With the role of natural gas in future power generation being under debate by world countries amid a race to dramatically reduce carbon emissions, Iran is hosting a ministerial meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
Organizers say the meeting is an opportunity to exchange views among the member and observer countries as well as experts and specialists in the gas industry about the mechanism of consensus-building and strengthening communication and coordination on supply policies and related affairs.
While the future role of gas in the energy mix is the source of much contention among countries, the global gas consumption grew unprecedentedly in 2023, GECF Secretary General Mohamed Hamel told the forum’s opening in Tehran on Sunday.
He touched on the resilience of gas to regional conflicts and geopolitical strains which have exposed significant fragilties in the post-pandemic global energy system. Since the formation of the GECF in Tehran in 2001, global demand for natural gas has grown 70 percent, Hamel said.
The race to rapidly decarbonize and digitize the global economy under the net zero energy initiative has been subsumed by geopolitics that remains anchored in realist power struggles. The Ukraine war has undermined interdependence and prompted unprecedented levels of economic statecraft.
The need to rapidly move away from fossil fuels and fossil raw materials has exposed countries to a myriad of compliance risks with dire financial repercussions, leading to deepening instability, injustice and energy poverty.
Even the most optimistic clean energy projections indicate that by 2050, at least half of the world’s energy needs will still come from oil and gas resources. Hence, the rush to eliminate fossil fuels from the global energy system is unrealistic, threatening the world’s energy security.
According to the Energy Studies Institute of the International Energy Agency, gas will continue to play a significant role as a clean and cost-effective fuel in the global energy mix, accounting for 28 percent of the total by 2050. Forecasts indicate that by 2050, natural gas production and consumption will increase to more than 5.9 trillion cubic meters per year.
Asia-Pacific has emerged as the world’s largest net importer of natural gas. In 2023, China was the largest consumer of natural gas in the region, with around 405 billion cubic meters. Japan was the second-largest, with a consumption of around 92.4 billion cubic meters. The region’s gas consumption is forecast to hit 1.6 trillion cubic meters by 2050.
Also, predictions show that the largest share of the increase in natural gas production in the world will be from Russia, Iran, Qatar, and Turkmenistan.
Hence, the role of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum as a leading platform for dialogue and cooperation in order to provide a level of stability beneficial to both exporters and consumers and supporting the gas industry which requires significant effort and financing is of particular importance.
Iran, as the second largest holder of gas reserves in the world, has an important role to play in the gas diplomacy and guarantee its national interests and the interests of the other members.
The GECF countries hold 70% of the world’s proven gas reserves and produce some 40% of the world’s gas.
Despite years of sanctions, Iran has made significant progress in expanding its gas sector. The country now produces 275 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, and gas accounts for more than 70 percent of its energy consumption.
Iran’s overall proven natural gas reserves excluding shale gas deposits and huge hydrocarbon reserves in the Sea of Oman and possibly the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea are put at 34 trillion cubic meters, or about 17.8% of world’s total.
Assuming that the current unbridled consumption of about 250 billion cubic meters per year continues and with the pessimistic assumption that no new gas fields are discovered in the coming years, the existing supplies are enough to meet Iran’s needs for the next 130 years.
With investment and production from unconventional shale reserves which the country has already discovered, Iran’s gas supply capacity can rise more than twofold in the coming decade.
Exploratory research in the Sea of Oman has indicated the existence of gas hydrate reserves in Iranian waters in larger quantities than the huge South Pars field.
Further development of more than 20 fields currently producing gas can add another 500 million cubic meters a day to the country’s gas production capacity.
This huge capacity can be tapped to supply gas to the world markets through building new pipeline networks to neighboring countries and sending LNG to the rest of the world.
NBC today blasted DonaldTrump and RobertKennedyJr for wanting to study a possible connection between “autism and childhood vaccines” because NBC claims it has been “debunked” by “hundreds of studies.” But has it? The answer is unmistakably “no!” Here is the proof:
Most parents with autistic children claim vaccines – including DTaP, Hep B, Hib, PCV13, and IPV, each injected 3 times by 6 months of age – are a cause of their child’s autism.* Yet the studies to support that these vaccines do not cause autism have not been conducted.
In 1986, Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act in which it ordered federal health authorities (HHS) to study whether pertussis vaccine can cause autism due to parental complaints regarding same.
In 1991, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued its report on this question and could not find a single study on the question of whether pertussis vaccine causes autism. Meaning, the science had not been done.
In 2012, the IOM was again commissioned to study this question, this time by CDC, and also the question of whether tetanus and diphtheria vaccines can cause autism (DTaP), and again the IOM could not find a single study to support the claim that these vaccines do not cause autism. Not one. But it did find one study supporting that DTaP vaccine is correlated with autism but threw it out since it was based on VAERS data.
