoples in their own states was greatly damaged.
Israel's fragile post-al-Aqsa period
In addition to all this, Israel, which had the safest and most comfortable period in its entire history during and after the Arab insurgencies and revolutions, has begun to experience one of its most fragile and weak periods after al-Aqsa Flood. Israel, seen as the biggest winner of the Arab insurgencies, lost a significant part of its gains after the attack. The fact that the air defense system, called the Iron Dome, became dysfunctional against Hamas’ relatively primitive aircraft became a reason for insecurity in itself. Israel, which could not get the results it wanted despite having used most of its weapons and ammunition, will have to struggle with its destroyed image and shaken psychology in the future.
Sixth, the “policy of normalizing Israel” pursued by some Arab regimes has also failed. After this, the possibility of Arab states entering into the normalization process with Israel and completing it successfully decreased. The U.S. wanted to bring together the Arab states and Israel through the agreements signed in the name of their ancestor Abraham. In fact, some very important steps have been taken in this direction. However, after Israel’s disproportionate use of force against the Palestinian people and committing genocide, anti-Israeli perceptions among the Arab people have reached a very high level. Arab regimes that have to take this into consideration must at least pause their “policy of normalizing Israel.” In other words, Arab states could not get rid of the Palestine problem as they wanted and planned. In 2024, Arab states will most likely determine what policy they will follow regarding Palestine in the future.
In conclusion, it can be said that Hamas changed the balance in the Palestine-Israel issue after al-Aqsa Flood. In fact, the attack has even significantly influenced regional and global power balances. It affected the foreign policies of not only Israel but also Western states.
In 2024, world public opinion will continue to support the “global intifada” initiated by Hamas and consider Israel as a security problem. On the other hand, states and nonstate actors who want the norms of the global system to be implemented, will continue to look for ways out and solutions to deter Israel’s expansionist and aggressive policy, which it irresponsibly pursues with the support of the West.
Muhittin Ataman is a professor in the Department of International Relations at Social Sciences University of Ankara. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Insight Turkey, published by SETA Foundation.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/columns/possible-developments-in-palestine-in-2024
Information Clearing House – January 2, 2023
How Yemen changed everything?
In a single move, Yemen’s Ansarallah has checkmated the west and its rules-based order.
By Pepe Escobar
Whether invented in northern India, eastern China or Central Asia – from Persia to Turkestan – chess is an Asian game. In chess, there always comes a time when a simple pawn is able to upset the whole chessboard, usually via a move in the back rank whose effect simply cannot be calculated.
Yes, a pawn can impose a seismic checkmate. That’s where we are, geopolitically, right now.
The cascading effects of a single move on the chessboard – Yemen’s Ansarallah stunning and carefully targeted blockade of the Red Sea – reach way beyond global shipping, supply chains, and The War of Economic Corridors. Not to mention the reduction of the much lauded US Navy force projection to irrelevancy.
Yemen’s resistance movement, Ansarallah, has made it very clear that any Israel-affiliated or Israel-destined vessel will be intercepted. While the west bristles at this, and imagines itself a target, the rest of the world fully understands that all other shipping is free to pass. Russian tankers – as well as Chinese, Iranian, and Global South ships – continue to move undisturbed across the Bab al-Mandeb (narrowest point: 33 km) and the Red Sea.
Only the Hegemon is disturbed by this challenge to its ‘rules-based order.’ It is outraged that western vessels delivering energy or goods to law-breaking Israel can be impeded, and that the supply chain has been severed and plunged into deep crisis. The pinpointed target is the Israeli economy, which is already bleeding heavily. A single Yemeni move proves to be more efficient than a torrent of imperial sanctions.
It is the tantalizing possibility of this single move turning into a paradigm shift – with no return – that is adding to the Hegemon’s apoplexy. Especially because imperial humiliation is deeply embedded in the paradigm shift.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the record, is now sending an unmistakeable message: Forget the Suez Canal. The way to go is the Northern Sea Route – which the Chinese, in the framework of the Russia-China strategic partnership, call the Arctic Silk Road.
For the dumbfounded Europeans, the Russians have detailed three options: First, sail 15,000 miles around the Cap of Good Hope. Second, use Russia’s cheaper and faster Northern Sea Route. Third, send the cargo via Russian Railways.
Rosatom, which oversees the Northern Sea Route, has emphasized that non-ice-class ships are now able to sail throughout summer and autumn, and year-round navigation will soon be possible with the help of a fleet of nuclear icebreakers.
All that as direct consequences of the single Yemeni move. What next? Yemen entering BRICS+ at the summit in Kazan in late 2024, under the Russian presidency?
