Fluffy

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Scramble for Africa

From the left, Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema, Angola's President Joao Lourenco, President Joe Biden, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Vice President of Tanzania Philip Isdor Mpango pose for a photo during the visit to the Carrinho food processing factory near Lobito, Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Economic, political and social developments in Africa in 2024 were extensions of previous years. “The Scramble for Africa,” was a period in which nearly all of the continent was brought under the control of European powers.

Today, there has been a change in how the European powers seek to exploit the continent of Africa.

Today, with the alleged decrease of Africa’s oil as a major energy source, Western powers through multi-national corporate interests are now transitioning into exporting and exploiting the raw minerals needed for electric batteries, to maintain their global dominance, while feigning a reduction of their carbon footprint.

The Hollywood film “Blood Diamonds,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, brought light to Sierra Leone’s civil war (1991-2002) and still stands as a revelation of how armed insurgents, in many cases child soldiers, are utilized to extract and export Africa’s raw mineral reserves.

And, despite the Democratic Republic of Congo’s estimated $24 trillion in mineral resources that are being mined and turned into consumer electronics and batteries in electric cars for Western industrialized democracies, the population of the DRC is one of the poorest in the world.

While the DRC may be home to a wealth of mineral and precious metal deposits its extractive industries comprise nearly 90 percent of the country’s exports and nearly half of its government’s revenue. Chief among those exports is cobalt, copper, gold, diamonds and coltan, which is an ore of the metals of niobium and tantalum.

CNBC’s business channel’s news site called the African country’s mineral resources “conflict minerals.” All the country’s minerals, including tantalum, tungsten and gold are found in the electronics manufactured in Western nations, “and all are considered conflict minerals, due to their potential origin in the DRC,” the news site noted.

While the African country contains an estimated $24 trillion in untapped mineral resources, it remains mired in poverty and violence, and mining these four metals can help fund armed conflict in the region, CNBC reported.

While Western media frames the natural resources of the DRC as a source of conflict, it simultaneously reports that Western nations depend on these mineral resources to maintain their industrialized societies.

Raw mineral extractions while turning a historical blind eye to regional conflicts appear to be the cost of doing business by multi-national corporate interests. Add to that, the growing mineral reserve race between China and Western nations, including the U.S.

At the heart of U.S. President Joe Biden’s long-anticipated recent three-day trip to Angola is assessing American, European, and corporate interests’ ongoing critical minerals infrastructure project that is set to see vast supplies of cobalt and copper delivered to Western nations.

This long-awaited visit to Angola’s capital city of Luanda saw Biden “focus on an $800 million U.S.-backed railway project in the Lobito Corridor,” reported Al Jazeera.

“The passage is a strategic trade route that connects the resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to Angola, which hosts the port of Lobito, located on the Atlantic Ocean,” the Al Jazeera report added.

Whether it be Western interest or China’s belt and road development initiatives, neither has sought, in a meaningful way, to assist in developing infrastructure that would turn Africa’s much-in-demand mineral and natural resources into finished products to be sold abroad.

Neither has there been a sustained effort by these multinational corporations to end the conflicts that are sustained by the artisanal or subsistence mining of “conflict minerals.”

The history of colonial development that continues to this very day is building infrastructure, including railways, for extracted raw minerals, that are taken to port, shipped and then developed abroad.

According to “Africa is Powerful,” the popular YouTube channel, “The continent remains economically and politically fragmented, exploited for its resources while continuing to face immense developmental challenges. Meanwhile, African leaders are routinely summoned to Western capitals for summits or bilateral meetings often under the guise of cooperation.”

Being summoned as a group is a “troubling dynamic.” Africa, until it’s able to speak with one voice, is seen not as an equal player on the world stage, but as a continent perpetually in need of guidance, aid, or intervention. Africa, a continent of 55 nation-states, cannot similarly summon Western leaders.

“These imbalances do not foster respect but reinforce perceptions of Africa as subordinate. The most striking example of this power dynamic is the idea of a single Western nation summoning dozens of African heads of state to their country, an unimaginable scenario in reverse,” explained the commentator on “Africa is Powerful.”

Concerning the outgoing U.S. president’s recent Africa trip, “Africa is Powerful” explained it as being a part of a broader initiative to strengthen U.S.-Africa relations and counter China’s growing influence. This reveals yet another layer of the deeply entrenched imbalance between the continent and Western powers.

