Israeli occupation forces stand on the so-called “buffer zone” inside the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)
The Israeli regime reportedly informed Syria’s new administration that the occupation troops will remain stationed at a so-called “buffer zone” inside the occupied Syrian Golan Heights "for now."
Israeli officials conveyed the message to Syria’s new leadership that their forces will not pull out from the usurped regions, according to the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
“We will not accept any attempt by the militants to reach southern Syria. Once it appears that a responsible party is in office in Syria, we will consider transferring the buffer zone to it. But as long as there is not such a thing, we will continue to worry about our own security,” read the message.
This comes while the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group and Syria’s de facto ruler, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, asserted about a week ago that his group “will not engage” in a conflict with Tel Aviv.
Israeli military forces captured the buffer zone in the Golan Heights hours after armed groups took control of the Syrian capital of Damascus on December 8, which was led to the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The Israeli army occupied the Syrian Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel refused to withdraw its forces or return the territory amid demands by the UN Security Council Resolution 242.
he Tel Aviv regime set up about 30 illegal settlements in the occupied Golan over the past decades, accommodating more than 25,000 settlers.
The buffer zone in the Israeli-occupied Golan region was created by the United Nations after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. A UN force of about 1,100 troops – the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) - had patrolled the area since then.
Earlier, Julani said Syria’s new administration would abide by the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement with Israel even after the fall of Assad’s government, calling on the international community to ensure that Israel would uphold it.
Israeli troops have now occupied the summit of Jabal al-Shaykh which provides an observation point for areas in Syria and Lebanon. It rises to 9,232 feet (2,814 meters) and is the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
They have advanced beyond the so-called buffer zone toward Damascus, while the regime’s warplanes have conducted hundreds of aerial assaults on Syria.
Since the downfall of Assad, Israel has wiped out Syrian naval vessels, sea-to-sea missiles, helicopters and planes, including the entire fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets, and stockpiles of ammunition in attacks on at least five air bases.
Amazon introduced Amazon Nova on Tuesday, a new generation of foundation model that is expected to lower the cost and improve the speed of tasks involving generative AI.
Amazon claimed that the new Amazon Nova model will enable users to “analyze complex documents and videos, understand charts and diagrams, generate engaging video content, and build sophisticated AI agents.”
According to the e-commerce giant, users will now be able to input texts, images, or videos for textual output, meaning the new technology can analyze more than words.
The three understanding models
The technology is based on three understanding models, although Amazon insisted that a fourth is expected soon.
The first of the three is Amazon Nova Micro, which Amazon claimed allows for a low-cost and low-latency textual output. The model processes inputs up to 300,000 tokens in length and can analyze multiple images or up to 30 minutes of video in a single request, Amazon claimed, noting that it was also capable of using techniques like model distillation.
Artificial intelligence (credit: INGIMAGE)
The second, Amazon Nova Pro, is capable of processing up to 300K input tokens. Amazon claims it efficiently utilizes multimodal intelligence and agentic workflows that require calling APIs and tools to complete complex workflows. This model understands visual questions, and its capabilities include visual question answering and video understanding.
Amazon Nova Premier, the third model, is described by Amazon as the “most capable for complex reasoning tasks” and “teacher for distilling custom models.” Little is known about the model, but the company announced its expected release in early 2025.
All three models were said to have advanced skills in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), function calling, and agentic applications.
Amazon stressed the technology’s customization capabilities as a key selling point, noting that a user could “start with a high-quality foundation and adjust it to fit your exact needs. You can fine-tune the models with text, image, and video to understand your industry’s terminology, align with your brand voice, and optimize for your specific use cases.”
Adding to Nova's creative capabilities, the company explained that with Amazon Nova Canvas, users could generate “studio-quality” images with precision control over style and content. With Amazon Nova Reel, a second model, users would be able to generate short videos through text prompts and images.