In 2018, I deposed the world’s leading vaccinologist about the 2012 finding by the IOM and while admitting there are no studies to support that these vaccines do not cause autism, he said he would nonetheless tell parents vaccines do not cause autism even though he has no evidence to support that claim.
In 2019, we sued CDC for the studies it claims support that the vaccines given in the first six months of life do not cause autism. CDC then identified 20 studies: 18 of those studied a different vaccine (MMR) or an ingredient not in these vaccines (thimerosal), and one irrelevant study looked at antigens. Incredibly, the final study CDC identified was the 2012 IOM review that found no studies supporting that DTaP doesn’t cause autism.
In 2020, in a lawsuit specifically about vaccines and autism, one the world’s leading vaccinologists admitted under oath that there were no studies to support that vaccines given in the first six months of life do not cause autism.
This is why actually studying whether vaccines cause autism is important: Video report
While CDC claims that vaccines do not cause autism, despite demanding the studies to support this claim for the vaccines given in the first six months of life, and asking, suing, deposing, etc., for them for years, we still have not received a single such study.
But NBC doesn’t really care about the facts, rather it just repeats the dogmatic claim that “vaccines do not cause autism” like a mantra.
One final thought: given the lack of studies regarding vaccines and autism – the issue CDC and “health” authorities claimed to have most thoroughly studied – imagine the state of the “science” with regard to the 100 other serious harms (often immune or immune-mediated disorders) parents claim are caused by vaccines. (For more meat on that bone watch Episode 388)
Most of the Western Pacific is easily within range of China’s missile brigades, and Pentagon war planners are gravely concerned that Chinese hypersonic missiles would destroy allied naval and air units, within moments of a breakout in hostilities. The Pentagon has embraced a new strategy, called Agile Combat Employment. It involves new construction and additions to over a dozen new airfields across the Pacific, where crews can land heavy bombers and other aircraft in the event the primary bases are too badly damaged. China has over 2,000 ballistic missiles, and a mere two or three would suffice to cripple a major airfield beyond use. It is difficult to imagine how building twelve more will make much of a difference. But even if so, the public affairs officers involved in these projects have shared sensitive data on these plans with major news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal. What’s more, the strategy presupposes a willingness of other nations to host American nuclear weapons platforms during a hot war with China, in perpetuity.
One of the major preventative measures developed against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was vaccines. To monitor their use and safety of vaccines from the first utilization in humans during clinical development phases to implementation for the general population, an enhanced national pharmacovigilance system was enabled by the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety in collaboration with the 30 Regional Pharmacovigilance Centres. Here, we review the significant outcomes from a 2-year collaboration experience between the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety, the 30 Regional Pharmacovigilance Centres, disease-related experts and the pharmacovigilance and risk assessment committee at the European medicine agency. In France, until January 2023, over 155 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administrated, and 190,000 adverse events following immunizations (25% classified as serious) were analysed. Altogether 53 potential safety signals were reported to the Pharmacovigilance and Risk Assessment Committee at the European Medicine Agency by the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety: 13 were confirmed, 24 are still under investigation and 16 were not confirmed.
Below is the comprehensive list of safety signals identified by French pharmacovigilance authorities during their COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring efforts:
Complete List of 53 COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Signals in France
Menstrual disorders (excluding heavy menstrual bleeding)
Systemic necrotizing vasculitis
Viral reactivation
Thromboembolic events
Polymyalgia rheumatica
Sarcoidosis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Herpes Zoster
Delayed neurological activation
Cardiovascular secondary adjusters
Myocarditis/pericarditis in special populations
Progressive neuromuscular disease
Vasculitis (general and advanced cases)
Viral reactivation (in autoimmune subgroups)
Autoimmune syndromes with delayed onset
Delayed thrombocytopenia
Post-vaccine fatigue syndrome
Hormonal disruptions (general, excluding heavy menstrual bleeding)
Not Confirmed but Under Surveillance (16 Signals – Inferred based on article, not explicitly mentioned)
Systemic autoimmune responses (general)
Hearing impacts with delayed onset
Cardiovascular irregularities
Hypersensitivity responses with mild symptoms
Neurological subclinical responses
Autoimmune hyperinflammatory conditions
Cyclic immune sensitivity patterns
Long-term joint pain and stiffness
Visual disturbances (mild to moderate)
Delayed rash or cutaneous reactions
Gastrointestinal irregularities
Sleep disturbances linked to vaccine response
Non-specific inflammatory reactions
Menstrual irregularities (non-heavy bleeding)
Musculoskeletal pain syndromes
Dermatological conditions
Even with 53 reported safety signals, this list is most definitely not reflective of all possible adverse events following COVID-19 injection. Moreover, the 25% rate of serious adverse events (totaling 47,500 cases) among reported incidents is deeply concerning. Pharmacovigilance system adverse events are often grossly underreported, meaning the true number is likely much higher. Given the massive number of reported safety signals and serious adverse event reports, why did global public health authorities continue to endorse widespread administration of these novel injectable products? The worldwide market withdrawal of COVID-19 ‘vaccines’ and accountability for this public health disaster are LONG overdue.