“Angola is a nation with vast natural resources and is a key target in the U.S. quest to outmaneuver China in Africa. Biden’s visit was not simply a diplomatic affair. What is truly astonishing is the response from Angola’s government, which declared a two-day public holiday in honor of Biden’s arrival,” noted Africa is Powerful.

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Years of ALB

ALBA-TCP was founded in 2004 in an attempt to counter the U.S. proposal of creating a ‘free trade zone of the Americas’

December 14 marked the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s-Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América – Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos). ALBA-TCP was created in 2004 as a geopolitical alternative to the devastating advance of neoliberalism in the region.

The project was founded on December 14, 2004, in Havana by Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Currently, the organization has 10 member countries and four countries considered “special guests.”

In 2006, Bolivia signed its membership; in 2007, Nicaragua; in 2008, Dominica; in 2009, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines; in 2014, St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada; and in 2021, St. Lucia. The special invited countries are Syria, Haiti, Suriname, and now Palestine.

To commemorate the 20 years, social movements, political parties, and heads of state gathered in Caracas, Venezuela for the 24th Heads of State Summit as well as parallel meetings. The event was attended by the host, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro;

Bolivian President Luis Arce; Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel; Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega; Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves; Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; and the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne.

Independence and solidarity among countries

In their addresses during the Summit on December 14, the heads of state and invited countries stressed the importance of solidarity among countries seeking alternative ways of development and the need for unrestricted solidarity among people struggling against imperialist attacks. They also demonstrated their support for Nicolás Maduro and his victory in the last presidential elections.

Miguel Díaz-Canel said “We reiterate the strongest support for the Bolivarian revolution, led by President Nicolás Maduro … . We also call for the elimination of the blockade against Cuba … .

We cry out for a free Puerto Rico and declare our solidarity with Haiti, our Cuban doctors are there … . We reiterate our demand for a ceasefire in Gaza and condemn the attacks perpetrated by Israel against Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.”

The Bolivian President, Luis Arce, highlighted the historical importance of ALBA in its fight against economic projects promoted by the United States such as the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas): “The embrace of Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro not only marked history but also manifested the defeat of the hegemonic project of the FTAA.

Acquired Through MGN Online on 03/26/2020

ALBA was born, ALBA placed the human being at the center, promoting that a better world is possible. Bolivia reaffirms, once again, its commitment to ALBA-TCP, because it is a resistance that raises its voice against the unjust and criminal blockade against Cuba … .

ALBA is also a firm voice against the arbitrary and unilateral measures imposed against Venezuela and Nicaragua, which affect the welfare of our peoples.”

Nicolás Maduro said, “We must win the battle of life and truth in the streets, networks, media, and walls, as well as in the conscience and spirituality of the people.”

He also added the importance of the struggle of the people to be masters of their destiny without imperial impositions or impositions of any kind. In the same line of discourse, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said “From Nicaragua we reaffirm our commitment to ALBA. We will continue to fight the battle.”

The Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit stated “We congratulate the electoral triumph of President Nicolas Maduro on July 28. We wish him all the best … .

We also want to reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Cuba, a brave people for whom we have our greatest respect and love; we will never cease to lend our voice against the United States to eliminate the blockade against Cuba.”

Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, harshly criticized U.S. interference in the development of the past Venezuelan elections “Perhaps [the U.S. government] thinks it is superior,”

He said in this regard. He also stressed that the creation of ALBA-TCP was a fundamental invention for the emancipation of the American people, “ALBA is the product of the geniuses of our peoples.”

Inclusion of Palestine to ALBA-TCP

At the current summit, it was announced that Palestine had been included as a “brotherly country” and was included as a “permanent guest.” According to the resolution of the Heads of State, ALBA-TCP condemns the attacks against the Palestinian population.

And the “illegally occupied territories” and rejects “the merciless and inhuman genocide committed by the State of Israel, the occupying power, as well as its plan of spoliation, invasion, and domination.”

Likewise, they denounced the support of several governments currently collaborating with the actions of the Israeli army and called for an “immediate ceasefire … .

From the heart of the peoples and governments of this alliance, we declare Palestine a brother country of the ALBA-TCP, and reaffirm our commitment to the defense of the Palestinian cause, which is the defense of humanity,” reads the resolution.

In this regard, Riyad al-Malki, advisor to the President of State for International Affairs of Palestine said “History will remember those who stood on the side of justice, ALBA’s lasting solidarity with Palestine is a testimony of freedom and collective resistance.”

Furthermore, Malki added “This Alliance is a living testimony of collective integration to challenge imperialism and ensure a just world. These values resonate with the Palestinian struggle, an end to the illegal occupation.”