A man transports a wounded child to the Nasser hospital following Israeli bombardment on Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 27, 2024
Israel’s incessant strikes on the Gaza Strip claim dozens of civilian lives, including women and children, as 326 days have passed since the regime waged the genocidal war on the besieged territory in October.
In the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, an Israel’s attack on a home killed three people, including a child, and injured several others on Monday night.
In Gaza City, an Israeli bombing that targeted a home on Yermouk Street left several casualties. According to the civil defense crews, three bodies and several wounded people were recovered from the site.
More casualties were also reported when an Israeli air raid targeted a residential building in Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
Earlier on Monday, Wafa News Agency cited medical sources as saying that the bodies of 14 people, who were killed in Israel’s strikes on Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza, were transported to the Nasser Medical Complex.
The news agency also cited local sources as saying that four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a vehicle, west of Khan Yunis, shortly after four bodies and several people who were wounded in an Israeli attack on al-Nasser Street in the area of Mawasi, west of Rafah, were brought to the Kuwait Field Hospital.
According to the report, journalist sources confirmed that Ali Taima, a journalist, was killed in an Israeli attack on a civilian vehicle in Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis.
Two civilians were also killed in an Israeli attack on the coastal area of al-Qarara, northwest of Khan Yunis, medical sources said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli fighter jets bombed the vicinity of the Nasser Hospital and an area close to Abu Hamid square in Khan Yunis, causing at least two injuries.
In northern Gaza, paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society said they transported three bodies as well as a number of wounded people to the Kamal Adwan hospital after an Israeli missile attack hit a food stall in the Jabalia refugee camp.
Five civilians were also killed and several others were injured in an Israeli strike on Gaza City's beach on Monday afternoon.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed 40,476 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 93,647 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.
Namibia has refused to allow an explosive-laden ship destined for the occupied Palestinian territories to dock at its ports after suspecting that the vessel’s consignments were to be used in the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Portuguese-flagged MV Kathrin had requested permission to dock at the country’s Walvis Bay port on Monday. Namibian authorities, however, intervened and prevented the vessel from entering the country’s waters.
Commenting on the matter, Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab said, "Upon receiving reports that a vessel may be carrying weapons intended” for the occupied territories, she had reminded the relevant authorities “of our international obligations," including under the Genocide Convention.
She said a subsequent police investigation had revealed that the ship was "indeed carrying explosive material” destined for the territories.
"Namibia complies with our obligation not to support or be complicit in Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, as well as its unlawful occupation of Palestine," the minister noted.
At least 40,534 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed since October last year, when the Israeli regime launched the war on Gaza in response to a retaliatory operation staged by the territory’s resistance groups. The brutal military onslaught has also wounded another 93,778 people.
Namibia’s neighbor, South Africa, filed a genocide case against the regime at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), otherwise known as the World Court, in December. The lawsuit prompted the tribunal to issue an initial ruling ordering Tel Aviv to refrain from acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention.
Windhoek expressed its support for the lawsuit during a United Nations General Assembly session in January.
Also in January, it criticized Germany for its support for the regime in the ongoing ICJ case after Berlin became the first country to legally intervene on Tel Aviv's behalf at the Hague-based court and defend the war.
Jan Christian Gordon Kricke, German Ambassador to Chad
Germany's ambassador to Chad will be expelled within 48 hours for his "impolite attitude" and "non-respect of diplomatic practices", the government in N'Djamena said in a statement Friday.
The ambassador, Jan Christian Gordon Kricke, has been in the role since July 2021, and the government gave no official explanation for his expulsion. Government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh urged him to "leave Chadian territory within 48 hours."
"We have not been officially contacted," a source at the German Embassy told AFP on condition of anonymity, who said he had heard the news via social media.
Kricke has previously served as a diplomat in Niger, Angola and the Philippines. He was also a special representative for Germany in the unstable Sahel.
A government source told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that Kricke was seen as "interfering too much" in the governance of the country and making divisive remarks.
He had been warned on several occasions, the source added.