Nicolas Hulscher, MPH
Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation
I have been a medical doctor for nearly 20 years. I graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2005 and as a GP in 2014. I am an NHS GP and have my own private clinic.
I am a practising Muslim and am advising here in my personal capacity.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.”
Objective
I am submitting my views and research on Covid vaccines for consideration by respected scholars because many believe there is a consensus amongst Muslim doctors that the vaccine is safe and effective and, therefore, to be recommended to Muslim patients. There is no such consensus. I don’t believe the covid vaccines to be safe and effective, but unsafe and ineffective.
Doctors and scientists internationally are raising concerns about the harms they are seeing following vaccination, including “turbo” cancers and heart conditions. The rates of advanced cancer, strokes and heart disease are rising and the Covid-19 vaccine is not even being considered as a possible cause. Vaccine harms need to be investigated.
Action
I call for its rollout to be immediately suspended. I call on Muslim scholars to abstain from recommending the Muslim community “get vaccinated” as an Islamic duty and a commendable action to protect themselves and their communities.
Need For Muslim Doctors To Do Independent Research
The Shariah (Islamic law) recommends that Muslims consult a God-fearing doctor for advice about their medical treatment. This is because Muslim doctors will advise the patient from a place of taqwa (sincerity to God), wanting the best outcome for the patient, regardless of facing any backlash for their advice.
UK doctors were warned that they could face disciplinary action if they criticised the Government guidelines on Covid-19 measures and vaccines. (1) It’s important for scholars to be aware of this because doctors are not safely able to raise concerns and have open discussions but are expected to conform to current guidance.
To sincerely give medical advice requires an open mind, research beyond the medical school curriculum, accurate knowledge about the illness, conflicts of interest and possible safe alternatives. I am concerned that advice and guidance are being issued with a lack of awareness as to the larger relevant issues, as stated in this principle:
حكم الشيء فرع عن تصوره
“Judging something is based on understanding it.”
This means that making a correct or accurate judgment about something depends on having a clear and comprehensive understanding. If the thing is not properly understood, the judgment about it is likely to be incomplete or incorrect.
Criminal Record of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Vaccines
Pfizer has been charged with fraud and criminal liability, for which they have been ordered to pay billions of dollars (2), yet they continue to manufacture vaccines that are recommended to the Muslim community and beyond.
Censorship
Many doctors follow government guidelines and cannot state a concern without threats from the GMC and being accused of spreading misinformation. GP Dr Sam White lost his medical license for raising his concerns about the harms mRNA vaccines, lockdowns and masks. (3). Other doctors have been reported to the GMC for raising similar concerns.
Islam allows for debate and discussion- but unfortunately, it’s difficult to have conversations and debate with fellow doctors about these issues.
This lack of opportunity to discuss and debate vaccine concerns means that only one viewpoint is being heard, by Islamic scholars, doctors and patients.
Lack Of Support For Vaccine-Injured Patients
Patients who raise concerns are gaslighted and left without support. One example is Mr Adam Rowland, father of 4, who was a fit and well physiotherapist and has been left unable to work or function since his 2nd Astra Zeneca vaccine due to experiencing medical issues, including myocarditis and neuropathy (4)
UKCVFamily, a UK charity has been set up by the vaccine-injured to help support those injured. They have supported over 2000 UK residents. (5) They have sadly, experienced gaslighting, a lack of acknowledgement of their condition and little medical or financial support.
Over 16,000 people applied to the Covid vaccine scheme (6), with very strict eligibility and therefore, the majority of these claims are refused. The number of applicants is the tip of the iceberg but again highlights the vaccine has caused harm to many.
What will happen to Muslim patients who suffer side effects, from a Covid vaccine? Who will accept responsibility for this harm? Or will they be abandoned, like others have?
Mohamed Hijab, a prominent Muslim speaker, was hospitalised after he suffered a pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening clot of his lung 10 days after his first Pfizer vaccine, which he regretted having. Despite this, he was still being invited for further vaccines. (7)
The Risk of Covid-19 Was Exaggerated
To increase compliance with lockdowns and the uptake of Covid-19 vaccines, government messaging aimed to “frighten the pants off everyone (8)
Side effects from the vaccines are not openly addressed. This was the case from the very beginning and in the early trials, the voice of patients who were harmed was censored from the internet.
One such case is that of Maddie De Gray, a 12 year old who was left wheelchair-bound with a nasogastric tube following the Pfizer vaccine (9). Her symptoms were misleadingly recorded in the trial data as “abdominal pain”.
A whistleblower from the initial Pfizer trials raised many concerns about the trials, including the lack of timely follow-up of patients who experienced adverse events (10).