A call for counter-hegemonic struggle

The joint document signed by all the countries highlights the historical importance of ALBA-TCP in the struggle for a more equitable world: “Twenty years after this giant step, we pay homage to the founding leaders, Hugo Chávez Frías and Fidel Castro Ruz, who adopted that December 14, 2004, in Havana, Cuba, the vision of the future embodied in the founding documents of ALBA.

Which have allowed us to walk united until the present, animated by the ancestral force that led our peoples to be free and that encourages us to continue integrated in this Alliance for Life.”

Similarly, it was stressed that the existence of this multilateral organization operates as a possibility to create a region that resists the impositions of the most developed countries:

“Today, we want to ratify before our peoples, the counter-hegemonic, democratic, anti-imperialist and anti-fascist nature of our Alliance and renew our commitment to help and protect each other, to continue building together a future of shared goals under the founding principles of complementarity, cooperation, social justice, defense of our sovereignty and solidarity.”

In this sense, Luis Arce stressed that “In the face of the challenges of a world threatened by fascism and neo-fascism, ALBA is not an option, ALBA is a necessity that must continue with firm steps, reaffirming the founding principles of solidarity, justice, and cooperation … .

ALBA is not only an alliance, it is a promise for the future, a living resistance, an instrument for the most dispossessed, and a reminder that together, as peoples, we are invincible.”

Objectives and principles of ALBA-TCP

According to ALBA’s official website, the fundamental objective of the project is “to achieve integral development, ensure social equality and contribute to guaranteeing the quality of life, good living, independence, self-determination and identity of the peoples.”

For this very reason, the principles of ALBA-TCP propose that political decisions be made horizontally and take into account the economic differences of its members without meaning that the importance of each of the members is underestimated.

The principles shared by the countries are “trade and investment should not be ends in themselves, but instruments to achieve sustainable development; special and differentiated treatment, according to the level of development of the various countries;

Economic complementarity and cooperation; cooperation and solidarity; the creation of the Social Emergency Fund; the integrative development of communications and transportation; the sustainability of development;

Energy integration; the promotion of investments of Latin American capital in the region; the defense of Latin American and Caribbean identity and culture; respect for intellectual property; and the agreement of multilateral positions and in negotiations with countries and blocs in other regions.”

Congo sues Apple

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has filed criminal complaints in France and Belgium against subsidiaries of the American tech giant Apple for allegedly using minerals “looted” from the country’s conflict regions in its supply chain.

International lawyers representing the Central African nation announced the move on Dec. 17, arguing that Apple is complicit in crimes committed by armed groups controlling several mines in conflict-torn eastern DR Congo.

In a press release, the legal team claimed that the tech company manufactures its gadgets with tin, tantalum, and tungsten “pillaged from the DRC and laundered through international supply chains.”

“These activities have fueled a cycle of violence and conflict by funding militias and terrorist groups and have contributed to forced child labor and environmental devastation,” according to the statement.

They also accused Apple of using “deceptive commercial practices” to assure consumers that its “supply chains are clean.”

The former Belgian colony is the world’s leading producer of cobalt, a key component in batteries used in most consumer electronics, including mobile phones and electric vehicles.

The country has been plagued by decades of violence, particularly in the east, linked to dozens of armed groups, including M23 militants, who are fighting the government for resources.

Earlier this year, Washington-based Amsterdam & Partners LLP, one of the law firms supporting Kinshasa, published the “Blood Minerals” report, claiming that several companies and armed groups were smuggling minerals mined in the DR Congo out through Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi and then “integrated into the global supply chain.”

The legal firm said it had informed major technology companies, including Apple, Intel, Sony, and Motorola, that the metals purchased from Rwanda were acquired from the DR Congo through “violent exploitation.”

In May, the lawyers threatened legal action against Apple if the company failed to respond to questions about whether metals for its products were being sourced from troubled areas in DR Congo’s eastern province.

On Dec. 17, the attorneys said, “Apple has not provided any detailed answers to the questions posed.”

William Bourdon, one of the lawyers, said the complaints filed simultaneously in France and Belgium represent a “first step to hold one of the biggest players in tech accountable for its policy of endless enrichment at the cost of the most serious crimes that taint supply chains in Africa.”

In response, Apple reportedly said it “strongly” rejects the allegations. It said it has told its “suppliers that their smelters and refiners must suspend sourcing” minerals from the DR Congo and Rwanda as armed clashes escalated this year.