General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno took power after his father, President Idriss Deby Itno, who ruled the country for 30 years, died during an operation against rebels in April 2021.
The military junta initially promised to hand power to civilians, however, in October, Deby's rule was extended for two years.
The German embassy joined others, such as France, Spain, and The Netherlands, in expressing its concern over the delayed return to democracy.
The United States says it plans to withdraw part of its troops from Chad days after announcing the pullout of forces from neighboring Niger.
The United States will withdraw some troops from Chad, the Pentagon has said, days after Washington agreed to move forces out of neighboring Niger.
The withdrawal of about 75 US special forces is reportedly scheduled to begin this weekend and will be completed within days.
The US keeps approximately 100 troops in Chad, under the pretext of fighting extremism.
"USAFRICOM is currently planning to reposition some US military forces from Chad, a portion of which were already scheduled to depart," Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told a news conference on Thursday, referring to the US Africa Command.
"This is a temporary step as part of an ongoing review of our security cooperation, which will resume after Chad's May 6 presidential election."
However, Sahel area countries have started to question the legality of the US military presence.
In March, Niger’s government also said it was ending a military cooperation agreement with Washington, saying US military presence was illegally imposed on Niger.
The country has also launched discussions with the US on ending its military presence in the African country.
This month Chad's air force chief had ordered the US military to halt activities at an air base near the capital N'Djamena, according to a letter sent to the transitional government.
He said he had asked the US military to provide documents "justifying its presence at the Adji Kossei Air Base" but had not received any.
General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno took power after his father, President Idriss Deby Itno, who ruled the country for 30 years, died during an operation against rebels in April 2021.
The military junta initially promised to hand power to civilians, however, in October, Deby's rule was extended for two years.
France began withdrawing soldiers on Friday from Chad, the Chadian Defense Ministry said.
A contingent of 120 French soldiers has left Chad following the country’s decision to end its defense cooperation pact with Paris.
French troops were seen boarding their plane on Friday and departing from N'Djamena airport.
The withdrawal process formally began earlier this month with the departure of two French Mirage warplanes.
France still has about 1000 troops stationed in Chad, with the full drawdown expected to take several weeks.
The terms and conditions of the complete withdrawal, including whether any French troops will remain in Chad, are yet to be finalized between the two countries.
Chad announced on November 28 its decision to end a defense accord with Paris mainly dating from independence in 1960.
"At midday, 120 French soldiers took off from the military airport of N'Djamena on board an Airbus A330 Phoenix MRTT, headed for France," the ministry said in a statement on Facebook.
The departure of French soldiers took place in the presence of Chadian military authorities, the statement said.
The move comes after France had already pulled its forces out of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger in recent years.
This departure signals the end of decades of French military presence in the Sahel region as the anti-French sentiment continues to grow.
Benjamin Zalman-Polun (L), Marcel Malanga (C), and Tyler Thompson Jr. are seen in this picture awaiting verdicts at their court trial in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on September 13, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)
A Briton and three Americans have been sentenced to death for their participation in an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A military court in the DRC handed down “the harshest penalty, that of death” sentences to 37 people after convicting them on charges of taking part in an abortive coup attempt in May.
The three American citizens, along with about fifty others, are suspected of involvement in the failed coup that left six people dead.
The sentences were delivered by the presiding judge Maj. Freddy Ehuma at an open-air military court trial which opened in June and was broadcast on live TV.
Three Americans, one Briton, one Belgian and a Canadian are among the defendants who were sentenced to death. The mostly Congolese defendants have five days to appeal the death penalty which Congo had reinstated earlier this year.
“We will challenge this decision on appeal,” the six foreigners’ lawyer has confirmed.
Fourteen of the defendants were acquitted during the trial over the attempt to overthrow the president that included terrorism, murder and criminal association.
The son of a little-known US-based Congolese businessman, military officer and political opposition figure, Christian Malanga, the coup leader, is one of the three Americans sentenced to death.