The new architecture will be framed in West Asia
The US-led Armada put together for Operation Genocide Protection, which collapsed even before birth, may have been set up to “warn Iran,” apart from giving Ansarallah a scare. Just as the Houthis, Tehran is hardly intimidated because, as West Asia analyst ace Alastair Crooke succinctly put it: “Sykes-Picot is dead.”
This is a quantum shift on the chessboard. It means West Asian powers will frame the new regional architecture from now on, not US Navy “projection.”
That carries an ineffable corollary: those eleven US aircraft carrier task forces, for all practical purposes, are essentially worthless.
Everyone across West Asia is well aware that Ansarallah’s missiles are capable of hitting Saudi and Emirati oil fields, and knocking them out of commission. So it is little wonder that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi would never accept becoming part of a US-led maritime force to challenge the Yemeni resistance.
Add to it the role of underwater drones now in the possession of Russia and Iran. Think of fifty of these aimed at a US aircraft carrier: it has no defense. While the Americans still have very advanced submarines, they cannot keep the Bab al-Mandeb and Red Sea open to western operators.
On the energy front, Moscow and Tehran don’t even need to think – at least not yet – about using the “nuclear” option or cutting off potentially at least 25 percent, and up, of the world oil supply. As one Persian Gulf analyst succinctly describes it, “that would irretrievably implode the international financial system.”
For those still determined to support the genocide in Gaza there have been warnings. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has mentioned it explicitly. Tehran has already called for a total oil and gas embargo against nations that support Israel.
A total naval blockade of Israel, meticulously engineered, remains a distinct possibility. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami said Israel may “soon face the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, and other waterways.”
Keep in mind we’re not yet even talking about aļ¾ possible blockade of the Strait of Hormuz; we’re still on Red Sea/Bab al-Mandeb.
Because if the Straussian neo-cons in the Beltway get really unhinged by the paradigm shift and act in desperation to “teach a lesson” to Iran, a chokepoint Hormuz-Bab al-Mandeb combo blockade might skyrocket the price of oil to at least $500 a barrel, triggering the implosion of the $618 trillion derivatives market and crashing the entire international banking system.
The paper tiger is in a jam
Mao Zedong was right after all: the US may be in fact a paper tiger. Putin, though, is way more careful, cold, and calculating. With this Russian president, it’s all about an asymmetric response, exactly when no one is expecting it.
That brings us to the prime working hypothesis perhaps capable of explaining the shadow play masking the single Ansarallah move on the chessboard.
When Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist Sy (Seymour) Hersh proved how Team Biden blew up the Nord Stream pipelines, there was no Russian response to what was, in effect, an act of terrorism against Gazprom, against Germany, against the EU, and against a bunch of European companies. Yet Yemen, now, with a simple blockade, turns global shipping upside down.
So what is more vulnerable? The physical networks of global energy supply (Pipelineistan) or the Thalassocracy, states that derive their power from naval supremacy?
Russia privileges Pipelineistan: see, for instance, the Nord Streams and Power of Siberia 1 and 2. But the US, the Hegemon, always relied on its thalassocratic power, heir to “Britannia rules the waves.”
Well, not anymore. And, surprisingly, getting there did not even entail the “nuclear” option, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which Washington games and scaremongers like crazy.
Of course we won’t have a smoking gun. But it’s a fascinating proposition that the single Yemeni move may have been coordinated at the highest level between three BRICS members – Russia, China, and Iran, the neocon new “axis of evil” – plus other two BRICS+, energy powerhouses Saudi Arabia and the UAE. As in, “if you do it, we’ve got your back”.
None of that, of course, detracts from Yemeni purity: their defense of Palestine is a sacred duty.
Western imperialism and then turbo-capitalism have always been obsessed with gobbling up Yemen, a process that Isa Blumi, in his splendid book Destroying Yemen, described as “necessarily stripping Yemenis of their historic role as the economic, cultural, spiritual, and political engine for much of the Indian Ocean world.”
Yemen, though, is unconquerable and, true to a local proverb, “deadly” (Yemen Fataakah). As part of the Axis of Resistance, Yemen’s Ansarallah is now a key actor in a complex Eurasia-wide drama that redefines Heartland connectivity; and alongside China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the India-Iran-Russia-led International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), and Russia’s new Northern Sea Route, also includes control over strategic chokepoints around the Mediterranean Seas and the Arabian peninsula.
This is another trade connectivity paradigm entirely, smashing to bits western colonial and neocolonial control of Afro-Eurasia. So yes, BRICS+ supports Yemen, who with a single move has presented Pax Americana with The Mother of All Geopolitical Jams.
Pepe Escobar is a Brazilian journalist and geopolitical analyst.
https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/01/02/how-yemen-changed-everything/
https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/01/02/how-yemen-changed-everything/
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