[IsraelTimes] A month after shocking gang attack on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, 7 suspects — including Gazan man accused of attempted murder — appear in court, with 6 others to be tried separately
Prosecutors on Wednesday called for two years in jail for a man suspected of punching and kicking Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam during the first day of the trial over the night of violence that sparked accusations of antisemitism.
The 22-year-old, identified as Sefa O, was one of five suspects appearing before an Amsterdam court on charges relating to the rampage following a November 7 match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Dutch capital.
Maccabi supporters suffered “hit-and-run” attacks in the city center following calls on social media to target them, prompting allegations from Dutch and Israeli politicians of antisemitic motives.
Israeli officials said 10 people were injured in the violence, while hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked. Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted, beat and harassed them.
Some witnesses claimed that some police turned their backs on attacks taking place in front of them, joined in, or literally delivered the Israelis they “rescued” to Moslems nearby. But the rule had been announced for Dutch police some time previously: where Jews are involved, Dutch police officers are not required to enforce laws protecting them. It’s clearly only a small step from not protecting to actively harming.
Police said they were investigating at least 45 people over the violence. Some social media posts had included calls to “hunt Jews,” according to police. The attacks followed two days of skirmishes that also saw Maccabi fans chant anti-Arab songs, vandalize a taxi and burn a Palestinian flag.
All the soccer teams over there seem to have yobs among their fans. None of the other teams’ yobs get treated to their own personal pogrom.
The court saw images of a man alleged to be O kicking a person on the ground, chasing targets and punching people in the head and the body. The suspect played a “leading role” in the violence which “had little to do with football,” the prosecutor alleged.
It was an excuse of opportunity. If it hadn’t been that, it would have been something else.
However, the prosecutor averred: “In this case, there was no evidence of… a terrorist intent and the violence was not motivated by antisemitic sentiment.”
Lying or stupid?
“The violence was influenced by the situation in Gaza, not by antisemitism,” claimed the prosecutor.
How can that be, when the situation in Gaza, as he puts it, is precisely resulting from a hatred of Jews so severe as to demand the entire Gazan community rise up to massacre them?
O, who sat hunched and looking down at his hands during the trial, said he “very much regretted his presence” at the violence and that he wanted “to start a new life” with his family.
He very much wishes not to be punished by the native unbelievers for what he so gleefully and deliberately did.
“My wife is pregnant. For my family and my parents, I have decided from now on only to hang around with good people,” said O, who handed himself into police and has since been in detention.
Sucks to be you.
Prosecutors called for a second suspect, named as Lucas D., to receive a six-month jail sentence for throwing stones at police and illegal possession of fireworks. He also stands accused of being part of a Snapchat group that incited violence against the Israeli fans.
The five men, ranging in age from 19 to 32, are facing a three-judge bench at the Amsterdam District Court in staggered appearances. Two more suspects are to appear on Thursday as well as a third man whose case spilled over on Wednesday.
All seven have been charged with public violence.
The last man to appear on Wednesday, Abushabab M., 22, who is facing the most serious charge of attempted manslaughter, sat sobbing while his case was heard. Judges had to postpone his case to Thursday because there was no translator available for the Arabic-speaking suspect, who was born in the Gaza Strip. His lawyer, Anis Boumanjal, told judges that his client “is a young, vulnerable suspect with a life story that cuts to the bone,” because he had grown up in a war zone.
M. was “most likely suffering from a psychological disorder,” his lawyer said, adding it should be a mitigating circumstance in his sentencing.
In the Netherlands, one of the recommended treatments for psychological disorders is assisted suicide, right? Go for it.
A further six suspects are set to appear at a later stage. Three of these suspects are minors and their cases will be heard behind closed doors.
“Charges have also been laid against Maccabi fans, who displayed provocative behavior before the game,” the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said in a statement.
You’re going after misbehaving foreign fans of other soccer teams the same way, right? Or is it only the Israeli ones? To ask the question is to answer it.
The incident sparked a debate over polarization between Amsterdam’s various communities.
At the time, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said the city had been “deeply damaged” by “hateful antisemitic rioters” after a night of “unbearable” violence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the violence at the time as a “premeditated antisemitic attack,” a description repeated by the Lawfare Project Jewish civil rights organization at court on Thursday.
“They [Maccabi fans] were attacked simply because they were Jewish,” the organization’s director of litigation Ziporah Reich told journalists.
The court is expected to give its verdict in the cases on December 24.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victor Lavrinenko
[REGNUM] When news broke of the fall of Damascus and the flight of President Bashar al-Assad, many Syrians living in Europe were filled with joy. But their joy was premature.
Currently, EU countries are stopping accepting Syrians one after another. There is active talk about sending these refugees home - if not all at once, then at least some of them.
SWEDISH INITIATIVE
The situation surrounding Syrian refugees in the EU can be most easily illustrated using the example of a single state.
"You should see this as a great opportunity to return home," said influential Swedish politician Jimmy Åkesson (leader of the Sweden Democrats) in response to the joy of Syrians who had settled in the country over the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. When the news spread around the world, many of them poured out onto the streets waving the flags of their homeland. "It's like a dream!" an excited Syrian woman told Expressen journalists in central Stockholm on Sunday.
According to the latest figures, at least 197,000 residents of Sweden, a country of more than 10 million, were born in Syria, making it the largest migrant community in the country.
Åkesson, a well-known advocate of limiting migration from third world countries, did not fail to take advantage of the joy of Assad's overthrow to remind the Syrians that they had overstayed their welcome. After all, many migrants from Syria received Swedish residence permits because they presented themselves as " refugees from Assad's inhumane regime." And now Åkesson believes that it is worth starting to review the residence permits issued to Syrians.
It is not difficult to understand his motives: ethnic crime is rampant in Sweden, largely fueled by the efforts of those same Syrians.