On May 19, Malanga and his armed men targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Parliamentary speaker Vital Kamerhe’s home in Kinshasa was also attacked.
After briefly occupying an office of the presidency, Malanga was killed by security forces. He reportedly live-streamed the attack on his social media account.
His American son Marcel, 21, had told the court that his father, from whom he had been estranged, threatened to kill him unless he participated in the coup.
The other two Americans, Benjamin Zalman-Polun and Tyler Thompson Jr. are a business associate of Christian Malanga and a high school football teammate of Marcel Malanga, respectively.
Zalman-Polun reportedly knew Christian Malanga through a gold mining company set up in Mozambique in 2022.
Thompson’s family has said they had no knowledge of the elder Malanga’s intentions, or his plans for political activism or even to enter the DRC. They claimed they believed Thompson was traveling to South Africa.
The US government said it was aware of the death verdict and was following the developments closely.
There is no official information about the Briton defendant, who was reported to be a naturalized Congolese citizen.
The death penalty was reinstated in the DRC in March, lifting a 21-year-old moratorium, as authorities struggle to curb violence and militant attacks in the country.
For hundreds of years, medical students became hospital interns, passed tests, received approval from senior physicians, graduated – with some studying specialties as residents at home and going on to fellowships abroad – and were thrown into the clinical “pond” and told to swim on their own.
Today, with medicine becoming so complicated and the need for many physicians to conduct in-depth research on diseases, this is not enough. They need a great deal of guidance from the best teachers – even for a decade after they get their MDs and are allowed to treat patients.
All major medical centers in this country and abroad have begun to establish programs to provide guidance to their interns and even residents to improve the quality of treatment and research and to compete with other hospitals, given the shortage of doctors here and elsewhere.
Management knows that to succeed, they must invest large sums and a commitment from leading physicians to provide intensive guidance over long periods.
A year and nine months ago, management at the Hadassah Medical Organization noted that Prof. Arie Ben-Yehuda, director of the Internal Medicine C department, had reached retirement age.
They begged him to continue in another position – at the newly established Hadassah Elite Residency and Training Center for the 107 residents accepted for learning a specialty at the hospital each year and those who have already been studying in the previous three years. He agreed, and the chairmanship fit him perfectly.
“We have taken upon ourselves the mission of making learning innovative and experiential and turning Hadassah’s residency programs into the best in Israel,” said Ben-Yehuda. “The center accompanies young doctors from their internship entry until they become leading specialists at Hadassah, working closely with department heads and fostering a spirit of innovation and action.
“A leading medical center is always a reflection of the quality of its human resources, and therefore we see residents as a valuable asset and believe that investing in them today will bear fruit in the future, both for the Hadassah Medical Organization and for the entire Israeli healthcare system.”
He now works with Dr. Shiri Tenenbaum, Elite’s director and an oncologist who joined Hadassah only three years ago.
“We provide comprehensive support, including a generous research grant, professional mentorship, and personalized guidance for each resident,” explained Tenenbaum, who is deputy director of Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem and head of the residency and learning directorate at the hospital.
Twisted equipment and snapped tree limbs still litter Chris Hopkins’ Georgia farm more than two months after Hurricane Helene made its deadly march across the South.
An irrigation sprinkler system about 300 feet (92 meters) long lay overturned in a field, its steel pipes bent and welded joints broken. The mangled remains of a grain bin sat crumpled by a road. On a Friday in early December, Hopkins dragged burly limbs from the path of the tractor-like machine that picks his cotton crop six rows at a time.
“I have wrestled with lots of emotions the past two months,” said Hopkins, who also grows corn and peanuts in rural Toombs County, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Savannah. “Do we just get through this one and quit? Do we build back? It is emotionally draining.”
Hopkins is among farmers across the South who are still reeling from Helene’s devastation. The storm made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a major Category 4 storm and then raced north across Georgia and neighboring states.