“We recognize the situation in the region is very challenging and we have increased our support to organizations that do vital work helping communities,” Apple said.

Troubling lessons from failed legal assault

The legal case against the Uhuru 3 was recently closed

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DRBQFqHTr/

U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg, addresses the press regarding a Federal investigation of members of the Uhuru movement, a Black international socialist organization, on Friday, July 29, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a Russian operative under the supervision of one of the Kremlin's main intelligence services has been charged with recruiting political groups in the United States to advance pro-Russia propaganda, including during the invasion of Ukraine, the Justice Department said Friday. Akile Anai, a spokesperson for the organization, says they had never received money from Ionov or any other members of the Russian intelligence service. (Martha Asencio-Rhine/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Amajor federal government attack on a Black liberation organization has been an embarrassing and crushing legal failure. What started with a high profile armed, flash bang raid of group offices and homes ended with a minor conviction, no jail time and zero fines.

But don’t dismiss this failed case. It’s a serious one Black America must pay attention to, especially anyone fighting for or speaking out on behalf of our suffering people.

The legal case against the Uhuru 3 was recently closed with defendants Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel given 36 months of probation, 300 hours of community service and no fine.

They had been accused of acting as Russian agents and conspiring to be Russian agents. They were convicted on the lesser conspiracy charge, though no money was exchanged, no orders from Russia were obeyed or apparently even sent.

The government’s “evidence?” Speeches, writing, protests, reparations advocacy, condemnation of U.S. domestic policy against Blacks, criticism of U.S. international evil, and organizing the Uhuru Movement, based in Florida and St. Louis, has been doing since the 1960s. It also included a trip to a conference in Russia in 2017.

The feds alleged the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement members were recruited, funded, and directed “to act as unregistered illegal agents of the Russian government and sow discord and spread pro-Russian propaganda.”

Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the Uhuru movement via Facebook live July 29.

They were also publicly accused of trying to meddle in U.S. elections, which federal agents couldn’t explain when testifying under oath.

Last year the Justice Department charged Chairman Yeshitela of the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement; White allies Hess and Nevel; and Augustus C. Romain Jr. of the Black Hammer Movement in a major case.

Twenty-five charges filed by President Biden’s Justice Department essentially went nowhere. A Trump-appointed judge refused to jail or exact financial penalties, saying he couldn’t see sending two defendants in their 70s and 80s to prison for crimes not involving murder, assault, drugs or similar activity. He issued the sentence in a Florida courtroom on Dec. 16.

“It was a people’s victory. And why does it matter? It matters because this was an assault on the Black liberation movement,” said Kamm Howard, a longtime Black activist who attended the Uhuru 3 trial and sentencing.

“What they were doing is what they’ve always did for 50 years, talked and organized—and the chairman did protests and mobilizations around the crimes that this country has committed against African people and indigenous people, but primarily African people in this country for over 400 years,” said Mr. Howard, who leads Reparations United.

This case was about freedom of speech, the right to dissent and our right to advocate for ourselves.

“Many people in the White Right came out and supported the Uhuru 3 because they understood how relevant and how powerful it is that the First Amendment, right of free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, these are the bedrocks of so-called American democracy.

If you don’t have these, you have no democracy,” said activist Howard in an interview. “It wasn’t anything about actions because the actions were statements, speeches, assemblies, which are supposedly protected by the Constitution.”

If the federal government comes after this radical Black group and tears down their ability to speak, then no one has an ability to speak, Mr. Howard warned. “And we exist under a total dictatorship.”

If we are stripped of our right to protest and prosecuted for our political activity, the federal government can come after anyone—a fearless Minister Louis Farrakhan, an outspoken pastor, an uncompromising imam, a courageous activist who dares exercise their right to visit other nations or conferences to talk about global struggle.

“If we look back at what Jeremiah Wright did when Obama was running for president or was president. He said, ‘God damn America,’ because of the crimes that America was doing against Black people. He would’ve been indicted and his ability of free speech would’ve been taken away as well.

We can look back through our history at all of the great leaders who tried to wake us up to what was happening in this country. None of that would’ve taken place if this government could get away with what it’s trying,” Mr. Howard continued.

The Biden administration “spent millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars to try this case. And it was the defeat of the Justice Department, of the FBI.

The National Security Agency had a component in it—and it was a major defeat. But a victory of the Black liberation struggle,” Mr. Howard observed. “We don’t have a lot of victories, but this was a major victory.”