The Kurds are also problematic, though presumably half of them are Syrian Kurds…
The government responded to the idea. They said that this was not a quick matter, but they did not express any fundamental objections.
And soon the news spread that Sweden was suspending asylum for Syrian citizens.
"It is simply impossible to assess the reasons for protecting Syrians at this time," said Carl Bexelius, head of the legal department at the Swedish Migration Agency. According to him, the situation in Syria is "very fragile" and recent events raise a number of legal issues that require careful analysis. And while this is being done, decisions on issuing a residence permit or denying asylum and deportation will not be made for now.
The current situation has played into the hands of the Swedish government, which has recently been developing measures to limit migration and does not rule out the repatriation of unassimilated migrants. Some measures in this direction are already being taken, albeit rather hesitantly. But one can expect that the authorities will now act much more boldly.
PARADE OF SUSPENSIONS
According to the UN, 6 million people have left Syria. This is perhaps the biggest humanitarian crisis of the decade. Many of them (at least 3 million) settled nearby, in Turkey. Not all Turks were happy with this: in 2021, Syrian pogroms swept through Ankara and a number of other Turkish cities. And now many Turks express hope that soon the Syrians, once the "tyrant is overthrown," will rush home.
The original impetus for the Turks to move into the border area with Syria was to have a place to park those Syrian refugees, once the resident Kurds were driven away — the other reason for the move.
1.5 million Syrians settled in Lebanon, but even there, given the growing problems of that state, they were not always welcomed with open arms.
The rest of the Syrian refugees ended up in Europe, where they joined the bizarre conglomerate of immigrants who had arrived on the continent from all sorts of countries in Asia and Africa.
It is no secret that the EU is unable to “digest” and integrate these outsiders – hence the rapid ghettoization of large cities in the European Union, the pressure created by millions of unemployed parasites on social funds, the criminalization of once quiet and prosperous states.
Unsurprisingly, Sweden was not alone in suspending the admission of Syrians. Its neighbors Finland, Denmark and Norway did the same.
The Danish Refugee Appeals Board, announcing that they are neither issuing residence permits to Syrians nor deporting those who have been rejected, said they would return to discuss the situation on January 16, 2025. The board said it considers the situation in the Middle Eastern country “unstable.” Denmark has experience deporting several hundred Syrians — this happened in 2021, when the local Social Democratic Party, which adheres to strict anti-immigration policies, came to power.
As for Norway, the migration authority there briefly announced that it had “decided to postpone the consideration of asylum applications for refugees from Syria until further notice.”
There are currently 974,000 holders of Syrian citizenship in Germany, not counting the Syrians who have already received German passports. In total, 1.2 million people from this country currently live there. Last year alone, Syrians filed 117,300 applications for refugee status. The peak was in 2015 – almost 900,000 applications.
On Sunday, several thousand migrants celebrated the seizure of power in Syria by the armed opposition in central Berlin. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself declared that “the end of the Assad regime is good news.” And on December 9, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees announced that it would not accept asylum applications from Syrians for the time being. This suspension concerns 47,270 applications, of which about 46,000 are initial ones. “ Many refugees who have found protection in Germany have regained hope of returning to their homeland,” wrote German Interior Minister Nancy Feser on social media.
But it looks like things won't stop there.
Thus, Jens Spahn, a member of the Bundestag from the Christian Democratic Union, proposed a plan for further action to the government: for those who want to return to Syria, to organize charter flights and pay 1,000 euros in relocation benefits. And his colleague in the faction, Jürgen Hardt, reported: “Their life is there. And if we help them to rebuild it in Syria, then this will be a victory for its people and for us, for our social security funds.” Hardt assures that in the time since the capture of Damascus (that is, since Sunday), he has not seen a mass exodus from areas occupied by the armed opposition.
At least 100,000 people from Syria live in Austria. In 2024 alone, 12,500 Syrians applied for asylum in the country; several thousand applications are pending. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced that “all current asylum processes for Syrian citizens have been suspended.” As in previous cases, it was stated that the new situation in Syria must be assessed and no decisions on the fate of the refugees should be made for now. In turn, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said that he “has ordered the preparation of an orderly program for repatriation and deportation to Syria.”
The Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) also announced that it was suspending “asylum procedures and decisions for Syrian asylum seekers until the situation in Syria has been assessed.” The SEM, it said, is currently “unable to conduct a thorough assessment of whether there is a reason to grant asylum or to expel anyone.”
The Netherlands has also suspended the processing of asylum applications from Syrian refugees.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION
In Britain, television showed Syrians celebrating Assad's overthrow in London and Manchester, and gave the floor to some of the celebrants, all of whom were choking with delight. And soon after, the Interior Ministry announced that the admission of new Syrians to the country had been suspended. British publications began publishing meaningful texts about how Syrians dreamed of returning as soon as possible to a country freed from tyrannical oppression.
Between 2011 and 2021, around 30,000 Syrians were granted asylum in the UK. Around a third of them crossed the Channel in inflatable boats, a process that continues today – but now the Syrians are being confronted with the fact that they are no longer welcome here.
Naturally, countries such as Italy and Greece could not ignore the general impulse.
These Mediterranean states are known to be in the “risk zone,” where most refugees end up first, before being distributed to the rest of the EU. In Greece alone, about 10,000 applications have been suspended. Athens will decide on Friday whether to make the measure permanent, a Greek official told Politico.
What next? It is hard to believe that EU countries will be able to organize a mass deportation of Syrians. Especially since, according to EU law, in order to cancel residence permits issued to political refugees, it is necessary that “the change (in the country from which the refugees arrived. — Author’s note) be significant and long-term.” Some EU officials say that the current situation in Syria does not encourage optimism.
Thus, the head of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Elina Valtonen, said that she is still concerned about the rights of women and girls in Syria. She also called for monitoring the situation with various minorities in the Arab Republic. "There is a suspicion that this will be a difficult time," Valtonen notes.