Experts estimate the cost to farmers, timber growers and other agribusinesses from Florida to Virginia will reach more than $10 billion. The toll includes ravaged crops, uprooted timber, wrecked farm equipment and mangled chicken houses, as well as indirect costs such as lost productivity at cotton gins and poultry processing plants.
For cotton growers like Hopkins, Helene hit just as the fall harvest was starting. Many put most cleanup on hold to try to salvage what remained of their crops.
`Staggering’ losses to cotton, pecans and fall vegetables
Georgia farmers suffered storm losses of at least $5.5 billion, according to an analysis by the University of Georgia. In North Carolina, a state agency calculated farmers suffered $3.1 billion in crop losses and recovery costs after Helene brought record rainfall and flooding. Separate economic analyses of farm damage tallied losses of up to $630 million in Virginia, $452 million in South Carolina and $162 million in Florida.
Hopkins figures he lost half the cotton on his 1,400 acres (560 hectares).
“We were at the most vulnerable stage we could be,” he said. “The lint was open and fluffy and hanging there, waiting to be defoliated or picked. About 50% of the harvestable lint ended up on the ground.”
Even with insurance, Hopkins said, he won’t recoup an estimated $430,000 in losses from his cotton crop alone. That doesn’t include the cost of debris removal, repairing or replacing damaged machinery and the loss of two small pecan orchards uprooted by the storm.
The storm ripped through blooming cotton fields, pecan orchards laden with nuts and fields where fall vegetables like cucumbers and squash awaited picking. Hundreds of large poultry houses used to raise thousands of chickens at a time got destroyed.
Farmers far from Helene’s center weren’t spared, as tropical-storm force winds reached outward up to 310 miles (499 kilometers).
“It was staggering,” said Timothy Coolong, a University of Georgia horticulture professor. “This may be just too much for some folks.”
Helene was one of the deadliest U.S. hurricanes in nearly two decades, killing more than 200 people. It left more than 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed across the South.
Even with insurance, Hopkins said, he won’t recoup an estimated $430,000 in losses from his cotton crop alone. That doesn’t include the cost of debris removal, repairing or replacing damaged machinery and the loss of two small pecan orchards uprooted by the storm.
The storm ripped through blooming cotton fields, pecan orchards laden with nuts and fields where fall vegetables like cucumbers and squash awaited picking. Hundreds of large poultry houses used to raise thousands of chickens at a time got destroyed.
Farmers far from Helene’s center weren’t spared, as tropical-storm force winds reached outward up to 310 miles (499 kilometers).
“It was staggering,” said Timothy Coolong, a University of Georgia horticulture professor. “This may be just too much for some folks.”
Helene was one of the deadliest U.S. hurricanes in nearly two decades, killing more than 200 people. It left more than 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed across the South.
Pridgen said new chicken houses will cost about $450,000 apiece. Because most of his were decades old, he expects insurance to cover just half the cost.
“I was looking at retirement, but I lost my retirement and my income in one day,” said Pridgen, 62. “It’ll be two years before we get fully operational again. I’m basically starting over.”
‘Everybody lost something’
Georgia’s poultry industry took an estimated $683 million hit, with farmers having to rebuild about 300 chicken houses and repair hundreds more.
The poultry processing plant that relies on Pridgen and other storm-impacted farmers for chickens is now operating just four days per week, he said.
“Now for at least a year, perhaps a little bit longer, we’re in rebuilding mode,” said Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry
Helene’s devastation shouldn’t have much impact on consumer prices because crops grown elsewhere can make up for most shortages, said Michael Adjemian, a University of Georgia professor of agricultural economics. Pecans are one possible exception. Georgia is responsible for roughly one-third of U.S. production.
“In most cases, even a terrible storm like this is going to have a relatively small impact,” Adjemian said. “And maybe it’s not even noticeable, depending on the product.”
Helene cost Georgia cotton farmers roughly one-third of their crop, with direct and indirect losses valued at $560 million. Some were still recovering from Hurricane Michael in 2018.