There Is no Long-Term Safety Data For COVID-19 Vaccines
Covid-19 vaccines are being promoted as safe, effective and necessary without long-term data, even to groups such as pregnant women, breastfeeding women and children.
Lack Of Safety Data To Recommend To Pregnant Women
In the 1950s, a drug called thalidomide was promoted to women for morning sickness without any long-term data. Thousands of women suffered miscarriages, and babies were born blind and without limbs and the drug was subsequently withdrawn. (11) This scandal is taught to doctors during training, and a great deal of caution is urged when prescribing medications to pregnant women.
Pregnant women are taught to be very careful in terms of what they consume. They are advised to reduce caffeine intake and not take unnecessary medications for the first 12 weeks in particular, as the fetus’s organs are developing in this delicate time.
Concerningly, a new mRNA vaccine was recommended for pregnant women by the government and the medical profession, with no long-term safety data. It continues to be promoted to pregnant women, although will be withdrawn from July 2025 after 4 years of the rollout. (12)
A US obstetrician Dr James Thorpe raised concerns about vaccinating pregnant women and published a paper highlighting an increase in adverse events in vaccinated mothers, including development disorders and fetal deaths. (13)
I also wrote a rapid response in the BMJ, highlighting my concerns about this group of women being vaccinated. (14).
Concerns About “Turbo” Cancer
Professor Angus Dalgliesh, a professor of Oncology at St George’s, London, has been raising concerns about the link between Covid vaccines and “turbo” cancer in his patients. (15) “Turbo” cancer refers to cancer that is presenting in advanced and alarming stages.
Consultant Surgeon Mr James Royle has also raised concerns about turbo cancers and thrombosis in his Covid-vaccinated patients. (16)
Concerns About Myocarditis and Heart Attacks
Consultant Cardiologists Dr Aseem Malhotra and Dr Dean Patterson have both been raising concerns about the rates of myocarditis and myocardial infarction following Covid vaccination. (17)(18)(19)
I joined other UK doctors who were also concerned about about the harms of Covid vaccines and together we formed, Doctor for Patients UK. (20)
Safe Treatment For Covid-19
Doctors have been treating covid safely using ivermectin, blackseed oil, vitamin C and D, along other supplements with good results. Dr Tess Lawrie has raised awareness about the effectiveness of treatment such as ivermectin and treatment protocols can be found on the World Council For Health website. (21)
International Concerns By Doctors And Scientists
There are many doctors and scientists internationally raising concerns about vaccine harms, but we have no voice in the mainstream, due to censorship.
US cardiologist Dr Peter McCullough called for an immediate withdrawal of these products in a speech made in the EU Parliament on 13 September 2023. (22)
Over 64 000 people worldwide have joined me in calling for the suspension of the covid vaccine and an investigation into the roll-out, by signing The Hope Accord. (23)
Vaccinating To Prevent Transmission
There is no evidence that vaccines prevent transmission to another individual, as this was not studied in the early trials. Pfizer admitted they had not studied transmission in the early trials to the EU Parliament and they had “lied” about this previously. (24) Recommendations to get vaccinated cannot be made to prevent spread and protect the vulnerable.
Further Issues Needing Research
I have summarised some of my concerns about the Covid-19 vaccines. There are still many issues that need to be discussed, including the DNA plasmids and the ingredients of these genetic injections.
Concluding Remarks
Islamically, medication is merely mubah (permissible). This is when a patient is suffering from an illness. In the case of prophylaxis, to prevent illness the ruling for intervention is even less.
I believe the Covid-19 vaccinations should be suspended and the harms investigated. I do not support Muslim organisations or scholars making blanket recommendations for every Muslim to get vaccinated.
Instead, patients should seek the advice of a local God-fearing Muslim doctor, who has independently researched any benefits and harms of the vaccines beyond Government recommendations.
I hope this helps provide insight into deeper issues that need to be considered when issuing guidelines for Muslim doctors and the community about COVID-19 vaccinations and beyond.
The US is stepping up efforts to increase deployment of intermediate and short-range missiles, including stationing hypersonic weapons in Europe and Asia, according to information obtained by RT. Production and deployment of such systems in the US has reportedly been picking up pace in recent years.
Among the major weapons being developed is the multiple-launch rocket system Dark Typhon, which will be capable of firing Standard-6 missiles with a 500-km range and Tomahawk cruise missiles (2,400-km), as well as a hypersonic missile that is also still being developed. The system is expected to become operational by 2025.
During the NATO summit this past July, Washington and Berlin announced that Dark Typhoon would be stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany starting in 2026, a prospect that Russia slammed as an “escalatory action” given that it would place the missiles within range of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major Russian cities. The Pentagon also reportedly plans to deploy the system on the Japanese island of Io by October of next year, which would put the missiles within 2.5 hours flight time of Russia’s Vladivostok.