It is more likely that the EU countries will try to separate the "sheep" from the "goats".
Thus, Andrea Lindholz, a member of the Bundestag from the Christian Social Union, proposes to approach the issue in a differentiated manner.
"If the situation in Syria becomes stable, and this is the main condition, then first those who have not integrated very well with us should return there. Those who have integrated well with us and who have the appropriate residence permit will not be affected," says Lindholz.
A number of other European politicians have made similar proposals.
It is clear that EU countries, for whom migrants have become a serious burden, are rushing to take advantage of the situation in order to quickly get rid of this “wealth” – at least partially. But it is not a fact that they will succeed in doing so.
The European Commission has already stated that perhaps the time has not yet come to send Syrians home.
"The current situation is one of great hope, but also great uncertainty. At this stage, it is better not to look too actively or too prematurely into the future," said EC spokesman Anouar El Anouny.
It is not at all impossible to rule out the possibility that a new giant wave of refugees will pour out of Syria. “Dictator Assad” more or less maintained stability in the country, which is no longer the case; a war of everyone against everyone is beginning. And if the Syrians flee as en masse as in 2015, it is unlikely that the EU countries will be able to fence themselves off from them with restrictive documents alone…
Since Monday, the processing of decisions on asylum claims for Syrian nationals were paused, or set to be paused, indefinitely in Belgium, Britain, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Finland, Switzerland, and Sweden, with all those countries saying there was not a sufficient basis for now to determine the conditions on the ground.
Austria’s caretaker government went a stop further. In addition to ordering a stop to the processing of asylum applications by Syrians on Monday, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner also told the ministry to prepare a program of “orderly repatriation and deportation to Syria.”
Denmark, by contrast, paused processing applications on Monday, but said Syrians whose applications had already been rejected, and who had been given a deadline to leave, would be allowed to remain longer due to the current uncertainty.
The Netherlands will withhold for six months decisions on applications it received less than 21 months ago, Asylum and Migration Minister Marjolein Faber said in a note on Monday.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kamran Gasanov
[REGNUM] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers the change of power in Syria his political victory, although yesterday he was ready to shake hands with former President Bashar al-Assad. Erdogan's mood is so elevated that he decided to compliment his Russian colleague, saying that there are two real leaders left in the world - he and Vladimir Putin.
The success of the opposition combat groups and the Turkish-led Syrian National Army has actually caused surprise in Ankara. After all, at the very beginning of their offensive, Turkish diplomats behaved extremely restrainedly. They assured the world community that Turkey had nothing to do with the storming of Aleppo, and even allowed for dialogue between the opposition and Assad, that is, a peaceful solution to the issue.
When Hama and Homs were taken, Erdogan realized that Assad was finished. For the sake of appearances, he, of course, sent his Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to Doha for a forum on the Syrian settlement, so that he could meet with representatives of Russia and Iran. However, on December 6, he openly supported the offensive of the armed opposition. While Fidan was talking with Sergey Lavrov and Abbas Araghchi, Damascus fell.
Fortunately for Turkey, it did not have time to officially restore relations with Assad before he lost power, unlike the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab League countries.
As they say, everything is for sale in the east, but the new Syrian authorities are unlikely to ignore the fact that after the defeat of the armed opposition in Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, Daraa and other provinces, all the former sponsors of the Free Syrian Army have remained on the sidelines, as if resigned to Assad's victory with the support of Iran and Russia.
Only Ankara continued to support the opposition and took it under its wing as part of its operations against ISIS* and the Kurdish YPG/PYD. And at the same time, Erdogan managed to maintain the threads of dialogue with its opponents from Moscow and Tehran: the two Sochi deals and the Moscow deal on Idlib are clear proof of this.
Although Turkey distanced itself from the attack on Aleppo, it is clear that it is also responsible for the subsequent collapse of the Assad regime. Inaction is also an action. There were Turkish military posts in the southern de-escalation zone that could have stopped the advancing troops.
Why didn't they do this? Why did Erdogan deliberately violate the agreements with Russia?
THE REJECTED HAND
Turkey has long tried to take control of all resistance to Assad. It formed the SNA, but lost the competition to Abu Muhammad al-Julani's group.
The group known as Hayat Tahrir al Shams, formerly Al Nusra. Why not just say it?
The money that came from Turkey to the SNA ended up in the hands of Julani. Yes, all economic support, infrastructure, electricity and internet in Idlib depended on Turkey, but he enjoyed broad autonomy from the Turkish authorities.
Disliking HTS (the organization, by the way, is on the terrorist list not only in Russia, but also in Turkey), Erdogan still did not take any decisive action to eliminate it. Political methods did not work. Therefore, Ankara decided to leave this "abscess" in its side, since it does not directly threaten Turkey.
Ankara did not want to start a war with them because of the risk of an influx of refugees, large losses, a worsening of the image among Syrian Islamists and Arabs in general. And, of course, in order not to help Assad. Moreover, the Turks were effectively covering HTS* from the government Syrian Arab Army with their backs, since an attack on Idlib would again lead to new crowds of refugees.
Turkey is already home to 3 million Syrians, who are having a negative impact on the country's social situation and budget, which is already melting away amid the lira crisis. At the same time, discontent with the terrible economic situation was growing among the population in Idlib itself.
The successful offensive of Idlib groups against Syrian government forces solved these problems at once.
Assad's intransigence also played a role.
In 2023–2024, Erdogan significantly softened his rhetoric towards Assad, and Turkish media abandoned the derogatory name Esad, but Ankara did not want to recognize him “just like that.” The Syrian ex-president was required to agree to the return of millions of refugees and progress in dialogue with the opposition within the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
Assad was constantly setting some conditions, demanding the withdrawal of Turkish troops, and Erdogan probably considered this behavior arrogant.
How dare a mere Arab stand up on his hind legs as if he were the equal of his natural masters, the Turks!