Still even with this win, we must be vigilant and never underestimate the nefarious activity of a government with a history of spying, infiltrating, lying, planting evidence and fabricating charges against us. This was a victory but is also a warning, our government still sees its citizens as the enemy.

I can be reached via arhofluffy@gmail.com. Find me on Facebook. Follow @AlbMickey

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Alb Micki -Time

According to the sixth chapter of Genesis in Noah’s time, after the birth of Shem, Ham and Japheth, it came to pass, “once upon a time” when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful or fair and took them for wives. And in those days, there were giants in the land. Could these giants symbolically serve as some type of guardians in this heavenly kingdom of God where there was great wealth and abundance of gold?

In this same period, the sons of God encountered the daughters of men and took them for wives. This angered God according to the Book of Genesis, for wickedness had increased in the land so severely that he raised Noah and warned the people about the coming flood. It appears that in this ancient ante diluvian time, there were several distinguished groups of people or societies inhabiting the land eastward from Eden that fit distinct characteristics of various types of civilizations.

It occurred to me while reading these passages from the Bible that there were aspects relative to Yacob’s history in the generation of the Caucasian people in the time of their seclusion or separation into the caves and hillsides of Europe. A branch of this Race occupied the hills and regions of what is known as Central Asia today. This region was once guarded at the frontiers or borders by guards to keep them out of the East or Holy Land from whence they were exiled for making trouble among the Righteous.

Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel logo is displayed at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan April 1, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

Nippon Steel's (5401.T), opens new tab $15 billion bid for U.S. Steel (X.N), opens new tab has been referred to U.S. President Joe Biden, a White House spokesman said, giving the president 15 days to decide on a tie up he has previously said he opposes.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews foreign investments in the U.S. for national security risks, referred the deal to Biden after it was unable to reach a consensus, the companies and two sources said.

That gives Biden, who has long opposed the tie-up, 15 days to block the deal. If he takes no action in that time, the merger would get an unexpected greenlight.

"We received the CFIUS evaluation and the President will review it," White House spokeswoman Saloni Sharma said.

The referral to Biden paves the way for the deal to be killed before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan.20, has also opposed the deal, which was first announced last December.

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel said on Tuesday they were informed of the referral. Both companies have previously said they had planned to close the deal before the end of 2024.

"We urge him (Biden) to reflect on the great lengths that we have gone to address any national security concerns that have been raised and the significant commitments we have made to grow U. S. Steel," Nippon Steel said in a statement.

If the deal collapses, Nippon Steel must pay a $565 million penalty to U.S. Steel. It has earlier said it could pursue legal action against the U.S. government if the deal falls apart.

Nippon Steel aims to raise its global steel production capacity with U.S. Steel to 85 million metric tons per year from 65 million tons and the deal is core to its goal of lifting production to more than 100 million tons in the long-term.

The U.S. is the only developed nation where domestic steel demand is increasing, with the highest steel prices globally due to production capacity falling short of domestic needs, SBI Securities analyst Ryunosuke Shibata said.

That makes U.S. Steel "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Nippon Steel," Shibata added.

LACK OF CONSENSUS

CFIUS said on Monday that allowing Nippon Steel to take over U.S. Steel could result in lower domestic steel production representing "a national security risk", according to the Washington Post, which first reported the referral to Biden.

Nippon Steel said it could eliminate that risk by appointing U.S. citizens to top management and board of director positions at U.S. Steel, but the committee was divided in its view of whether those remedies would be sufficient, said the newspaper.

The U.S. Treasury Department, which leads CFIUS, and the Commerce Department, declined to comment.

The proposed tie-up has faced high-level opposition within the U.S. since it was announced, with both Biden and Trump taking aim at it as they sought to woo union voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is headquartered. The president of the United Steelworkers Union opposes the tie-up.

"The question is, what will Biden's decision be? And I think that's still very unpredictable," said Nick Wall, M&A partner at Allen & Overy. "He's got nothing really to lose."

In August a CFIUS letter sent to the companies, seen by Reuters, which said the deal could hurt the supply of steel for critical transportation, construction and agriculture projects.

But Nippon Steel won a 90-day review by countering that its investments made by a company from an allied nation would in fact shore up U.S. Steel's output.

That gave CFIUS until after the November U.S. election to make a decision, fueling hope among supporters that a calmer political climate could underpin the deal's approval.

Those hopes were dashed last weekend when CFIUS sent a 29-page letter to the companies raising allegedly unresolved national security risks, Reuters exclusively reported.