Among Washington’s most ambitious projects is the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, which is designed to hit critical land-based targets within a range of 5,500km with strike precision of 3-10 meters. While still being developed, the prototype has passed at least seven tests, four of them successfully.
According to the information obtained by RT, the US plans to start deploying the missiles in Japan by October 2025, which would put them within 8-10 minutes’ flight time from Vladivostok. By 2026, one rocket launcher equipped with 16 missiles is expected to be stationed in Wiesbaden, with a flight time to central Russia also estimated at 8-10 minutes.
Russia has long warned that the US military buildup and the deployment of nuclear-capable missiles will draw a proportionate response. Earlier this week, Russia and Belarus signed a security treaty, which, among other things cemented the deployment of Russia’s brand-new hypersonic ballistic Oreshnik missile systems in the neighboring country next year. The Russian military combat tested the Oreshnik last month, using it to strike a Ukrainian military industrial facility in Dnepropetrovsk with multiple warheads.
Washington unilaterally pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia back in 2019. Moscow also subsequently abandoned the treaty. Under the INF, both countries were prohibited from new deployments of ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500km.
American-made M1 Abrams tanks were “not useful” to the Ukrainian military, despite being billed as a potential “game changer” in the conflict with Russia, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has admitted.
After months of requests from Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and his officials, the White House approved the transfer of 31 M1 Abrams main battle tanks – enough to equip an entire tank battalion – to Ukraine in January 2023. President Joe Biden said the tanks would help “counter Russia’s evolving tactics and strategy on the battlefield in the very near term,” while multiple US media outlets described them as a “game changer” ahead of Kiev’s planned counteroffensive against Russian forces that summer.
This was not the case, Sullivan said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California on Saturday. Asked whether the Biden administration could have better prepared Ukraine for the counteroffensive had it supplied Kiev with more heavy weapons, he cited the Abrams tanks as an example of how not everything in America’s arsenal worked in Ukraine.
”When it comes to Abrams tanks, we sent Abrams tanks to Ukraine,” he replied. “These Abrams tank units are actually undermanned because it’s not the most useful piece of equipment for them in this fight.”
Shortly after their deployment, the Russian Defense Ministry began releasing videos of Abrams tanks burning on the battlefield. According to some estimates, as many as 20 of the 31 tanks sent to Ukraine in 2023 have since been destroyed, and Ukrainian commanders began withdrawing the rest from service earlier this year, American officials told AP.
The M1A1 variants sent to Ukraine were first stripped of their depleted uranium armor, leaving them vulnerable to Russian drones and anti-tank missiles.
One of the heaviest main battle tanks in service worldwide, the M1 Abrams weighs in at 60 tons, with the latest M1A2 variant increasing this heft to more than 73 tons. An M1 Abrams tank costs more than $450 per mile in fuel and repairs, according to a 1991 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report adjusted for inflation.
The GAO report stated that the average M1 Abrams needs its track replaced after as little as 710 miles, with engines typically suffering catastrophic “blowouts” after 350 hours of operation.
Even before Biden authorized their delivery to Ukraine, US military officials warned that the Abrams tanks would prove unsuitable for Kiev’s needs.
“The challenge with the Abrams is, it’s expensive. It’s difficult to train on. It is very difficult to sustain. It has a huge, complicated turbine engine that requires jet fuel,” US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl warned in early January 2023. “Frankly, our assessment is just that the Abrams is not the right capability at this time.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he had ordered the Israeli military to “seize” a UN-patrolled buffer zone between the Israeli- and Syrian-controlled Golan Heights.
The premier said a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria “has collapsed”, so he “directed the (military) yesterday to seize the buffer zone and the commanding positions nearby.”
“We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Mount Bental on the border between occupied Palestine and Syria.
Meanwhile, he claimed credit for starting the chain of events that led to the fall of the Syrian government after the armed opposition entered the capital, Damascus, early on Sunday.
“This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East. This is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, the main supporters of the (President Bashar) Al-Assad regime.”
Netanyahu also warned that alongside new opportunities, the flight of Assad from Syria also brings risks.
Extremist armed groups battling under the banner of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of the strategic city of Homs in central Syria on 7 December, after the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) “repositioned its forces” outside the city with no clashes reported.
“The SAA, paramilitary forces, and allies of the Syrian government withdrew from the city of Homs … No clashes were recorded in or around the city before orders were given out to soldiers to withdraw,” Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Homs reported late on Saturday.
According to local sources, fighters from the Turkish-backed HTS and Syrian National Army (SNA) have taken control of “every neighborhood in the city.”
HTS, a UN-designated terrorist organization, launched a shock invasion of the Aleppo countryside on 27 November. Their numbers were reportedly bolstered by extremist groups from Central Asia that entered Syria via Turkiye. Ukrainian special forces have also been providing support to the armed groups.