It was already difficult for the Turkish president to decide to declare the restoration of relations with the one whom he tried to overthrow in 2011 at the cost of a direct conflict with Russia.
But when Assad started to raise the stakes, Erdogan felt humiliated. It was like this: you are guilty, you ask for forgiveness, but it is not given. That is why in one of his recent statements, as if justifying his tacit consent to the armed opposition operation, Erdogan said that the regime in Damascus “did not realize the significance of Turkey’s outstretched hand.”
Fidan, however, stated that the Assad government needed to use the pause in military action to “reconcile” with its people, read: that same opposition.
Overall, Turkey is the winner all around. Against the backdrop of Iran's defeat and the uncertainty surrounding the fate of Russia's military bases in Tartus and Khmeimim, the Turks feel like they are in control. They retained their status as the main sponsor of the opposition that came to power. Of all the possible players in Syria, Turkey's position is currently stronger than anyone else's. Only their troops can move freely throughout Syrian territory, with the exception of the Kurdish Euphrates region.
TWO MAIN PROBLEMS
In Damascus, a government will be formed in the coming months. Turkey has its own trump card in the form of the FSA, but whether their representatives will be able to occupy key posts is a big question. After all, Julani plays the leading role in the victorious armed opposition. Having escaped from the "Idlib cage", they feel much more independent. Moreover, almost all the strong players, even Iran, want to establish relations with the new government in Damascus.
Julani needs to ensure economic growth and reduce Syria's dependence on Turkey, so he will try to get HTS* removed from the US terrorist list.
Money for the new Syria could come from Europe and the rich Gulf states. Turkish construction companies, whose shares have soared since December 8, are ready to take part in the reconstruction of Syria, and Julani will not refuse such support. But it is premature to say that Syria will turn into another vilayet of neo-Ottoman Turkey.
Ooooh — we’re not the only one using that?
Besides influencing the new Syrian authorities, Turkey is concerned with two other pressing issues.
Firstly, the refugees. On the day of the fall of the Assad regime, December 8, local publications paid attention first of all to Hakan Fidan’s phrase that “millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey will soon be able to return to their homeland.”
Later, Erdogan also spoke on this topic. Having stated the importance of guarantees for the territorial integrity of Syria and “brotherly relations with the Syrian people,” the Turkish president pointed to the “expectations” of the return of Syrians to their homeland.
The task is urgent for Ankara, but not easy.
Will Julani or anyone else be able to provide everything that millions of people need? Following Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and the EU countries will want to return refugees. Without significant financial injections, the task becomes impossible for Damascus.
Secondly, Turkey’s main task in the new Syria is to fight the Kurdish groups from the SDF and YPG. On December 10, Erdogan assured that they would be defeated “in the near future.” Even before the HTS* offensive on Aleppo began, the Turkish president warned that he was going to complete Operation Peace Spring, which was stopped in 2019, and clear the entire 600-kilometer border of Kurdish militants, pushing them back 30 km to the south.
After the HTS offensive began, the actions entered an active phase. The Turkish military together with the SNA have already taken Tel Rifaat and Manbij. There is an obvious attempt to use the "interregnum" to eliminate the Kurdish units.
And one of the versions of the non-intervention of Turkish troops during the attack on Aleppo suggests that Ankara used this operation to cover up its own actions against the YPG.
MASTER OF PR
Despite the difficult transition of power in Washington, the Pentagon is still resisting the Turkish plans. Recently, according to CENTCOM, the American military struck 70 ISIS targets. And it is possible that some were actually aimed at the SNA, which is storming Kurdish positions.
Oh? Interesting.
With Trump in power, the situation may worsen. The Republican administration has its share of Turkophobes and Kurdophiles – Tulsi Gabbard, Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, and Pete Hesgeth.
Erdogan needs to hurry to confront Trump with the new reality. At the same time, some Turkish observers believe that Ankara, with its operations, is actually helping the new American president fulfill his promise to withdraw troops from Syria.
As for Russia, recalling the history of our relations in recent years, we can say that Syria made Turkey and Russia both enemies and friends overnight.
Under the pretext of various Syrian topics, Erdogan met with Putin constantly, second only to Lukashenko in their frequency. The two countries managed to find a common language and come to an agreement in the most difficult moments.
But the situation and circumstances have changed. If earlier Türkiye supervised the Syrian minority, and Russia the majority, now everything is exactly the opposite.
Turkish media outlets are proudly reporting that Russia allegedly asked their country to help safely evacuate Russian troops. Memes and videos exploiting the image of the Ottoman Sultan outplaying the Russian Tsar are multiplying on social media.
Now Turkey, as the de facto winner in the Syrian campaign, may be tempted to act condescendingly. And who knows, maybe the Turks are already dreaming of taking the place of Russian sailors and pilots in Latakia and Tartus? But it is still too early for them to celebrate: it is still unclear how relations between Turkey and the future authorities will develop. Will they be as “tame” as the SNA and other groups that Erdogan supervised?
For now, he is keeping his cool, as his latest statement about Putin shows. But the Turks are masters of PR and will never miss an opportunity to use their success to bolster their image.
Now Turkey has an extra trump card to offer mediation on Ukraine not just as a platform for negotiations, but as a great power and leader of the Middle East. And Erdogan will certainly use this trump card.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/12/2024 00:00 ||
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#1
Great. Now what did you win?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/12/2024 8:46 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Prosecutor says Asif Rahman — whose actions posed a ‘danger to human life’ — was motivated by ideology, and had a to-do list with categories labeled ‘contingencies’ and ‘run’
A CIA analyst charged with leaking top secret details ahead of a planned Israeli attack on Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... earlier this year will remain incarcerated Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! pending trial, a judge ordered Wednesday.
Good.