The companies countered in a follow-up letter, exclusively reported by Reuters Friday, that Biden had "impermissible influence" over the national security review process, threatening legal action if the deal is blocked.

Monday, December 23, 2024

Israel orders troops to 'prepare to remain'

Israeli soldiers walk up the hill inside the so-called buffer zone, which separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Minister of military affairs Israel Katz has ordered Israeli troops to "prepare to remain" throughout the winter in Syria including the strategic Jabal al-Shaykh mountain which they occupied after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

In an announcement on Friday, Katz said he had issued the order during an assessment the previous day with the Israeli army's chief of staff Herzi Halevi, and other officers.

"Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon [Jabal al-Shaykh], and everything must be done to ensure the (army's) readiness on-site to enable the troops to stay there despite the challenging weather conditions," he said.

Israel started its push to grab more Syrian land on Sunday, after foreign-backed militants led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced the fall of President Assad’s government following a rapid two-week onslaught.

Israeli forces seized the so-called buffer zone, which separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, in violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement. The occupation forces have entered several towns in Quneitra, forcibly evacuating residents.

They 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.

Israeli troops have advanced beyond the so-called buffer zone toward Damascus, with the regime's warplanes conducting hundreds of aerial assaults on Syria.

Katz had earlier said that the regime was planning a "sterile defense zone" in southern Syria. Several regional countries said Israel is taking advantage of the chaotic situation in Syria to expand its occupation of the Arab state.

Israeli soldiers entered the town of al-Hurriya in Quneitra province on Thursday. Local sources said Israeli forces also carried out a forced evacuation of the residents of the village of Rasem al-Ruwadi in the region.

On Wednesday evening, Israeli forces stormed the towns of Ruwaihinah and Umm Batna in the central countryside of Quneitra as well.

Residents of the town said the occupying regime forces asked them to evacuate their homes to annex them to the so-called buffer zones. The incursion involved tanks and infantry units, during which several houses were searched.

Many Syrians and others watching the fast-moving pace of events say Netanyahu is using this moment of change in their country to permanently seize further territory.

“They are saying they will give it back, but they are already occupying the Golan Heights which they haven’t given back. What would make you believe they will give this back?” Haid Haid, a senior consulting associate fellow at Chatham House, told Middle East Eye.

srael 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.

Reports say Israel and militant groups in Syria have previously come to successful arrangements whereby Israel provided emergency aid and medical care to militants so long as the groups did not attack the Zionist regime.

In a note to correspondents issued on Thursday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he is "deeply concerned" over "extensive violations" of Syrian sovereignty.

The UN chief also said he is "particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria."

He further stressed that the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria “remains in force” and that it must be upheld by "ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the ceasefire and stability in Golan.”

Oxfam says only 12 trucks delivered aid in North Gaza amid Israeli siege since October

Humanitarian aid from the German Red Cross, which entered Gaza by truck through the Karm Abu Salem border crossing in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on February 17, 2024, waits to be unloaded in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)

The charity group Oxfam says only 12 trucks were able to distribute aid to trapped people in the besieged North Gaza governorate in the past two and a half months, amid Israel’s “deliberate delays and systematic obstructions.”

“Of the meager 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza Governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians,” Oxfam said Sunday.

The group noted that the aid distributed by three of the trucks was destroyed by the Israeli forces.

“For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours.”

Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid for the North Gaza governorate have escalated since October when Israel imposed a siege on the area.

North Gaza has been under an all-out siege since October 6 and people there have been ordered to evacuate. Despite evacuation orders, the Palestinians trying to go south have been targeted by Israeli snipers and drones.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a set of standard tools that provides common global scales for classifying the severity and magnitude of food insecurity, has warned that there is a strong likelihood that famine is already occurring in the north and the risk of famine persists across the whole of Gaza.

“The situation in Gaza is apocalyptic and people are trapped, unable to find any kind of safety. The absolute desperation of having no food or shelter for your family in the biting cold of winter,” Sally Abi-Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said.

“It is abhorrent that despite international law being so publicly violated by Israel and starvation being used relentlessly as a weapon of war, world leaders continue to do nothing."

Oxfam has called for “an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire” and “an unhindered access for all lifesaving aid to the Gaza Strip, including the North Gaza governorate.”

“Palestinians must be given the freedom to move home, rebuild, and live in peace and dignity, free of occupation or blockade,” it added.

Abi-Khalil warned that “every day that passes without a ceasefire is a death sentence for hundreds more civilians.”

Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood 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 at least 45,259 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 107,627 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.