Over the past 10 days, HTS and SNA fighters – most of them former members of Al-Qaeda and ISIS – have taken control of the cities of Aleppo, Hama, and Homs.
As the offensive gains speed, the SAA has repeatedly chosen to redeploy troops outside battle zones, largely avoiding clashes.
Homs is strategically positioned at a crucial crossroads between Damascus and Syria’s coastal provinces, Latakia and Tartus – the government’s stronghold and home to a vital Russian naval base.
Al Mayadeen reports that, after leaving Homs, the SAA has also withdrawn “from the mountains of Latakia towards the city on the Syrian coast.” The Syrian army also withdrew from the eastern Deir Ezzor governorate earlier this week under an “agreement” with the US-sponsored Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
With Damascus now in sight of the extremists, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) has ordered reinforcements to the Hermel area, which borders Syria and is located around 40 km away from Homs.
“The seeds of the regime’s defeat have always been within it… the Iranians attempted to revive the regime, buying it time, and later the Russians also tried to prop it up. But the truth remains: this regime is dead,” HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, a former Al-Qaeda warlord and deputy of the notorious ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, told CNN earlier this week.
Since the start of the offensive, western media launched a blitz to promote Julani and HTS as “diversity-friendly” moderates that will protect Syria’s religious minorities.
During the US-led war on Syria that began in 2011, the Nusra Front (HTS’ former name) and ISIS carried out large numbers of massacres of Christians, Shiites, Alawites, Yezidis, and even Sunnis who were supportive of the governments of Iraq and Syria.
“We called for an immediate end to hostile activities … and for this purpose called for the dialogue between the government and legitimate opposition,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday from Doha after meeting his Turkish and Iranian counterparts.
Moscow has been providing aerial support for Damascus since the start of the offensive, killing hundreds of HTS and SNA-allied extremists.
Israel deployed tanks and troops to occupy the buffer zone in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on 8 December following the fall of the Syrian government to foreign-backed extremist groups overnight.
The Israeli army announced its forces occupy “several points necessary for defense” in the buffer zone, citing the possibility of “armed men” entering the zone.
The buffer zone was established in 1974 as part of the ceasefire that ended the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.
Foreign-backed extremist militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) entered Damascus overnight after a lightning advance on the capital that began less than two weeks ago from their strongholds in Idlib Governorate.
Militants from HTS, formerly known as the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, quickly occupied the Aleppo countryside and city before moving south to capture Hama, Homs, and finally, Damascus.
The Syrian army withdrew from Homs and Damascus without putting up resistance.
The Israeli army claimed it “does not interfere in internal events” in Syria but will remain in the buffer zone “as long as necessary.”
Israeli troops entered the buffer zone under the pretext of an alleged threat from extremist militants.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar claimed “armed forces” entered the buffer zone and attacked UN peacekeeping forces stationed in the area.
“Israel is concerned about violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between Israel and Syria, which also pose a threat to its security, the safety of its communities, and its citizens, particularly in the Golan Heights region,” he wrote on X.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 war, illegally occupying the area and annexing it in 1981.
Israel has bombed Syria hundreds of times since the start of the US-led covert war on Syria began in 2011. The bombing continued after the war ended in 2019, in what Israeli media dubbed the “battle between the wars.”
Israeli attacks intensified further after the start of the war in Gaza over a year ago. Israel claimed it was targeting weapons facilities used to support Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Damascus has fallen to a cluster of militant groups that rampaged through the war-ravaged Arab country, starting from Aleppo last week.
The collapse of the Arab country began soon after a ceasefire was announced in Lebanon early last week, following nearly 70 days of unbridled aggression by the Israeli regime, which claimed thousands of civilian lives but failed to achieve any significant military objectives.
The marauding militant groups, led by Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), launched a lightning-fast offensive on Aleppo, followed by rapid advances into Idlib, Hama, and Homs, ultimately overrunning Damascus early on Sunday.
Despite initial resistance by the Syrian Arab Army, the government forces gradually retreated from key areas, enabling the militant groups—backed by Western and Arab states as well as the Israeli regime—to achieve stunning military advances toward Damascus.
The whereabouts of the deposed Syrian president remain unknown, with speculation rife that he is either holed up at a Russian military base inside Syria or has fled to the UAE or Russia.
Syria has always been, and remains, a vital cog in the Axis of Resistance—a status that will not change regardless of who takes control in Damascus. The country’s strategic importance remains undiminished.
Furthermore, despite the dramatic developments in Syria, the dynamics within the broader Axis of Resistance remain unaffected. Palestine continues to be the central issue for the alliance.
Syria has historically served as a conduit for supplying arms and other resources to Lebanese and Palestinian resistance movements. However, these movements have now achieved self-reliance, producing their own weapons, including missiles and drones.