The ruling by US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles overrules a magistrate who said last week that Asif Rahman, 34, of Vienna, Virginia,
…a really nice community in northern Virginia, full of big houses containing federal bureaucrats …
could be free on restrictions while he awaits trial on charges of disclosing national defense information.
The fight over Rahman’s detention revealed additional details about the government’s investigation of the leak and the analyst who allegedly disclosed the classified documents in October on the Telegram messaging app.
At Wednesday’s detention hearing, prosecutor Troy Edwards said Rahman was motivated by ideology, though he did not discuss what that ideology might be.
In fact, he said the conclusion that Rahman’s motive was ideological was essentially process of elimination, noting that Rahman comes from a wealthy family and has access to a multimillion-dollar family trust, and therefore wouldn’t have a financial incentive.
It could be that he wanted to earn his own, instead of taking parental hand-outs…
Edwards also highlighted eight pages of notes found on Rahman when he was arrested last month in Cambodia, where he worked at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh. Those notes included two separate "to-do" lists, one of which was largely blocks of apparently encrypted text along with an unencrypted sentence pertaining to US missile capabilities. Edwards said Sherlocks have not yet been able to decipher the encryption.
A separate, unencrypted to-do list included categories labeled "contingencies" and "run," Edwards said.
Official court documents are vague about what was leaked, but details discussed in open court make clear that it references an October disclosure of documents from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency noting that Israel was moving military assets into place to conduct a military strike on Iran after Iran launched its own missile attack on Israel on October 1, firing 200 ballistic missiles at the country.
Israel ended up carrying out an attack targeting Iran’s air defense systems and missile manufacturing facilities in late October.
In court papers, the government said the leak caused Israel to delay its attack plans. Edwards said the volatile nature of the Middle East made the leak exceptionally dangerous.
"It is hard to overstate what other circumstances present graver risks of danger to human life than unilaterally deciding to transmitting information related to plans for kinetic military action between two countries," prosecutors wrote in court papers.
Rahman’s attorney, Amy Jeffress, cited anonymous sources in news articles who have downplayed the leak’s significance.
Jeffress said the to-do list included the word "run" because Rahman is an avid jogger. She also said it’s rare for defendants facing similar charges to be detained pending trial. She needs to be punched in the mouth just for that stupidity
Rahman was born in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, and moved with his family when he was a child to Cincinnati, where he was a high school valedictorian, according to court papers submitted by his lawyer. He went to Yale University and graduated in three years. He and his wife now live in the DC metro area, along with his parents.
His father, Muhit Rahman, who was prepared to serve as his son’s custodian pretrial if he had been released, attended Wednesday’s hearing along with numerous family members and friends in support.
Rahman made his initial court appearance last month in Guam.
Jeffress said after Wednesday’s hearing that she intends to appeal the detention order.
#4
The Blob leaks upcoming "Scoops" to this week's favored "Scoop" outlet with the knowledge that it, The Blob, shall recall the favor from the selected "Scoop" outlet at a later date.
I'm thinking a DEI-enabled analyst did something stupid and got caught.
[IsraelTimes] Arab mediators tell the Wall Street Journal that Hamas has yielded a key demand for a potential hostage-ceasefire deal and will allow Israeli troops to remain in Gaza during the truce on what the outlet says would be a temporary basis.
Hamas for months has insisted that it would not agree to another deal unless it includes a permanent end to the war in Gaza and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
An Arab diplomat told the Times of Israel yesterday that there appears to be “indications” that the sides are willing to show flexibility regarding the terms of the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza, particularly from the Philadelphi and Netzarim Corridors that border and bisect the Gaza Strip respectively.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the two sides are considering a 60-day ceasefire in which up to 30 hostages — including US citizens — would be released. Israel would in return release Palestinian prisoners and allow larger amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the report says.
The mediators tell the outlet that on Sunday the terror group submitted a list of hostages including US nationals, women, older hostages and those with medical conditions. The names of five dead hostages were also on the list, the report says.
It was the first time a list of hostages has been handed over since the temporary ceasefire last November, the Journal says.
The report says hostages would be set free soon after the deal comes into effect, and Hamas would then begin to establish the whereabouts of the remaining hostages and their conditions.
The report says Israeli negotiators are pushing for more hostages to be released in the initial phase of the ceasefire, but have agreed to a gradual withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor. The outlet says that Israel told mediators it will reposition troops in parts of Gaza, but rejected a proposal to restrict its presence in areas including the north of the Strip.
[IsraelTimes] Recruits are initially tasked with carrying out innocuous tasks for money; later missions to assassinate high-profile figures have so far been foiled by security services
Israel’s recent arrests of almost 30 mostly Jewish citizens who allegedly spied for Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... in nine covert cells has caused alarm in the country and points to Tehran’s biggest effort in decades to infiltrate its arch-foe, four Israeli security sources said.
The unusual decision to provide detailed public accounts of the alleged plots was a move by Israel’s security services to signal both to Iran and potential saboteurs inside Israel that they would be caught, Ben Hanan said.
Among the unfulfilled goals of the alleged cells was the liquidation of an Israeli nuclear scientist and former military officials, while one group gathered information on military bases and air defenses, the Shin Bet security service has said. Last week, the agency and Israel’s police said a father and son team from a northern Druze village had passed on details of Israeli force movements including in the Golan Heights where they lived.
The arrests follow repeated efforts by Iranian intelligence operatives over the past two years to recruit ordinary Israelis to gather intelligence and carry out attacks in exchange for money, the four serving and former military and security officials said.
The sources asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
"There is a large phenomenon here," said Shalom Ben Hanan, a former top Shin Bet official, referring to what he called the surprising number of Jewish citizens who knowingly agreed to work for Iran against the state with intelligence gathering or planning sabotage and attacks.
Shin Bet and the police did not respond to requests for comment. Iran’s foreign ministry did not respond to questions.