Cotton growers also were facing low prices this harvest season of around 70 cents per pound (per 0.45 kilograms), said Taylor Sills, executive director of the Georgia Cotton Commission. That meant they needed a big yield to turn any profit.
“Times were awful, and then they got hit by a hurricane,” Sills said. “There are people who lost everything and there are people who didn’t. But everybody lost something.”
Rebel fighters swept through Syria in 11 days taking government-controlled territory, province by province until they had taken the Capital Damascus.
The collapse of the al-Assad government on Dec. 8 brought mixed reactions and uncertainty about what a new Syria would look like for its 22.9 million people and the turbulent-filled region.
The speed of the downfall left Mideast watchers astonished, and Syria in a complicated “flux” of moving parts, including the meddling presence of foreign actors like the United States, Türkiye, Israel and other proxies with diverse agendas. The future of Syria hangs in the balance, say analysts and observers.
“I think that it is still way too early to make any determinations,” said Wilmer Leon, political scientist and commentator. “Recent developments in Syria is past prologue,”
He told The Final Call, meaning the current situation is tied directly to the immediate history of Syria’s civil war, starting in 2011. The conflict was wrought with multination meddling, particularly America, aiming to remove Bashar al-Assad from power.
“This is once again, the United States engaging in regime change,” opined Mr. Leon. “As the United States was in Iraq … in Libya … a number of other places where this has happened,” he continued.
“But I use those two as examples, because the United States engages in regime change, creates a power vacuum, and then does not really know how to manage the power vacuum once it has been created,” he expounded.
Questions loom whether the rebels that toppled President Al-Assad is about a “better Syria” or a wider agenda.
On Dec. 9 Israel, while continuing a genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza, and the Occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, sent hundreds of missiles into Damascus and other areas of Syria.
Without resistance, Israeli occupier forces increased their presence in Syria’s Golan Heights effectively expanding its occupation there. In the days-long bombardment, Israel claimed it destroyed 80 percent of Syria’s military capabilities, including naval bases.
Israeli soldiers with the national flag stand on an armoured vehicle after crossing the security fence near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Dec. 12, 2024. AP Photo/Matias Delacroix
However, the Israeli invasion of Syria can be understood in the context of establishing what they call “Eretz Israel” or “Greater Israel,” which includes Palestine, Egypt and Syria and their plan for a “new” Middle East.
Such an agenda was forewarned about early this year by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam in his annual Saviours’ Day message entitled, “What Does Allah The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East?” delivered on Feb. 25.
“Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu has a vision of Eretz Israel. Several states over there, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, they intend to annex that to what is called ‘Greater Israel,’” said Minister Farrakhan.
“Do you know about that? That man already has over 400 nuclear bombs sitting in the desert in Dimona, Israel,” Minister Farrakhan continued. “That’s a lot of weapons. And they, now, feel that they are the power in the Middle East, and they are,” he said.
A decade earlier Minister Farrakhan warned the expansion will ultimately fail.
“Eretz Israel” is not for you, present Israelis! It is for us, the true ‘Children of Israel,’ he cautioned. “So Allah is going to use your blood to purify that area of the world for The Messiah to come back and bring back with him The People of God’s Choice, for The Holy Land, Mecca in particular.
Will be The Headquarters of The Mahdi and The Messiah!,” said Minister Farrakhan, during Part 34 of his weekly lecture series called, “The Time and What Must Be Done” in 2013.
In the same broadcast, he discussed Syria’s 2011 “civil war” and “America’s Errant Foreign Policy.”
“This was not a “civil war” in which the people inside Syria were rising against their government, alone—no! They were rising, but they were rising against their government with great help from the outside!”
“So now we learn that fighters from all over the Middle East are now in Syria, armed by America through her proxies in Qatar and the United Emirates, and other states,” he continued, referring to the uprising for social and government reform that morphed into calls for regime change at the time, Minister Farrakhan said, in Part 34 of the series.