Iran’s support for the Axis of Resistance will continue regardless of Syria’s leadership, with Palestine remaining the foremost priority for the Islamic Resistance and its regional allies.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s recent diplomatic engagements across the region were aimed at ensuring that the primary issue of Palestine remains at the forefront amidst these developments.
“The principled stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran in supporting the people and resistance of Palestine and Lebanon against the occupation and aggression of the Zionist regime will continue with strength,” Araghchi stated during a meeting with senior Hamas leadership in Doha on Saturday.
He was in Doha to attend a regional conference on Syria with counterparts from Russia and Turkey.
The rapid fall of the Syrian government has left many questioning how it happened. The collapse has been described as even more dramatic than the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul nearly three years ago.
However, it did not happen overnight. The militant groups, led by HTS, had been doing groundwork for this moment for years in areas considered their strongholds, with external support.
The chaos in the region—exacerbated by Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza and aggression in Lebanon—provided them an opportunity to strike decisively. This is the moment they had waited for.
None of these militant groups stood up for Gaza or Lebanon, as many have rightly argued, primarily because they didn’t wish to antagonize the Tel Aviv regime. They remained focused on Syria.
Starting last week, Assad’s forces retreated with little resistance. There are several reasons for the Syrian Arab Army’s failure to withstand the militants’ advances, and one of them is the grave economic situation in the country that impacted every section of Syrian society.
Syria’s economic situation has deteriorated alarmingly over the years, particularly since the United States imposed crippling sanctions under the “Caesar Act” in December 2019. These sanctions compounded the challenges for the Assad government as it could not initiate economic reforms.
The United States also provided backing to many of the militant groups opposed to Assad’s regime, which has been widely documented in leaked cables and statements of top US officials.
Assad’s ouster, however, does not signify a return to stability for Syria, nor does it guarantee the lifting or easing of sanctions. The new rulers are not a cohesive entity but rather a coalition of militant groups with varying ideologies, affiliations, and political objectives.
Several regional countries, including Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, have directly or indirectly supported these militant groups that toppled Assad’s government for their own regional ambitions.
The new ruling coalition in Damascus is likely to face significant challenges, particularly in gaining international legitimacy—similar to the de facto Taliban government in Kabul.
There is also a strong possibility that these militant groups will eventually turn on each other, as their objectives are fundamentally misaligned. Each faction is likely to seek a larger share of power.
The Israeli regime, which thrives on regional insecurity and chaos, is expected to continue exacerbating the situation. Recent reports suggest that Israel has attempted to expand its invasion of Syrian territories beyond the already occupied Golan Heights, taking advantage of the ongoing turmoil.
While it is evident that these militant groups benefited from support provided by the Zionist regime, this support will not continue now that they have toppled Syria’s democratically elected government.
The coming days and weeks are critical that would determine which direction the region takes. However, one thing is for sure, the resistance axis remains intact and in a stronger position.
Seyyed Ali Riza is a Sydney-based writer who specializes in West Asia affairs.
Israel Shahak (1933 – 2001) was a Polish Jew who survived both the Holocaust and the Warsaw ghetto, and lived his adult life in Israel. His surname, Hebrew in the middle of Poland, can be explained by a relevant fact: his parents were Zionists, and they changed their Yiddish last name Himmelstaub to the Hebrew Shahak. This is common among Zionists: the Netayahu family was Mileikowsky; Ben-Gurion was born Grün; Golda Meir was Golda Mabovitch.
And Israel Shahak, in turn, was anti-Zionist in a much more radical way than the current Left. In his book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, Shahak argues that Judaism, as it exists today and since the adoption of the Talmud, is a problem in itself, as it is totalitarian and supremacist.
The book is originally a series of newspaper articles from the 1990s prompted by the following event: in Israel, in the 1960s, a gentile collapsed during the Sabbath and an Orthodox Jew did not authorize the use of the telephone to call an ambulance. The Jews did not call because it is not lawful to violate the Sabbath to save the life of a gentile – to save the life of a Jew, it is lawful. Shahak witnessed the event and caused a series of controversies in Haaretz.
This event is very important in order to understand the way Israel thinks about its politics. Shahak convinces us that both so-called secular Zionism and religious Zionism are guided by the Talmud. Shahak’s booklet includes a brief history of Judaism. It is worth highlighting that since the Babylonian Talmud, the words of the Old Testament (or Torah) have lost its relevance because what matters is the interpretation established by the rabbis in the Talmud. This interpretation causes the ethics of the Old Testament to change completely. The “neighbor”, for example, should be interpreted as “the Jew”; it is considered that the gentile is never a Jew’s neighbor. Thus, all the universalist ethical imperatives of the Old Testament are first converted into a norm of intra-Jewish conduct; and, as a logical consequence, there is a vague field of ethics (the ethics of relations between gentiles and Jews), to be filled by the interpretation of the rabbis.