In a statement sent to media after the wave of arrests, Iran’s UN mission did not confirm or deny seeking to recruit Israelis and said that "from a logical standpoint" any such efforts by Iranian intelligence services would focus on non-Iranian and non-Moslem individuals to lessen suspicion.
At least two suspects were from the ultra-Orthodox community, police and the Shin Bet have said.
Unlike Iranian espionage operations in previous decades that recruited a high-profile businessman and a former cabinet minister, the new alleged spies were largely people on the fringes of Israeli society, including recent immigrants colonists, an army deserter, and a convicted sex offender, conversations with the sources, court records, and official statements show.
Much of their activity was limited to spraying anti-Netanyahu or anti-government graffiti on walls and damaging cars, Shin Bet has said.
Nonetheless, the scale of the arrests and involvement of so many Jewish Israelis, in addition to Arab citizens, has caused concern in Israel at a time when it remains at war with Iran-backed Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and when a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah remains fragile.
The Shin Bet on October 21 said the espionage activities were "among the most severe the state of Israel has known."
The arrests also follow a wave of attempted hits and kidnappings linked to Tehran in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and the United States.
The unusual decision to provide detailed public accounts of the alleged plots was a move by Israel’s security services to signal both to Iran and potential saboteurs inside Israel that they would be caught, Ben Hanan said.
"You want to alert the public. And you also want to make an example of people that may also have intentions or plans to cooperate with the enemy," he said.
Israel has achieved major intelligence successes over the past few years in a shadow war with its regional foe, including allegedly killing a top nuclear scientist. With the recent arrests Israel has "so far" thwarted Tehran’s efforts to respond, one active military official said.
Israel has been in direct conflict with Iran’s proxies since war erupted last year when Hamas-led hard boyz rampaged across southern communities on October 7, 2023, slaughtering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
Iran has been weakened after Hezbollah initiated a conflict with Israel following Hamas’s October 7 massacre, leading to the elimination of most of the terror group’s leadership and military infrastructure, and after the related fall of Tehran’s ally, former president Bashir al-Assad in Syria.
Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks against the Jewish state since last April, after the second of which Israel carried out a wave of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s that crippled the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s air defense systems.
SOCIAL MEDIA RECRUITS
Iranian intelligence agencies often find potential recruits on social media platforms, Israel Police said in a video released in November warning of ongoing infiltration attempts.
The recruiting efforts are at times direct. One message sent to an Israeli civilian and seen by Rooters promised $15,000 in exchange for information, with an email and number to call.
Iran has also approached expatriate networks of Jews from Caucasus countries living in Canada and the United States, said one of the sources, a former bigwig who worked on Israel’s counter-espionage efforts until 2007.
Israeli authorities have said publicly some of the Jewish suspects were originally from Caucasus countries.
Recruited individuals are first assigned innocuous-seeming tasks in return for money, before handlers gradually demand specific intelligence on targets, including about individuals and sensitive military infrastructure, backed by the threat of blackmail, said the former official.
One suspect, Vladislav Viktorson, 30, was arrested on October 14 along with his 18-year-old girlfriend in the city of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. He had been placed in durance vile anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not in 2015 for sex with minors as young as 14, according to a court indictment from that time.
An acquaintance of Viktorson told Rooters he had told her he had spoken to Iranians using the Telegram messaging app. She said that Viktorson had lied to his handlers about his military experience. The acquaintance declined to be named, citing safety fears.
Igal Dotan, Viktorson’s lawyer, told Rooters he was representing the suspect, adding that the legal process would take time and that his client was being held in tough conditions. Dotan said he could only respond to the current case and had not defended Victorsson in earlier trials.
Shin Bet and police said Viktorson knew he was working for Iranian intelligence, carrying out tasks including spraying graffiti, hiding money, posting flyers, and burning cars in the Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv for which he received over $5,000.
According to the investigation made public by the security services, he was found to have subsequently agreed to carry out an liquidation of an Israeli personality, throw a grenade into a house, and also look to obtain a sniper rifle, pistols, and fragmentation grenades.
He recruited his girlfriend, who was tasked with recruiting homeless people to photograph demonstrations, the security services said.
[IsraelTimes] Katz tells Austin there’s a real chance for a deal that frees all hostages, but Arab mediator tells ToI optimism out of Jerusalem exaggerated with main dispute not yet solved
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was slated to depart on Wednesday for Israel to make what could be the Biden administration’s final push for a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... Securing a long-elusive Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ceasefire deal will be at the top of Sullivan’s agenda when he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders on Thursday before traveling to Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... and Egypt — the two Arab countries mediating between Israel and Hamas along with the US, National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett told The Times of Israel.
Sullivan will arrive in Israel as optimism about the chances for a deal after over a year of impasses began picking up. Defense Minister Israel Katz told his American counterpart Lloyd Austin in a call earlier Wednesday that Israel has identified a real possibility to secure a deal that would release all remaining 100 hostages, including seven ones who hold American citizenship, according to an Israeli readout.
Hamas for months has insisted that it would not agree to another deal unless it includes a permanent end to the war in Gaza and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. But Netanyahu reiterated at a Monday presser that he wasn’t prepared to accept those conditions, arguing that they would allow Hamas to reconstitute.
Instead, he has pushed for a complete surrender of the terror group, aiming to dismantle its governing capabilities after the IDF has successfully destroyed much of Hamas’s military infrastructure to the point where it can no longer carry out another attack like the one it launched on October 7 during which it killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.
But dismantling Hamas’s governing capabilities has proven a much harder task, with Israel claiming the terror group still profits and restocks from much of the humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
The US and other regional stakeholders have argued that Netanyahu has made replacing the vacuum temporarily created by the IDF’s military operations against Hamas all but impossible by refusing to allow a viable alternative to the group’s rule.