In Part 16 of the series, Minister Farrakhan spoke about what retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark revealed about America’s ultimate objective. General Clark learned of plans to “clean out” the Middle East and take over Muslim regimes.
A decade before the 9/11 terror attacks on America in 2001, Gen. Clark said he was shown a Pentagon memo describing a plan “to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and then Iran—five years and seven countries.”
“This was being planned to ensure that the control of the riches of that area would always be available to America and her allies,” said Minister Farrakhan.
Citing a 2011 article by researcher and historian, F. William Engdahl, the Minister said the ultimate goal of America is to take the resources of Africa and the Middle East under military control and block economic growth in China and Russia, thus controlling the whole of Eurasia.
According to GlobalEconomy.com, Syria has 2.5 billion barrels of oil in its fields as of 2021, and through 2023 produce 90.84 thousand barrels per day. America maintains 900 troops in Northeastern Syria where 40 percent of Syria’s oil reserves are located. These fields have been a focus for control and conflict by various actors like the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Force and others vying for control.
In remarks on Dec. 8 while lauding Mr. al-Assad’s ouster, U.S. President Joe Biden said the 900 troops are staying, but under the guise of preventing terror groups like ISIL from reemerging in the aftermath of al-Assad’s removal from power and he said that the U.S. had dropped bombs over 75 targets in Syria. The current events may be another play in the wider geopolitical agenda.
“So, it is more than Assad being a “cruel leader” and a “dictator” that caused America to want him out,” Minister Farrakhan said, in words from 2013 that stand true today. Minister Farrakhan and his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad have warned America about her errant foreign policy for decades.
Others also blamed outside mischief-makers for the rebels that brought Syria to this moment.
“What happened in Syria was mainly planned in the command rooms of America and Israel. We have evidence of this,” said Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, adding, “A neighboring government of Syria was also involved.”
Mr. Khamenei made the remarks in a speech reported by Iranian state media. Although he did not name the “neighboring government,” it had a “clear role and continues to do so,” he said.
Days before Mr. al-Assad’s removal, other countries also blamed foreign interference. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea condemned the aggression by what it called terrorist organizations supported by external forces.
“The recent incident is a product of the vicious plots of hostile forces to ‘demonize’ the legitimate government of Syria from A to Z,” said a statement by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Dec 5. The statement said the attacks aimed to “create uneasiness and horror in Syria” to reproduce a scenario like the massacres in Gaza and Lebanon, thus escalating regional turmoil to a catastrophic level.
“We strongly denounce the reckless military moves of terrorists in Syria and the sinister intention of the behind-the-scenes forces conniving at and fostering them,” said the statement.
The rebel groups re-emerged on Nov. 27 and were rooted in the civil war that killed over 306,887 people in 13 years of fighting. That war drew in multiple nations, some backing Mr. al-Assad’s government and others backing the rebels. Middle East watchers called it a complex geopolitical situation. America, Israel and Türkiye, have been deeply involved.
In a foreign ministry statement on the current state of affairs, Iran said Syria’s fate is the sole responsibility of Syrians without foreign imposition.
“In order to achieve this important [issue], it is necessary to end military conflicts … prevent terrorist acts … initiate national dialogue … form an inclusive government that represents all Syrian people,” the ministry said.
Meanwhile, foreign powers and their proxies continue military engagement in Syria. Israel, the United States and Türkiye—through its proxies—have been committing airstrikes in Syria.
President al-Assad and his family were granted political asylum in Russia. For Syrians at home and abroad, there is great uncertainty.
“Syria is at a crossroads—between peace and war, stability and lawlessness, reconstruction or further ruin,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees in a statement on Dec. 9. “There is a remarkable opportunity for Syria to move toward peace and for its people to begin returning home,” he explained.
“But with the situation still uncertain, millions of refugees are carefully assessing how safe it is to do so,” said Mr. Grandi.