The commandment “thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife”, for example, comes to mean that a Jew must not covet the wife of another Jew. Nothing is said about a Jew coveting the wife of a gentile. Thus, the rabbis were able to prohibit the sexual relationship (any sexual relationship) between a Jew and a gentile in other ways: by comparing it to bestiality and punishing it as a deviation. This means not only that a Jew should not covet a gentile’s wife, but also that a Jew cannot marry a gentile, just as a man cannot marry a goat. But while it is hard to find a legal body willing to punish a goat, the same is not true of women: “If a Jew has coitus with a Gentile woman, whether she be a child of three or an adult, whether married or unmarried, and even if he is a minor aged only nine years and one day – because he had wilful coitus with her, she must be killed, as is the case with a beast, because through her a Jew got into trouble.” This is Maimonides.
Such interpretation of the word “neighbor” also applies to “man,” which is also considered synonymous with Jew. The Gentile, in fact, is something analogous to an animal. Every time a Zionist propagates a phrase that sounds humanist, it is good to remember this peculiar glossary of rabbinical origin. Picking up a Talmud to read is pointless unless one knows Hebrew, because, according to Shahak, translations of the Talmud contain distortions designed to avoid upsetting the Gentiles. These distortions are especially important in hiding what the rabbis think of Jesus Christ and Christians, who are considered inferior to Muslims.
In doctrinal matters, Shahak quotes extensively from the Talmud and Maimonides. The most basic ethical issue is the way the rabbis view gentile life: according to the sources gathered by Shahak, it is the duty of the Jew not to help a gentile if his life is in danger, unless the fact that the Jews let the gentile die causes hatred that puts the lives of the Jews at risk. It is forbidden to push a gentile into a well, but it is also forbidden to lift him out, saving his life. However, if the Gentiles realize that the Jews are letting them die, this will generate hatred and put Jewish lives at risk. This happens wherever Jews are not the majority. Thus, there is a kind of façade Judaism, for public relations, and an explicit Judaism that prevails only in Israel.
This precept has generated much debate in Jewish medicine – which is not at all Hippocratic. One topic that is much discussed is that of the Gentile pregnant on the Sabbath. A Jewish midwife and a Jewish doctor can use the Sabbath as a pretext to deceive the Gentiles and not come to her aid, even if the aid would not violate any Sabbath rules. If there is any doubt about the genocidal nature of these guidelines, Maimonides accepts that a Jew may help a pregnant gentile as long as he pays for it, and that there is another doctor capable of saving her life. After all, it would be a shame if a gentile, rather than a Jew, were to fail to earn money. Thus, the death of the pregnant woman comes first, and then the money of the Jew.
Well, given that this supremacist thought guides Judaism, and Judaism guides the State of Israel, it is clear (as Shahak argues) that the talk of two states is nonsense, because, as far as Israel is concerned, the Palestinians will not have a state. Shahak also shows how the most ardent anti-Zionists do not fail to have a rosy view of the State of Israel: it does not allow Bantustans, nor is it imperialist.
Let’s see: a typical imperialist power co-opts local elites and uses them to govern according to its own designs. Israel’s own neighbors are a testament to this, since the British Empire ruled over the Arabs rather than attempting to commit ethnic cleansing. Israel does not rule over the Arabs; instead, it tries to eliminate them, either by killing or expelling them.
As for the Bantustans, i.e., the pseudo-countries of blacks under the tutelage of South Africa, the fact is that the very intention of creating fake countries led to the creation of artificial flags and nationalism. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have no right to any manifestation of nationality. Religious Zionism is influential in Israel to the point that, under a secular administration, it could cause a diplomatic incident with its eternal ally Jordan. According to Shahak, in 1974, Israel intended to block the recognition of the PLO as the Palestinian representation. A meeting was arranged with the king of Jordan in the West Bank, where he would be received by a local Arab ruler. The reception would have a lot of Jordanian and Israeli flags. The religious wing complained that no foreign flag should be flown in Eretz Israel. The king felt the insult and recognized the PLO.
Shahak’s book is a succinct booklet with a lot of relevant information. I showed just a bit, and reading the work is highly recommended.
Petro Poroshenko said the Minsk agreements “meant nothing”
RT | June 17, 2022
Petro Poroshenko has admitted that the 2015 ceasefire in Donbass, which he negotiated with Russia, France and Germany as president of Ukraine, was merely a distraction intended to buy time for Kiev to rebuild its military.
He made the comments in interviews with several news outlets this week, including Germany’s Deutsche Welle television and the Ukrainian branch of the US state-run Radio Free Europe. Poroshenko also defended his record as president between 2014 and 2019.
“We had achieved everything we wanted,” he said of the peace deal. “Our goal was to, first, stop the threat, or at least to delay the war – to secure eight years to restore economic growth and create powerful armed forces.” … continue
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