They view the Paleostinian Authority as the only realistic option available and Arab allies have offered to assist in the rehabilitation of Gaza if Israel allows for the PA to play a role. But Netanyahu has to date refused, likening Ramallah to Hamas, as he remains beholden to far-right coalition partners who back collapsing the PA and re-establishing settlements in Gaza.
Netanyahu declared in September that he had directed the Israel Defense Forces to come up with a plan to strip Hamas of its control over humanitarian aid. Asked for an update on the effort during his Monday presser, the premier said Israel was still working on the matter, without providing additional details.
A senior Arab diplomat familiar with the hostage negotiations told The Times of Israel on Wednesday that the optimistic rhetoric coming out of Israel seemed exaggerated, given that the sides have yet to compromise on the main issue that has prevented a second deal since the first week-long pause in late November 2023 — whether the ceasefire will be temporary or permanent.
The Arab diplomat acknowledged that there appears to be "indications" that the sides are willing to show flexibility regarding the terms of the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza, particularly from the Philadelphi and Netzarim Corridors that border and bisect the Gaza Strip respectively. Netanyahu added new conditions in July demanding that Israel remain on those routes indefinitely, in what the diplomat said significantly hampered talks that were then on the verge of a breakthrough.
Netanyahu reiterated on Monday that Israel would remain in the Philadelphi Corridor bordering Gaza and Egypt indefinitely in order to prevent weapon smuggling.
Contrary to claims by Netanyahu’s aides last week, the deal being discussed is in line with the three-phase framework that Israel proposed in May, and not one-phase temporary ceasefire that would only see some of the hostages released, the Arab diplomat said.
A US official said the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration are collaborating closely on the issue. In recent days, Biden aides have argued that the dramatic weakening of Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and its proxies in recent weeks has left Hamas ever isolated and likely more willing to make concessions necessary for an agreement. Washington has also maintained that the group has been the main obstacle to a deal — an allegation rejected by the other mediating countries.
The White House said the developments in Syria will also be on Sullivan’s agenda during his meetings in Israel.
That issue will be the priority of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm... ’s trip to Jordan and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... , as he overlaps with Sullivan in the region, the State Department said.
The US has thus far defended the IDF’s military takeover of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights following last weekend’s rapid collapse of the Assad regime, saying Israel is justified in wanting to ensure that terror groups don’t fill the vacuum created along its border after Syrian troops fled the area.
But international criticism of the IDF takeover has mounted, and the State Department said on Tuesday that it planned to discuss the issue privately with Israeli counterparts.
On Tuesday, Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi traveled to Cairo where they met with senior Egyptian officials. Talks focused on bilateral security issues but the hostage deal effort also came up, an Israeli official said.
US President-elect Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... has warned that there would be "hell to pay" if the hostages are not released by the time he enters office on January 20.
On Wednesday, he told a former hostage visiting him at his Florida golf course, "We’re working very hard to get the hostages back and as you know Jan. 20 is a very big day."
Last week, two sources familiar with the matter revealed to The Times of Israel that Trump’s aides asked Qatar to bring Hamas leaders back to Doha after the terror leaders were ousted at the end of October amid frustration over the extended impasse in the talks.
While Qatar has come under fire for its ties to Hamas, with critics arguing that Doha should be putting more pressure on the terror group, the Trump aides determined that the Gulf country’s mediation efforts are critical for success in the negotiations, the sources said.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told news hounds on Tuesday that the sides are not on the brink of a deal, but said the US believes one is possible before the end of Biden’s term.
Sullivan met with the families of the American hostages at the White House on Wednesday for the fifteenth time since the start of the war, in the latest demonstration of the Biden administration’s prioritization of the issue.
[IsraelTimes] When asked by Catholic media, the church does not offer a reason for taking down display created by Palestinian artists and dedicated by pope.
[IsraelTimes] Syrian fighters received about 150 drones as well as other covert support from Ukrainian intelligence operatives last month, weeks ahead of the rebels’ advance that toppled Bashar al-Assad over the weekend, according to the Washington Post.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with Ukrainian military activities, the Post says Ukrainian intelligence sent about 20 drone operators and about 150 first-person-view drones about four to five weeks ago to aid Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Russia’s foreign ministry had earlier said, without providing evidence, that the rebels had received drones from Ukraine and training in how to operate them, an accusation that Ukraine’s foreign ministry at the time said it “categorically” rejected.
Russia, which is locked in its own conflict with Ukraine after invading the country in February 2022, is a key ally of Assad and stepped in to provide him military support in the country’s civil war in 2015.
Assad and his family fled to Russia following the fall of his regime.
[KhaamaPress] General Amir Gholam-Aliyan, the ground commander of Iran’s southeastern forces, announced that the completion of a 35-kilometer section of the border wall along Iran’s eastern border with Afghanistan has led to a 50% reduction in Afghan citizens’ border crossings.
Walls work??? Who knew!
Iranian media reported on Tuesday, December 10, that the project has significantly reduced traffic at the Afghanistan border.
The Iranian commander emphasized that the project is not just a physical barrier but also incorporates advanced domestic technologies, including security walls, border sensors, watchtowers, and fiber-optic systems for border monitoring.
He added that with the completion of this project, long-term security and stability will be established along Iran’s eastern border with Afghanistan.
In addition to the ongoing construction, Iranian officials have stated that an engineering team is fully engaged in the execution of the project. This initiative is part of broader efforts to enhance border security and manage regional migration issues effectively.
Previously, Iran’s Interior Minister, Eskandar Momeni, mentioned that the construction of the border wall between Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistain is expected to be completed by the middle of next year. The project aims to further control cross-border movements and ensure the region’s security.
[IsraelTimes] Ordinary citizens wander through home of ousted president, loot luxury goods; Syrian refugees stream back home through Turkish border, hope for better life
The tomb of ousted Syrian president Bashir al-Assad’s father Hafez was torched in his hometown of Qardaha, AFP footage taken Wednesday showed, with rebel fighters in fatigues and young men watching it burn.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor told AFP the rebels had set fire to the mausoleum, located in the Latakia heartland of Assad’s Alawite community.
AFP footage showed parts of the mausoleum ablaze and damaged, with the tomb of Hafez torched and destroyed.
The vast elevated structure atop a hill has an intricate architectural design with several arches, its exterior embellished with ornamentation etched in stone.
It also houses the tombs of other Assad family members, including Bashar’s brother Bassel, who was being groomed to inherit power before he was killed in a road accident in 1994.
Hafez al-Assad, then-defense minister, seized power in Syria on November 13, 1970, in a bloodless coup. He was elected president in a vote asking citizens to either approve or reject his candidacy months later.
He consolidated power by bringing into key positions members of his Alawite sect, a minority in Sunni-majority Syria, and established a Soviet-style single-party police state with the help of omnipresent intelligence officers — the feared Mukhabarat.
Assad was particularly hated for a vicious crackdown on an armed uprising by the Moslem Brüderbund in the city of Hama in February 1982. Between 10,000 and 40,000 people died at the hands of the Syrian army.
On Sunday, a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels seized key cities before reaching Damascus and forcing his son Bashar to flee, ending more than 50 years of his family’s rule.
The end of Assad’s reign came 13 years after his crackdown on anti-government protests ignited Syria’s civil war, which has drawn in foreign powers, and jihadists and claimed more than half a million lives.
SYRIANS WONDER AROUND ASSAD’S HOME
Roaming the opulent Damascus home of the ousted Syrian president, Abu Omar said he felt a sense of giddy defiance being in the residence of the man he felt had long oppressed him.
"I am taking pictures because I am so happy to be here in the middle of his house," said the 44-year-old, showing photographs he took on his mobile phone.
He was among the dozens an AFP correspondent saw Sunday entering Assad’s home after Assad fled the country.
"I came for Dire Revenge. They oppressed us in incredible ways," Abu Omar added from the compound of three six-story buildings in the upscale al-Maliki neighborhood.
Jubilant men, women and kiddies wandered the home and its sprawling garden in a daze, the rooms stripped bare except for some furniture and a portrait of Assad discarded on the floor.
Residents in the Syrian capital were seen cheering in the streets, as the rebel factions heralded the departure of "tyrant" Assad.
’SALE! SALE!’
On Sunday, video circulating online showed crowds peeking into the bedrooms in the Assad residence, which was previously off-limits to ordinary citizens.
They could be seen snatching clothes, plates and whatever belongings they could find including a Louis Vuitton cardboard shopping bag.
In one video, a man could be heard yelling that everything was on "Sale! Sale!"
Umm Nader, 35, came with her husband from a nearby district to tour the residence that once inspired fear and awe, and which one visitor now described as a "museum."
"I came to see this place that we were banned from, because they wanted us to live in poverty and deprivation," she told AFP.
Nader said the former inhabitants of the residence had left without cutting off the heating and electricity, "meanwhile our children are getting sick from the cold."
Daily power outages that last for hours have been a fact of life in Syria, reeling from successive economic crises after more than a decade of war and Western sanctions.
Most of the population has been pushed into poverty, according to the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... An AFP correspondent also saw a charred reception hall at the Damascus presidential palace a couple of kilometers away.
As he moved from room to room, Abu Omar said he felt overjoyed.
"I no longer feel afraid. My only concern is that we unite (as Syrians) and build this country together," he said, full of emotion.
Syrians stream back home through Ottoman Turkish border
Syrians continued to flow back into the country after the longtime dictator had fled, speaking of their expectations for a better life following what was for many a decade of hardship in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... "We have no one here. We are going back to Latakia, where we have family," said Mustafa as he prepared to enter Syria with his wife and three sons at the Cilvegozu border gate in southern Turkey. Dozens more Syrians were waiting to cross.
Mustafa fled Syria in 2012, a year after the conflict there began, to escape conscription into Assad’s army. For years he did unregistered jobs in Turkey earning less than the minimum wage, he said.
"Now there’s a better Syria. God willing, we will have a better life there," he said, expressing confidence in the new leadership in Syria as he watched over the family’s belongings, clothes packed into sacks and a television set.
Turkey, which hosts three million Syrians, has extended the opening hours of the Cilvegozu border gate near the Syrian city of Aleppo seized by rebels at the end of November.
A second border gate was opened at nearby Yayladagi in Hatay on Tuesday.
Around 350-400 Syrians a day were already crossing back to rebel-held areas of Syria this year before the opposition rebellion began two weeks ago. The numbers have almost doubled since, Ankara says, anticipating a surge now Assad has gone.
Turkey has backed Syrian opposition forces for years but has said it had no involvement in the rebel offensive which succeeded at the weekend in unseating Assad.
Around 100 trucks were waiting to cross the border, carrying goods including dozens of used cars. Security forces helped manage the flow of people, while aid groups offered snacks to children and tea and soup to adults.
’OUR OWN PEOPLE’ ARE NOW IN CHARGE
Haya was waiting to enter Syria with her husband and three children. They have lived in a nearby container camp since devastating earthquakes in February 2023 killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
"We had good neighbors and good relations, but a container is not a home," Haya said as she comforted her six-month-old baby and her daughter translated her comments from Arabic.
"We are going back to Aleppo. Iman has a school here, but we have nothing else. We are going back home, to our family," Haya said, adding that her brother had been released after years in prison following Assad’s ouster.
Syria’s new interim prime minister has said he aimed to bring back millions of Syrian refugees, protect all citizens and provide basic services but acknowledged it would be difficult because the country, long under sanctions, lacks foreign currency.
Mustafa voiced confidence in the new leadership after Assad was ousted by rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... , a former al Qaeda affiliate that has since downplayed its jihadist roots.
"Those who have taken power are no strangers. They didn’t come from the United States or Russia. They are our own people. We know them," he said.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
